Do you know a crazy pet lover? You know, those people that make their pets dress up in some silly costume for Halloween? Those that make (or buy) their dogs birthday cakes? Those that pretty much let their dog(s) run their life?
Yep, I’m totally one of those.
Before we got Bentley, my now 1-year-old boxer, I always thought those people were crazy. “Seriously? Why is your poor dog wearing that ridiculous costume?” “Why are you wasting so much time and money when they don’t know it’s even their birthday?”
Well, I finally now can relate, and I have to admit, I’m now “one of those people”.
For example, Bentley got a dinosaur outfit for Halloween last year and was not at all thrilled about wearing it. In fact, the only way we were able to get him to sit still was by putting a treat right in front of him. Poor dog.
Then for his 1st birthday last month, I made him a cake. A two-layered cake, for that matter. No cake is complete with frosting, I also frosted it with some puppy-friendly frosting, complete with some piped lettering.
Yep. My dog is spoiled.
Anyway, now that I’m in vet tech school and learning all about the nutritional values of dog food and dog treats, I quickly realized that it’s a lot healthier to make your own dog biscuits. Not only is it more economical, it also doesn’t contain a list of ingredients that you usually can’t even pronounce (let alone know what it is).
I make Bentley doggie treats on a pretty regular basis. It’s actually pretty simple, and a lot of recipes you find out there usually contains less than 10 ingredients. The one in this post is my original one that contains all puppy-friendly ingredients.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour (regular all-purpose flour works just fine as well)
- a dash of salt
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
- 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup apple sauce
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- In an electric mixer, combine flour and salt.
- On medium speed, combine the water, peanut butter, apple sauce, and eggs until everything is well mixed together.
- Find a decent sized flat working surface and lightly flour it.
- Transfer the dough (it will be a little sticky) to your floured surface and knead until it’s no longer sticky. It’s a lot easier if you use the heel of your hand and stand directly over your work surface so you’re using your upper body to knead the dough. Add more flour to your surface if needed.
- Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 1/2 inch thick. Using a cookie cutter, cut out shapes and transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Roll the remaining dough up in a ball, re-flour your surface, and repeat the steps above until you no longer have enough dough to cut out anymore shapes.
- Bake for about 20 minutes, and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Once the biscuits are cooled, store them in an airtight container.
Just as a warning: Bentley was super whiny and sat in the kitchen almost the entire time these were sitting out to cool.
Be prepared to see sad looking faces such as this one! “Can I please have a biscuit? Please?”
Finally! They were finally cool enough for a taste test. “Gimmie!”
Enjoy!
