After being a constant visitor to https://www.suziespettreats.com/ , I am proud to announce that I baked 1,000 dog treats last week! You know how around Christmas time humans get those tins that have a bunch of different types of cookies in them held in tiny cupcake wrappers? Well dogs deserve that too, so I decided to be the change and all that and make my own “doggie bags.” I made up two new recipes and I can’t wait to hear how my canine friends like them. I know Chubb went nuts over the sweet potato apple ones.
Peanut butter and jelly is one of my flavor obsessions and I wanted to find a way for dogs to safely enjoy it too, so I came up with this. This recipe includes applesauce, freeze dried strawberries, and mashed banana. I thought that would be a tasty combination of dog safe fruits that would really come together for that flavor that we associate with a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Dogs can’t have grape, so they can never experience the grape jelly flavor, but I am a fan of strawberry anyway, so this was really fun to come up with. I even did part of it with oat flour so that it would give that “bread” taste to the treat.
One small complaint about this recipe was that they didn’t rise very much. I am thinking of using baking powder in the recipe next time. I had some concerns about using baking powder in my dog treats, but after reading up on it, I felt that a small amount is safe. I read from some reputable sources that while baking powder is a food that dogs aren’t supposed to have, they are referring to straight baking powder from the jar. When you use baking powder in a recipe, not only do you use a small amount (1 tsp. in a recipe that makes 150-200 treats), but the active agents in it are used up during the baking process. It made perfect sense to me and I was relieved, considering many of the treat recipes I find from very reputable places call for baking powder. I plan to continue using it, but I encourage you to do your own research and talk to your vet before making your own choice.
I am also bummed that these treats aren’t red! I had hoped the freeze dried strawberries would lend a pinkish or reddish tint to these, but I was definitely wrong. I think I would have to use real strawberries for that. Either way, the pups never complained about the color! Of course, make sure your freeze dried strawberries contain no other preservatives or sweeteners. Make sure that the only ingredient is strawberries.
I am pretty proud of these and of the flavor combination. I like trying to find my favorite flavors and make them pup friendly. I am still out of ideas for pup safe white chocolate raspberry and caramel, but I have the peanut butter ones down and peanut butter is life!
Now it is time for me to go do some human baking! I have some treat trays to make for fur-less friends and my friendship bread starter is taking off like crazy and making all kinds of goodies. The holiday treat making bug must have got my husband too, because he suggested we make hot cocoa bombs. I was super pleasantly surprised that he requested this, and even happier that he wants to do it together. He’s the chef and I’m the baker, so this should be fun to try candy making as a team. Of course I convinced him we need to add sprinkles to our hot coca bombs because what is the meaning of Christmas if not sprinkles? What is the meaning of life if not sprinkles? I’m not sure he agrees, but he is indulging me and he only mildly shook his head when I tossed two different holiday sprinkles in our cart after an embarrassing amount of time deciding.
I hope you all have a great Christmas and you get to share and receive some baked goods. Maybe even some for your canine friends! May your Christmas be filled with love, sugar, and of course, sprinkles.
Peanut Butter and Jelly Dog Biscuits
- 2 overripe bananas, mashed
- 1 egg
- 3 T. unsweetened applesauce
- 2/3 c. natural peanut butter (make sure it doesn’t contain any xylitol or any other artificial sweeteners)
- 1 tsp. baking powder (optional, they won’t rise as much without it, but your pups won’t mind!)
- 2 c. whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2c. old fashioned oats
- 1/2 c. freeze dried strawberries
Makes about 150-200 treats, depending on the size of your cookie cutters.
In a regualr blender or Nutri Ninja cup, place in 1 1/2c. of old fashioned oats along with 1/2 cup of the freeze dried strawberries and blend them until they are all combined and the texture of flour. If there are a few chunks, don’t worry about it.
In a large mixing bowl, mash your bananas with a fork until they are almost liquid. Add the rest of your liquid ingredients and stir well. If you decided to add the baking powder, add it in along with the oat/strawberry mixture. Once it’s all mixed in, add the flour 1 cup at a time until it’s all worked in. You may have to work the dough with your hands to get it all combined.
If your dough is too stiff, you can add another tablespoon or two of applesauce, and if your dough is too sticky to work with, add in a tablespoon or two of flour until you can roll it out without it sticking to everything.
Roll it to about 1/4 inch thickness, working with about 1/3 of the dough at a time. Cut out shapes and place them on a parchment or silicone lined baking sheet. Bake them at 325 for 20 minutes until the bottoms are golden brown.
Keep adding more dough to the scraps and rolling it out and cutting out treats until all your dough is used up.
Allow to cool completely before placing in an airtight container or ziploc bag.
Storage tip: If you place them in a ziploc, use a piece of parchment paper or paper towel to line the bag before refrigerating or freezing them.
Store your treats in the fridge for 2 weeks or in the freezer for 4-6 months.
My dogs like these frozen too!
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