Birdy peanut butter balls
Dec. 1st, 2010 11:58 amI went ahead and made some peanut butter balls. We didn't have nearly as much peanut butter left as I thought--looks like another thing to pick up later (along with coffee and birdseed)! But there was about 3/4 cup of mixed crunchy and smooth, which made four medium-sized balls. So that wasn't too bad. We also have the 96% peanut kind (cheap from Lidl, actually), so no watching out for hydrogenated vegetable oil. Not eating it myself if I can help it, not feeding it to the birds--and a lot of the commercial "suet" balls I've seen are made from it!
I just put the peanut butter in a bowl, added about a tablespoon of coconut oil for variety (not really necessary), then stirred in enough rolled oats and cornmeal to make it about the consistency of softish bread dough. I also threw in some more slightly crushed sunflower and pumpkin seeds, for variety. Then I rolled it into balls and coated them in some of the same mixture that went into them. It took maybe 5 minutes, including rummaging in the pantry trying to find stuff good for them to eat. (They're not getting my seriously overpriced quinoa, nope; I'm cheap enough not to cook nearly as much of it as I want for myself. :-| )
Now they're sitting in the fridge to harden up again enough to play MacGyver and figure out how to hang a couple of them up outside. :) There's a mesh orange bag lurking in there, so I won't have to rig something up out of garden twine after all.
After working with that dough, now I'm wanting to make some peanut butter oatmeal cookies once we have more peanut butter. *g*
I just put the peanut butter in a bowl, added about a tablespoon of coconut oil for variety (not really necessary), then stirred in enough rolled oats and cornmeal to make it about the consistency of softish bread dough. I also threw in some more slightly crushed sunflower and pumpkin seeds, for variety. Then I rolled it into balls and coated them in some of the same mixture that went into them. It took maybe 5 minutes, including rummaging in the pantry trying to find stuff good for them to eat. (They're not getting my seriously overpriced quinoa, nope; I'm cheap enough not to cook nearly as much of it as I want for myself. :-| )
Now they're sitting in the fridge to harden up again enough to play MacGyver and figure out how to hang a couple of them up outside. :) There's a mesh orange bag lurking in there, so I won't have to rig something up out of garden twine after all.
After working with that dough, now I'm wanting to make some peanut butter oatmeal cookies once we have more peanut butter. *g*