When I was thinking about Christmas gifts last year, I knew I wanted a little something extra to give friends and family. Once I realized just how many of us have dogs as pets, the solution was simple!
I found a dog treats recipe and gave them a try. 4 out of 5 recipients devoured them – the 5th hasn’t reported back yet 🙂
I’ve made these three times now and someone in our household seems to have developed a sixth sense when Mom is making them!
These are really easy to whip up but I would highly recommend using a stand mixer as the dough is very thick and would be hard to stir by hand!
Beyond that, the recipe is as easy as mixing together, forming into “biscuits” and baking. The last time I made these I just used a cookie scoop to form the dough and place on the baking sheets. That worked except for one problem – they tended to look like chicken nuggets in the refrigerator and made ME hungry ! LOL
Humans can eat these. Papa and I each tried one but didn’t think they had much flavor. Apparently a dog’s tastes are more discerning and can pick out the small amount of peanut butter hidden in the recipe.
This makes a couple of pans of treats because I doubled the original recipe I found. We froze Olivia the Pumpkin in 2-cup increments so I didn’t want to have to thaw and use a partial bag. Plus, when you give these to friends and family and your dog loves them, they go quickly! I’m sure they’d freeze well too. Just be warned: since they don’t have preservatives in them, it would be best to keep them in the refrigerator. We learned the hard way that keeping them in a closed container on the counter makes for fuzzy treats in a week or so.
The original recipe I found also had a bit less pumpkin but included water. There was also added salt, which I excluded. I felt there would be plenty of salt in the peanut butter and Finley doesn’t seem to mind the low-salt version.
The first couple times I made these I did what the recipe called for, and “rolled” and cut out the dough. When I say roll – I mean that I dumped the dough out on a heavily floured surface because it’s very sticky and just patted it down until it was even. No need to even bring out the rolling pin!
Then I ran through the dough with a pizza cutter to make little square/rectangles. I didn’t worry about getting them too even or nicely looking – they are just dog treats after all!
They don’t get super-crunchy like a certain milk-treat brand we’ve been known to buy. Perhaps that is some of the appeal – that they’re more like human food 🙂
I’d love to hear if you try these – or if you know of other great pet treats. Finley certainly prefers these over store-bought ones, so I’m looking for a variety.
Pumpkin / peanut butter dog treats
Ingredients
- 4 1/4 – 4 1/2 cups whole wheat flour plus extra for rolling
- 1 cup quick or rolled oats
- 4 eggs
- 2 cups pumpkin 16 oz can
- 1/3 cup peanut butter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F
- Combine all ingredients in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment until everything is combined.
- Flour your work surface and pat or roll the dough until 1/4″ thick. Cut into approximately 1 to 2″ squares.
- Bake for 35-35 minutes. The treats will still be a bit soft.
The ingredient list sounds good – I may have to try these for our daughter and son-in-law’s three mini dachshund’s. They definitely love their treats!