January 16, 2015
Meet our Penny. She’s an Australian Labradoodle — fancy Montecito speak for expensive mutt. She’s my partner on hikes, our resident squirrel chaser and usually tucked under my feet at both desk and dinner table. I call Penny my shadow, the girls call her sister and my husband calls her crazy, but we all adore her completely.
Overall, we aren’t big on dog treats over here. Penny can move from lean to pudgy pretty fast on her small frame — oh, I can relate. Post-holidays we’re all jonesing to keep on baking in the kitchen, continuing those cozy Christmas cookie feelings. Enter these homemade dog treats. They’re packed with real ingredients, easy to make and go straight to the dogs, not your hips.
The treats can be made with just a raiding of your pantry staples — we all have that can of pumpkin puree sitting on the shelf from Thanksgiving. Although I was tempted, I’ve not sampled these to attest to taste. Penny & Company has gobbled them down with gusto — chances are they’re pretty damn good.
To the girls’ disappointment we’ve never hosted a doggy birthday party. I’m thinking 2015 may be our year…or perhaps a puppy Valentine party? It’s official; my no drinking in January is starting to show.
4 cups oats
2 carrots, sliced in half and then chopped into thirds
3 eggs, divided
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 15-ounce can pumpkin puree
1 cube chicken or beef bouillon diluted in 1/4 cup hot water, divided
Preheat oven to 375.
Pour the oats to a food processor or Vitamix and blend until it resembles flour and pour into a large mixing bowl. Now add the carrots to the blender and blitz until you get a crumb like consistency. Add carrots to the bowl with the oat flour, two of the eggs, peanut butter, pumpkin and two tablespoons bouillon water. Roll out on a surface dusted with flour until about 1/4″ in thickness. Cut out into desired shapes — yield of cookies will change according to the size of your cookie cutter. Lay on two cookie sheets prepared with wax paper, they can bake pretty close together as they won’t spread out when they bake like normal cookies. Combine the remaining egg and bouillon water and brush the outsides of the treats with the wash. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes until crispy and golden.
Quantity will vary depending on the size of your cookie cutter. This recipe made 50 fire hydrant cookies. I discovered I prefer to use the small size cutter because it makes a good treat size for Penny. Woof!
