Carrot Cake Cookies, for Parrots and People? Well this is something we have to try!

Adapted from @birdsinparadise's [Super Healthy Carrot Cake](https://hive.blog/hive-114105/@birdsinparadise/healthy-treats-or-easter-love-from-the-birds-carrot-cake) which is intended for people - so make sure to check out her original!
I saw the recipe, and with a few tweeks, realized it would be just the thing for my little conures to enjoy in much smaller portions! Because it isn't the easiest to get to the big pet shops at the moment, i thought I would share this guide on how to make your own healthy parrot treats. This is an entry to the [latest round](https://hive.blog/build-contest/@build-it/build-it-weekly-contest-20-hive-2250-build-and-100-upvote-from-build-it-in-rewards-q8u49h#@build-it/q8x477) of the @build-it DIY and How To contest so make sure to check it out and see if you'd like to join in. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/aOL7xebM-image.png) These little treats are suitable for parrots and parakeets ,although if you have an unusual breed or don't feed your bird any of the ingredients, please double check before making these for your birds.

Ingredients:

You can adjust these depending on how many you want to make, and what fruit your birds like best, make sure to check the [original recipe](https://hive.blog/hive-114105/@birdsinparadise/healthy-treats-or-easter-love-from-the-birds-carrot-cake) for ideas of other fruit you could add. - 2 apples - 1 carrot grated or pulped - Two tablespoons of coconut oil - Ground oats (it's hard to say how much I used, but I part filled three mugs with oats, and blitzed them with a hand held blender until they were like powder. I would guess I used about a full mug, but it doesn't need to be exact, and depending on the size of your apples & carrot you may find you need to add more anyway) Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Step One - The Apple

Select two apples, they okay guys? It's hard to tell by looking isn't it? ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/12u7ORWd-image.png) We should probably have a taste test. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/00lz298b-image.png) Yep, tasty! Lets get chopping! I didn't chop these small enough, and as you'll see from the finished cookies, the apple skin stopped them holding together as well. You want to dice them nice and small and put the chopped apple in a small pan, ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/A2U38YBG-image.png) *(Oops, we have a poopy, better clean that up before we carry on. We have been doing pooping perch training, and they are getting pretty good at using them, but sometimes they are just too excited to fly off and come back.)* Next stew the apples over a low heat. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/hlcSiTjW-image.png) Once the apple is nice and soft, and ready to fall, add two tablespoons of coconut oil. If you want to use more, you can balance the mixture with some extra ground oats later on. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/SJCftbwK-image.png) Using a fork, make sure the apple is well mashed. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/scJUsfOv-image.png) woo thats step one complete!

Step Two - The Mixture

Next you want to blend/blitz your oats into powder. This is standard sized mug, filled about 1 third of the way up with oats, my hand blended is a perfect fit for this mug, sadly I have no photos of me using it as I need two hands to operate it. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/3aj1cDHs-image.png) Tip the first batch of ground oats into the pan with the mashed apple and mix well. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/lCf0eiFj-image.png) Add about a third of the grated carrot, and mix again. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/nrNp3NJW-image.png) Because the carrot will be a bit wet, you will want to alternate between adding ground oats and grated carrot. Keep going until you have mixed in all the carrot. You are looking for a fairly heavy dough that will still be a bit tacky, but is stiff to mix. If it's still wet, add some more ground oats. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/qtFtTmQ3-image.png) Essentially, you want to keep adding ground oats until it is possible to take a spoonful, and roughly shape it into a disc. It might stick to your fingers a little bit, but not too much.

Step Three - The Cookies!

Use about a rounded teaspoon of mixture per cookie, much bigger than they will stay soft in the middle even after they'd cooled (like my fist batch did). Space them evenly on a baking sheet and put them into the oven (preheated to 180 degrees) for about 15 minutes. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/LDgJpPfe-image.png) 15 minutes seems like a long time, but they have plenty of moisture in that needs to cook out. Once they start to go golden brown around the very edges they should be cooked, get them out and transfer them to a cooling wrack. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/7a7UYhA9-image.png) Now this last step turned out to be the hardest. Try not to eat them until they are completely cooled. Try. In the end, I gave up and I had to let these two try my first batch, which were a bit too big and were still fairly moist while the second batch cooled enough to be eaten properly. The ones that were a bit too big won't get wasted though, we are going to try freezing them and having them as a cool treat on hot days! ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/GSGSepWP-image.png) Ohhh they are really good! I ended up having a few myself and they are so tasty! Like apple flapjack! My two birds love eating everything I do, so it's great to have a little tub of these we can share. ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/UMVKT3Km-image.png) ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/eC5mv8ZR-image.png) ![image.png](https://files.peakd.com/file/peakd-hive/letalis-laetitia/63cyw0pL-image.png)
In the end I decided, as I haven't actually met any other parrot owners on here, to enter this in the [latest round](https://hive.blog/build-contest/@build-it/build-it-weekly-contest-20-hive-2250-build-and-100-upvote-from-build-it-in-rewards-q8u49h#@build-it/q8x477) of the @build-it DIY and How To contest. I had wanted to be able to post this to the bird lovers community on hive in the hope sit might be useful to someone, but cross posting contest of entries isn't allowed - I thought I better mention this as I know there are a few fantastic curators out there who cross post things to other communities, and they might not be aware that it would disqualify any entries to this contest. It is a great idea, getting people to write guides and really bringing value to the block chain, with things people might google and find, so if you have chance, see if you can put together a post!