calling any one from missouri

[jthornton]

I forgot to mention that Sweet Pea gave me a Christmas egg today, so fresh eggs for breakfast.

JT

 

[SueT]

Well I made the juniper chocolate hazelnut cookies and they are delightful! Just like the description says, they "have a unique bittersweet, chocolatey, nutty, floral flavor profile with a crunchy edge and soft, fudgy center!"
Thanks to @ChickenCanoe for commenting on my photo, my culinary world has expanded! ( Not to mention my appreciation for what's here for the picking.)
They'd be as good or better with walnuts, black walnuts, ot pecans in place of hazelnuts.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

This is a first for me... a wolf spider on Christmas day ... saw this one outside tonight at about 6:30 tonight ...crazy Show Me State weather

 

[shawluvsbirds]

This is a first for me... a wolf spider on Christmas day ... saw this one outside tonight at about 6:30 tonight ...crazy Show Me State weather

View attachment 1987899

I had a saber tooth cave cricket in my bathroom yesterday!
*almost worster than a spider. Those things really really creep me out.

 

[shawluvsbirds]

nightmare fuel

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Chocolate Covered Crickets

Ingredients:

• 1 cup roasted crickets (see recipe for Dry Roasted Crickets)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Melt the chocolate chips according to packaging.
Drop in a handful of crickets, stirring them around.
Scoop them out with a spoon, and place them on wax paper, keeping them apart from one another.
Continue until all the crickets are covered.
The chocolate will harden overnight but if you prefer you can freeze them for about an hour and they will be ready to eat shortly thereafter.
Once hardened, the crickets can be stored in a container for future use.

Tips: For an extra treat and visual experience, place chocolate covered crickets atop broken bits of white chocolate chunks or dip chocolate covered crickets in powdered chocolate and serve chilled.

 

[OhZark Biddies]

Look what I found
Juniper berry spiced Chocolate Hazelnut cookies
Juniper Berry spiced Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies - these slice and bake chocolate hazelnut cookies are easy to make, and have a unique bittersweet, chocolatey, nutty, floral flavor profile with a crunchy edge and soft, fudgy center!

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp whole juniper berries
• 225 g / 8 oz unsalted softened butter
• 200 g / 7 oz brown sugar
• ½ tsp kosher salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 200 g / 7 oz AP flour
• 75 g / 2.6oz Dutch cocoa powder OR Natural cocoa powder I used valrhona, which is a darker natural cocoa powder
• 170 g / 6 oz of hazelnuts toasted and skinned
• 225 g / 8 oz milk chocolate roughly chopped into chunks
• 1 - 2 cups of raw sugar to roll the cookies in

Instructions:

• Place the juniper berries in a dry pan. Heat to dry roast the berries for a few minutes and to toast them. (You will start to smell the juniper berries and find that they look toasted when they are done).
• Remove from heat and let them cool down. Place the cooled juniper berries in a spice grinder (or use a mortar and pestle) and grind them to a powder. Juniper berry powder will be slightly wet and sticky. Set aside until needed.
• Add the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla and juniper berry spice to a large bowl OR your mixer bowl. With a hand mixer or stand mixer (with a paddle mix), mix until the butter and sugar are well mixed and creamy - do not beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Add the sifted flour and sifted cocoa powder. Fold them in by hand, OR use the mixer/hand mixer, to incorporate the flour and cocoa powder.
• Add the hazelnuts and milk chocolate chunks and mix them in until they are spread throughout the dough. Divide the dough in half.
• Form a 2 - 2 ½ inch wide cookie dough log with each of the dough portions. Wrap each log in plastic wrap (knotting the ends tightly).
• Refrigerate for about 1 - 2 hours until the cookie dough is firm. The dough can be refrigerated overnight as well.

When ready to bake

• Line two half sheet pans / cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. Sprinkle the raw sugar on a flat plate.
• Unwrap one of the cookie dough logs and roll the log in the raw sugar. Using a sharp knife, cut off the tapered end of the cookie dough log. Then cut 1cm thick slices. Please note that because of the nuts and chocolate chips, you may not get clean slices, so reshape the cookies into rounds when they don’t cut cleanly. Roll the edges in the raw sugar again if you need to. Place the cookies on the lined baking sheet. Each log should make about 12 cookies (not including the ends).
• Cover the lined baking sheet with plastic wrap / parchment paper / or a another baking tray and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minute before baking. This chilling is important to allow the cookies to keep their shape while baking.
• While the cookies are chilling, preheat oven to 325°F. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. The cookies will be soft when you take them out of the oven, and since they are dark brown, it would be hard to tell if they are done. But they will firm up as they cool. Once the cookies have cooled down, remove them from the baking tray and place them on a wire rack.
• Repeat with the second cookie log and the second baking sheet.The cookies will be crunchy on the outside, but soft and fudgy in the middle.
• Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Tips & Tricks
NOTE 1 - you CAN leave out the juniper berries, if you prefer. These chocolate hazelnut cookies taste AMAZING even without that extra flavor profile.

Or if you like, you can substitute juniper berries with one of the following too.

1 tsp ground cinnamon (Cinnamon Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies)

2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 2 tsp water (Mocha Hazelnut Cookies)

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (Chili Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies)

1 tsp peppermint extract + roasted almonds (Mint Chocolate Almond Cookies)

I might have to try this!

 

[shawluvsbirds]

Chocolate Covered Crickets

Ingredients:

• 1 cup roasted crickets (see recipe for Dry Roasted Crickets)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:
Melt the chocolate chips according to packaging.
Drop in a handful of crickets, stirring them around.
Scoop them out with a spoon, and place them on wax paper, keeping them apart from one another.
Continue until all the crickets are covered.
The chocolate will harden overnight but if you prefer you can freeze them for about an hour and they will be ready to eat shortly thereafter.
Once hardened, the crickets can be stored in a container for future use.

Tips: For an extra treat and visual experience, place chocolate covered crickets atop broken bits of white chocolate chunks or dip chocolate covered crickets in powdered chocolate and serve chilled.

I might could try that if I had to. . if it was a regular black cricket.
Not those nasty alien ones. They pop and white guts come out when you smack them with your shoe.
Can you imagine biting into one!

 

[OhZark Biddies]

I might could try that if I had to. . if it was a regular black cricket.
Not those nasty alien ones. They pop and white guts come out when you smack them with your shoe.
Can you imagine biting into one!

My lil sis, has a proper phobia of crickets and grasshoppers...I mean full on panicking freak out... even though she knows in her head they can’t hurt her...

she blames me and my younger brother for it...she says we threw the crazy saber toothed cave crickets at her when we were kids... I don’t remember it...

but she’s also a duck person...

so it’s likely we did it... and as a result she’s terrified of crickets and loves ducks... so I’m starting to see a theme here

 

[shawluvsbirds]

My lil sis, has a proper phobia of crickets and grasshoppers...I mean full on panicking freak out... even though she knows in her head they can’t hurt her...

she blames me and my younger brother for it...she says we threw the crazy saber toothed cave crickets at her when we were kids... I don’t remember it...

but she’s also a duck person...

so it’s likely we did it... and as a result she’s terrified of crickets and loves ducks... so I’m starting to see a theme here

You big Meaney!