Gingerbread Cookies for the Birds
1-1/2 cups sugar 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1/2 cup shortening 1/3 cup molasses 1 egg 2 cups flour 1-1/4 whole wheat flour 2 teaspoons baking soda
one egg white bird seed/chopped nuts/raisins
Beat the sugar with the butter or margarine and shortening until well combined. Add the molasses and egg, and beat well. Mix together the flours and the baking soda, and add to the butter mixture. Refrigerate for one hour.
Roll out to 1/4″ thickness and cut out with cookie cutters. Brush cookies with the egg white, and sprinkle and decorate with bird seed, nuts, and raisins.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. While the cookies are still warm, make a hole with a skewer. When the cookie is cool, thread a 12″ length of wool or twine through the hole, and hang in a tree for the birds.
Baking notes: Birds probably don’t have much in the way of tastebuds, so its ok to leave out any spices or salt. This is a really nice cookie dough–smooth and easy to roll out. As well as using cookie cutters, it works to simply use a cup or a clean, empty tin can to cut out cookies. This recipe is a great way to use up bits and pieces of nuts and raisins–-birds aren’t fussy. Be sure to make the hole large enough–-about 1/4″ in diameter is good.
**Once you have your cookies hung on the tree with care so all the birds will flock over there....You can take part in helping the scientists at Cornell by counting the birds! They gather bird count information from November until April, so you have plenty of time to join in. Go to FeederWatch.org for more information!
Find more recipes and fun facts at:
MaryJane's Farm Magazine. (2021). www.MaryJanesFarm.org