By Melissa Hendrickson

What better way to celebrate the rejection of Proposition 127 in Colorado, the citizen initiative that tried to ban mountain lion hunting, than baking up a delicious treat using rendered mountain lion fat? This jar of fat was reserved for special occasions as it was my husband’s first mountain lion and our first time cooking and baking with cat fat.

If you don’t happen to have any cougar fat on hand, this recipe can be easily substituted with any other fat you might accumulate during hunting or trapping season (or lard or butter). I’ve tested it with goose, duck, moose tallow, and bobcat fat. Depending on the fat hardness, a little more or a little less flour might be needed.  How to render your own fat can be found here: https://www.backcountryhunters.org/how_to_make_tallow

You will also need an active sourdough starter. If you don’t already have that going in your kitchen, it’s best to acquire some from a friend. Or type in “how to start a sourdough starter” into Google and you will have approximately 8 million hits in a half a second.

If you are the type of person who likes to follow along a video for baking, I wouldn’t take ours too seriously. You will quickly be able to tell we are not trained pastry chefs, but hopefully we provide you some enjoyment. Linked at the bottom.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 tsp cardamon (optional)

1/3 cup cold cougar fat

2 cups active sourdough starter

Filling:

Options include nutella, cream cheese, brie, marmalade, jams, chocolate chips, thin sliced fruit or berries.  Use your imagination and contents of your refrigerator/pantry: options are endless!

Icing:

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 Tbsp +/- milk

1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Place a silicone sheet or parchment paper on a large baking sheet. The insides leak and caramelize on the pan, the added layer helps with clean up.
3. In a mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, sugar and optional cardamon. Give this a stir to mix.
4. Using a pastry blender (or 2 forks if you don’t have one), cut in the cold fat until it is small pea sized chunks.
5. Mix in the two cups of sourdough starter. This should come together as a soft dough. If it is too wet, add more flour. If it is too dry, add more starter.
6. Turn out onto a well floured counter and roll out until approximately 12 inches by 16 inches. It should be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick.
7. Using a butter knife, divide into 12 equal sized rectangles of dough.
8. Spread filling on one side of the dough rectangles. I use as many different fillings as fit my fancy for each batch. The more you load in there, the more they will bubble out the sides while cooking.
9. Fold the other half of the dough square over, pinching the seam.
10. Use a knife to score the paw lobes onto each one, cut deep enough to see the filling. Place them on a baking sheet, slightly curving so the cuts are to the outside of the curve.
11. Bake for 45 minutes, checking after 30. The should be golden brown
12. While they are baking, mix the icing. Start with a tablespoon of milk and add more by the half teaspoon if the icing needs to be thinner
13. Remove from the oven and place the baking sheet on a cooling rack.
14. If eating immediately, drizzle icing over as you serve. Otherwise, wait until they cool to drizzle the icing.

If you want to watch a video of my son and I making these delicious treats, click here!