Squirrel cookie variation on booballs

[Kristal]

I have been making some squirrel cookies that my kids seem to dig. They don't really like the boo balls. They are so funny the way they all seem to decide on food as a committee. I guess they are looking to each other for cues. Or maybe it is that nothing is so exciting as something someone else has and appears to enjoy. People are like that, too.

It goes something like:
1/3 cup ground rodent block
1/6 cup ground nuts
1/3 cup formula powder
1/2 - 1 tbsp molasses
1/4 - 1/2 peeled apple
sugar to taste (maybe a couple of tbsps, at most)

mash everything together very well. It should be about the sweetness and consistency of mashed banana. Then add

Enough musli type cereal to make it about the consistency of oatmeal cookie dough

Let it sit maybe three hours to let the sugar dissolve and the musli to soften a little. Moisten your fingers, and roll the dough into little balls about 1/3 inch in diameter. Put them on a greased or non stick pan about 3/4 inch apart. Bake at 250 F for about 12 minutes, until just golden brown.

They flatten out into little crisp and chewy disks that seem to satisfy the squirrel sweet tooth and desire to chew as well as be more resistant to the squirrel tendency to make a mess, since they do not get soggy as easily as the booballs.

So what do you think? I am giving them a few of these 3 times a day or so since they have all weaned themselves. It seems like a good way to keep getting formula into them, and molasses is very rich in minerals including calcium. Do you agree that it is a good food for them?

[stosh2010]

Is there any possibility that the baking temperatures deplete any of the ingredients in the formula ( eg. FoxValley) or rodent block ( eg. HHB ).
I am trying Boo Balls for the first time with Rama Rota and the cookie formula sounds interesting.
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Stosh >>> keeper of the KING ( of Costa Rica )

[mugzeezma]

I have been making some squirrel cookies that my kids seem to dig. They don't really like the boo balls. They are so funny the way they all seem to decide on food as a committee. I guess they are looking to each other for cues. Or maybe it is that nothing is so exciting as something someone else has and appears to enjoy. People are like that, too.

It goes something like:
1/3 cup ground rodent block
1/6 cup ground nuts
1/3 cup formula powder
1/2 - 1 tbsp molasses
1/4 - 1/2 peeled apple
sugar to taste (maybe a couple of tbsps, at most)

mash everything together very well. It should be about the sweetness and consistency of mashed banana. Then add

Enough musli type cereal to make it about the consistency of oatmeal cookie dough

Let it sit maybe three hours to let the sugar dissolve and the musli to soften a little. Moisten your fingers, and roll the dough into little balls about 1/3 inch in diameter. Put them on a greased or non stick pan about 3/4 inch apart. Bake at 250 F for about 12 minutes, until just golden brown.

They flatten out into little crisp and chewy disks that seem to satisfy the squirrel sweet tooth and desire to chew as well as be more resistant to the squirrel tendency to make a mess, since they do not get soggy as easily as the booballs.

So what do you think? I am giving them a few of these 3 times a day or so since they have all weaned themselves. It seems like a good way to keep getting formula into them, and molasses is very rich in minerals including calcium. Do you agree that it is a good food for them?
I have to say that adding sugar is really not necessary and may create a sweety habit.
There is a lot of sugar in the molasses, FV, apple, and carbs in the cereal not to mention all the carbs in the rat block.
Why not use plain old rolled oats in place of the muesli?

[Kristal]

I dunno. I guess just for variety. The cereal I am using has bits of chopped almond and small dried fruits in it. It is not very sweet, and is fairly high on fibre. It has rolled oats in it, too.

I was thinking about the sugar as well. I intend to experiment with bringing it down. I just want them to chomp them down like treats. I give them a variety of veggies and fruits, a few nuts and these. Quite a lot of it ends up on the floor, after which they will not usually eat it. I want them to chow down on these so I can feel more assured that they are getting the protein and calcium that they need. So that is why I am making it sweet. I intend to try less sweet on the next batch and see how that flies, though.

[CritterMom]

I would cut all of the sugar, at least half the molasses and replace it with cooked sweet potato or apple or even baby food or yogurt to supply the sweetness and moisture. Squirrles eat mostly pretty low carb, so cereal grains are not the best... You are on an interesting track - you need to do some tweaking and you're gonna have something.

[Kristal]

Molasses is actually a very power packed, high nutrition food, I recently found out:

http://www.vrg.org/nutshell/vegan.htm#calcium

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?dbid=118&tname=foodspice

But I just realised that I need to get the blackstrap kind for maximum nutrition. I think the one I have is more refined... I think I will do that and try replacing the sugar and some of the apple with more molasses. My only concern would be that it is really high in iron, too. That is potentially toxic to children, at least, and I don't know how much squirrels need or how well they tolerate it if they get a bit extra. Does anyone know?

[Josephina]

I have to say that adding sugar is really not necessary and may create a sweety habit.
There is a lot of sugar in the molasses, FV, apple, and carbs in the cereal not to mention all the carbs in the rat block.
Why not use plain old rolled oats in place of the muesli?


