How to Make a Heart-shaped Bird Suet Block

Oat Cakes

• 1

  Cut 8 oz. suet into 1-inch pieces. Place the pieces into a medium saucepan, and warm over medium-high heat. Stir until the suet melts completely.

• 2

  Remove the pan from the heat. Mix in 1 cup crunchy peanut butter and 1 cup flour. Also, stir in 2 cups yellow cornmeal, 2 cups quick-cook rolled oats, and 1/3 cup sugar.

• 3

  Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place heart-shaped cookie cutters on the parchment paper.

• 4

  Pour the suet mixture into the cookie cutters. Place the sheet pan in the refrigerator for one to two hours to cool and harden the cakes.

• 5

  Carefully remove the heart-shaped suet blocks from the cookie cutters. Use a wooden skewer to poke a hole through the suet cakes near the top edge. Feed a piece of twine through the hole. Hang the completed cakes from a tree branch.

Fruit Cakes

• 6

  Cut 4 oz. suet into 1-inch pieces. Melt the suet pieces over medium-high heat in a saucepan, stirring occasionally.

• 7

  Remove the pan from the heat. Mix into the melted suet 2 cups unflavored breadcrumbs, 3 cored and chopped apples, 1 cup each unsalted nuts, raisins, crunchy peanut butter, wild birdseed, and white sugar, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/4 cup yellow cornmeal. Stir until all is incorporated and forms a tight mass.

• 8

  Allow the suet to cool enough until you can handle it. Use your hands to mold the mixture into heart shapes. Place the hearts onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

• 9

  Freeze for one hour to set the mixture. Place the completed cakes on a fence post or into a suet feeder.