kdolu So my friend came over the other day to bake cookies with me. It was basically just an excuse to get together and drink wine, but we ended up with a few batches of cookies. I’m not much of a baker, so I stuck with the classic chocolate chip cookie.
I’m a wild one, alright.
My friend, Jill, brought ingredients to make what she calls, “Cow Pies”. It is a delicious chocolate cookie with a peppermint patty in the middle and, yes, it does resemble a cow pie.
This got my wheels turning….
“Hmmmm,” I thought to myself, “How can I share this recipe and relate it to dairy farming?”.
There was only one logical answer—-poop.
I’m going to give you the recipe for Cow Pie Cookies, but first we are going to quite literally talk sh*t.
Yup. Cow manure. My dad always said it smelled like money.
Why?
Because cow manure is very valuable to dairy farmers. We capture the manure on our farm and reuse it as a natural fertilizer. It is a great nutrient and it allows us to reduce our need for commercial fertilizers. It is just one of the many practices farmers use to be more environmentally friendly and sustainable.
You are probably wondering how I capture cow crap? Do I follow my cows around with a five gallon bucket? Not quite.
I’m not sure if you know this, but cows are not potty trained and they poop ALL over the place. So, three times a day -when the cows head to the milking parlor- we scrape away the manure in their pen. We use a skidsteer and a giant scraper to push the poop toward our large holding pit.
The manure is stored in the pit until the weather conditions allow us to spread it on a field.
Timing and proper manure management is important when it comes to fertilizing fields. We listen to the weatherman and avoid spreading manure when there is a possibility of rain. Spreading on soggy fields or right before a rainstorm could result in manure runoff.
Nobody wants poop in their water.
We work with a professional who helps us evaluate our fields and determine how much manure to apply. The perfect amount of manure helps grow the crops we use to feed our cattle.
Now that we just finished talking about poop….who is ready for a cookie?!
These are quite simple to make and pretty tasty. My advice is to just plop them on the baking sheet and make them look like a cow pie to the best of your ability.
1 box of Devil’s Food Cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 box of peppermint patties
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease a baking sheet.
Mix the cake mix, eggs and oil in a large bowl to form a batter.
Wrap batter around the peppermint patty.
Bake for 9 minutes.
