Homemade Dog Treats
Yield: 34 cookies (when using a 3-inch long bone-shaped cookie cutter and shaping the last of the scraps into rounds)
These are sure to please your four-legged friends—and they make thoughtful holiday gifts for their owners!


Ingredients

  • 3 cups (480 grams) brown rice flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup (64 grams) peanut butter (I use Jif—make sure your brand does not contain xylitol)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 can (15-ounce) pumpkin or sweet potato puree (not the sweetened pie mix)

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In large bowl stir all of the ingredients until a soft dough forms. (I find it easier to start with a spoon and then to use my hands.)

    Divide the dough in half. Using brown-rice-floured rolling pin (or between two pieces of parchment paper*), roll each dough half to a 1/2-inch thickness on a rice-floured surface. Cut into desired shape with a cookie cutter, and then place the cutouts an inch apart on a lightly greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Reroll any scraps.**

    Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until dry and golden brown. Cool for 1-2 minutes, and then remove to a cooling rack and cool completely.

    Store the treats in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week, or refrigerate or freeze for longer storage.


Notes

*If using parchment paper, the dough will begin to stick after repeated rolling. You can either dust it lightly with brown rice flour or use fresh parchment as the dough beings to stick.

**In lieu of using a cookie cutter, you may roll the dough into balls and then flatten the balls into 1/2-inch thick circles.

A few more thoughts… I recently shared the recipe with a friend who said she rolled the dough into a cylinder, chilled, and then sliced before baking. I haven’t tried this myself, but mention it as a possibility. Another friend said she saw a recipe for dog treats that included fish oil and mashed sardines—and warned that they should be baked with the windows open!

 


More recipes at FountainAvenueKitchen.com