Fraser Lewry's animal alphabet: A

The author of kicks off a new meaty adventure in which he attempts to eat the alphabet

Ants in Quicksand: a biscuit recipe from Fraser Lewry, author of the long-running Blogjam and the legendary Some rights reserved.

The background: My mate Rob is a bit weird. He's a vegetarian whose idea of culinary adventure is to add mild cheddar to a four-cheese pizza, yet he's fascinated by food and continually prompts those around him to push boundaries where their own diets are concerned: "Why not eat six kilos of wine gums to see if you get drunk?", he'll shriek. Or "Why don't you build a replica of Colditz Castle out of mince?" Or "Wouldn't it be great if you cooked and ate an animal beginning with each letter of the alphabet?" And eventually I'll snap, and obey.

The rules: It's pretty simple. I'm a) not allowed to use Latin names, and b) if I'm struggling to come up with an animal beginning with 'R', for instance, I'm not allowed to use "ring-tailed lemur" because all lemurs are filed under 'L'. Not that I'd eat lemur, of course, because they're an endangered species, which brings me to c) no endangered species.

A: Ants in Quicksand (my own recipe).

Ants are eaten the world over. In Australia, honeypot ants are considered a rare treat by the aborigines, while similar varieties are also prized in the south-western United States for the sap stored in the insect's abdomen. Some Mexicans like nothing more than to tuck into a plate of stir-fried ant pupae, cooked with black butter, or with garlic and onions, and red ants are often used to garnish duck soup in Thailand.

Me? I make biscuits.

The leafcutter ant is found throughout the Amazon basin and much of Central America. In the early days of the rainy season, thousands of females emerge from their nests, where they're caught and toasted by the local indians, the meat prized for it's crackly, bacon-like flavour. Ants that aren't devoured in this fashion are regularly snapped up by the Edible Company, who import them to Europe, cover them in chocolate, and flog them to the posh and the curious at Fortnum & Masons. I got mine online from Firebox.

The recipe (makes six biscuits):

65g unsalted butter

80g soft brown sugar

1/2 lightly whipped free-range egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

75g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

small pinch of salt

12 chocolate-covered leafcutter ants

1. Heat the oven to 180C/355F/Gas 4.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment.

3. Heat the butter until melted then pour into a bowl containing the sugar. Mix well.

4. Add the vanilla and egg and beat until well combined.

5. Sift the flour, salt and baking powder and salt into the bowl and mix.

6. Spoon the mixture into six portions on the baking sheet - make sure they're kept well apart, as the dough will spread out.

7. Lightly nestle a pair of ants on the top of each biscuit.

8. Cook for 10-12 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown.

9. Cool on a wire rack, then serve to unsuspecting guests, explaining that they're regular chocolate chip cookies, honest.

While this may sound like a gimmick, the biscuits are actually very nice. Anyone familiar with the unfettered thrill provided by the consumption of a plateful of chocolate pretzels will be familiar with the experience; the sweetness of the chocolate contrasting sharply with sudden bursts of salty, savoury brilliance.

Go on, give it a try. In a couple of weeks time, I'll be cooking up something beginning with the letter 'B'.