DARK CHOCOLATE CRICKETS, CHOCOLATE CRICKET CHIP COOKIES & MORE: National Chocolate Covered Insect Day

Today is a holiday worthy of Halloween. October 14 is National Chocolate-Covered Insects Day. Last week I was at two different markets and saw these packages of Chocolate Crickets with Amaranth Seeds. Bugs and insects are hitting the big time in specialty food. So if you're not inclined to make Chocolate Cricket Chip Cookies (recipe below), I suggest you pick up a bag. They're handmade in San Francisco and are "toasted, protein packed & crunchy."

Over the years, I've posted several examples of chocolate covered insects: Chocolate Scorpions and other chocolate covered bugs, but I always return to this recipe I found on Weird-Food.com for Chocolate Cricket Chip Cookies. They put the crunch in the cookie. O.K. they're slightly weird, but Frank Price, my partner in crime, spent 3 years in Cote d'Ivoire, and it doesn't seem weird to him at all. Dry-roasted Crickets add protein and crunch. I've seen a different version of these Chocolate Chip Cricket Cookies with whole crickets in them. TMI! Declaration: I've never made these, and I never will. I'm definitely not a bug person. But because it's National Chocolate Covered Insect Day, I thought I'd share the following recipe.

Chocolate Cricket Chip Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 12-ounce chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup dry-roasted crickets

Directions
Preheat oven to 375.
In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In large bowl, combine butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla; beat until creamy.
Beat in eggs.
Gradually add flour mixture and Crickets, mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded measuring teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.