Josephina is LOVING THESE! I needed to make a nutritious snack for her and I had rodent block that was stale, and this recipe was perfect. Thank you!:thankyou :thankyou :thankyou

She had a bad day today, but this ended things well. :thumbsup :goodpost

[Rhapsody]

WOW! - love the ideal Kristal thx and I was also thinking (humans might like these).
I am sure the squirrels enjoy these cookies as an occasional treat. :thumbsup :thumbsup

[pappy1264]

Oh, like this idea! (Think I will try some, adding some yogurt to the mix). My guys do love old fashioned oatmeal plain, so I think I will use that, too. HHHHHMMMMMMM.....me thinks I have to do some baking today (heck, while I am at it, I will make my gliders their fave......blueberry muffins with vanilla yogurt 'frosting'....lol)

[stosh2010]

Oh, like this idea! (Think I will try some, adding some yogurt to the mix). My guys do love old fashioned oatmeal plain, so I think I will use that, too. HHHHHMMMMMMM.....me thinks I have to do some baking today (heck, while I am at it, I will make my gliders their fave......blueberry muffins with vanilla yogurt 'frosting'....lol)
I believe I might have to come over and inspect ( "EAT a FEW of " ) those cupcakes...I need to know that they are suitable of your squirrels...YUMMMMM
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Stosh >>> Keeper of the KING ( of Costa Rica )

[pappy1264]

lol...come on over (I am sure my babies wouldn't mind sharing....a crumb! lol)

[Kristal]

I have made another batch of squirrel cookies, and they seem to be a general hit. It took a little while for them to warm up to them, but I think they are all eating them with general gusto by now. They are not as sweet since I replaced sugar and apple with much more blackstrap molassess. I expect the blackstrap molasses should be very good for them, considering how rich in minerals it is, especially calcium. Blackstrap molasses is basically a concentrated form of all the nutrients that are stripped from sugar cane or sugar beets during the refining process to make table sugar.

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=118#safetyissues

It is nowhere near as sweet as refined molasses, so I ended up adding a lot to make a somewhat sweet cookie. I just tinkered with it until it seemed right and wound up with enough dough to make hundreds of little cookies. It went something like this:

-1/3 cup old rodent block, ground
-1/6 cup brazil nuts, ground
-2/3 cup FV formula in dried form
-1 egg for binding
-1 cup organic, unsulphured, blackstrap molasses (important because refined molasses is much sweeter and nowhere near as nutritious)
-mixed musli cereal, shelled and unsalted sunflower seeds, walnut crumbs to make it more granular and toothsome (anything like that would fit the bill) Next time I will be using this for the chunks:
http://www.lamilanaise.com/anglais/budwigmultigrains_en.html
I got a big bag of that for really cheap at my local bulk food store. It seems like something that would be good in squirrel cookies to me.
-then add enough flour to make it just workable. you are looking to get a consistency that is something like soft fudge. I think I added about 1/4 to 1/3 cup.

With moist and constantly remoistened fingers, roll it into small balls about the size of a large chick pea. Drop them onto a greased or non-stick baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Bake at 225 F for 10 to 12 minutes, until just barely firm on top.

This is what they look like when done:

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_qi4Ev59-5jE/TMXvhbjDE_I/AAAAAAAAAjs/Uc1qjRCSZ6A/s512/DSCF5186.JPG

Well, what do you think? 4sqwerlz, especially... Is the molasses as good for them as I think it is? Is it a healthy treat that will get them eating formula even though they have self weaned?

[mugzeezma]

As I recall Molasses have a lot of iron too so be careful not to overdo
Here are some valuable links you should consider looking at and if i'm not mistaken were a resource that was used in the creation of the HHB.

http://www.nal.usda.gov/fnic/foodcomp/search/

http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=4758&page=11

[Kristal]

Yes, I mentioned that as a concern, but no one answered... so I guess it did not set off alarms? If it does, let me know, please, anyone? :)

It is rich in iron, but probably not in the possible toxic range unless they are extremely sensitive to iron, compared to us. That is what I am figuring, anyway. I guesstimate that this would make around 300 cookies. The dough is refrigerated, as I make them fresh for them every couple of days, or plan to. That would make around 1/6 tsp of molasses per cookie. So they would get .2 mg of iron per cookie, rounded up. How is that?

[pappy1264]

Making a batch of these as I type! lol (I changed things a little, so will let you know they come out and how the monkeys like them!)

[pappy1264]

Well, all four of my flyers devoured them.....but only one of my greys liked them (not sure who it was, as I didn't check that closely.) Oh well, five out of eight....not too bad, I guess. (Course, my daughter wanted to eat them!! lol)

Mine look more like oatmeal cookies...lol

[pappy1264]

Here are my cookies (batteries were dying, so flash didn't work, but you can see them....don't they look like oatmeal cookies? I also put blueberries in them.)

[Kristal]

Mmm, they look tasty. All my kits are eating them with zest and vigour by this point, which is great. It just took a little while for Nibbler to come around :)

I think you may have used refined molasses for those, judging by the colour. Go for the blackstrap molasses. That is the really nutritious one, and it is not nearly as sweet.

Someone was telling me that i need to watch the calcium to phosphorus ratio, but I haven't gotten any more info about it. What is an ideal ratio, please? And is there an amount of phosphorous that one cannot exceed such as there is for iron? I want to be sure I am giving my kits good stuff :)