PEANUT BUTTER SUET for BIRDS

I do love seeing the birds around our house, especially the cardinals. But we have other birds also ... tufted titmouse, wrens, snowbirds (chickadees), flickers, woodpickers, some we don't know the names of, gold finches, and of course, sparrows, to name a few. We can go through quite a bit of bird seed. When I saw this recipe for a peanut butter suet in Wanda E. Brunstetter's The Best of Amish Friends Cookbook Collection, I knew I had to give it a try. The recipe was from Miriam Miller of Stanford, KY.

PEANUT BUTTER SUET for BIRDS

1       cup crunchy peanut butter
1       cup lard (I used shortening)
2      cups quick oats
1/3   cup sugar
1       cup wheat flour
2      cups cornmeal
1       cup wild bird feed

Melt peanut butter and lard together. (I did this in a 4 - cup glass measuring cup in the microwave for about 30 seconds.)

Stir in remaining ingredients. (I placed the ingredients in my large mixing bowl, stirred them up

and then added the melted peanut butter/lard

and stirred it on the stir setting of the mixer.

Press into cake pan. (I used a 9 x 13 - inch pan and pressed it using a wooden spoon.)

Allow to cool,

then cut into squares. (I used my wire container as a guide. The two smaller ones I will put in contained together.)


Store in freezer or cool place.

If you are wanting to use it in a wire suet holder, you need to freeze this so that it holds together. 

The first time I tried it, I had just left it overnight in the kitchen. While most of it stayed together, it crumbled quite a bit. (The birds ate it though.)

I decided to place the pan in the freezer and tried it the next day (after it had stayed in the freezer 24 hours). This worked better but it still broke up a little. (The birds ate this one too.)

The next day (after it had been in the freezer 48 hours) it came out whole and perfect.



Don't let any crumbs go to waste though. Just put them in a dish or feeder for the birds.