Choc Chirpie Chip Cookies Recipe: Cricket Flour Cookies

A tasty twist to the beloved old-fashioned chocolate chip cookie, these tastebud-tickling treats will bring out your inner chirpie! The cricket flour adds lot of protein and minerals, and an extra dimension in flavor.

Ingredients: 
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cricket flour*
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 pkg 12 oz choc chips

*To make cricket flour, you will need about 50 adult crickets. Follow steps 1-3 & 5 as for the choc chirpie recipe above. Then whizz the dry-roasted crickets in the blender for cricket flour. 


Preparation: 

1. Mix flour, cricket flour, baking soda and salt 
2. Cream butter and sugar (10 minutes) then mix in egg and vanilla essence till just blended 
3. Stir in dry ingredients to form stiff cookie dough. 
4. Stir in choc chips 
5. Drop rounded measuring teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet 
6. Bake at 350 deg F for 15 minutes 

 Enjoy!

Choco Chirpies Recipe: Chocolate Covered Crickets

These chocolate covered crickets are scrumptious! The sweet chocolate 'cocoon' encases a surprisingly crisp, nutty and flavorsome filling.You will need 20 live adult crickets, toothpicks and dipping chocolate.

1. Feed the crickets some fresh apple slices for a day or two. This helps clear out their gut and imparts an awesome apple flavor to your choco chirpies. 
2. Put the crickets to 'sleep' in freezer for 10 minutes. 
3. Rinse and drain. 
4. Bake 200 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour. Skewer with toothpick through bottom towards head. Legs should break off easily at this point. 
5. Bake a further 1 hr at 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Test for doneness by squishing one - it should be crisp and kinda crumble when crushed. 
6. Dip crickets into melted chocolate. The pic to the right shows milk-choc, dark-choc and straight (hardcore!) crickets. 
7. Lay on wax paper to harden. 

Enjoy!

Bug recipes

Insects are a great source of protein and most of the ones I have enjoyed had a sweet, nutty flavor. I have stir-fried cicadas in the Borneo jungle, savored sago grubs at a bustling market in Sarawak, and sampled some truly tasty chestnut weevils in Virginia, USA.

Here you will find links to my favorite edible insect recipes, and links to my bug-eating adventures. For now I have listed two of the most popular with kids and grown-ups alike: 'Choco Chirpies' and 'Choc Chirpie Chip Cookies''.