There wasn’t some sort of “Aha!” moment. I cannot pinpoint the exact moment in time when it happened……oh, whom am I kidding? It’s when I started baking for my dogs that I realized I was that guy. You know. That guy. I was a dog person. Notice I didn’t say CRAZY dog person, but if you ask my husband, that’s up for debate.
I began making treats for my dogs
If there is a silver lining to that harrowing experience, it’s that I learned quite a bit about canine nutrition. Thanks to sites like Dog Food Project and Dog Food Analysis, dog food labels became much easier to understand. I could pick out a high quality dog food for my monsters but picking out treats proved a bit more challenging. That’s when I started baking.
I have accumulated quite the recipe book collection but the recipe below is my latest creation. Ladies and gentleman, I’d like to introduce…
Peanut Butter Sammies!
| Peanut Butter Sammiches |
- Cookies
- 1 cup brown rice flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 egg
- 1 cup organic peanut butter
- 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
- Filling
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 4 ounces organic peanut butter
- 2 tbs. honey
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Whisk together oat flour and rolled oats.
- In a large separate bowl, whisk egg then mix in peanut butter and applesauce. Add brown rice flour and rolled oats mixture and mix till combined.
- Roll into small balls, approximately 1” in diameter, and placed on an ungreased
- baking sheet. You should end up somewhere between forty-two and forty-six biscuits total, depending on how large (or small) you make each biscuit.
- Once the dough has been formed into balls, press each one between the palms of your hands in order to flatten it.
- Place the baking sheet on the middle rack and bake the cookies for 20 minutes or until they are golden brown. This will vary depending on your oven.
- Transfer them to a wire rack. While the cookies are cooling, we will make the peanut butter filling.
- In a large bowl, mix together cream cheese, peanut butter and honey until smooth.
- Take a cookie and spread about a half a tablespoon or so of the filling (it doesn’t have to be exact). Take another cookie and place it on top of the filling you just added. Ta da! You’ve made a little peanut butter sammich.
- Continue until you have paired up all the cookies. Place in the refrigerator for an
- hour or so until they have set. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
There are other alternatives to baking treats. My pups are big fans of fresh apple pieces and pineapple. Violet the Beagle has been known to nosh on green beans every once and while. Another hit in our household are bully sticks like these.
Keep in mind there are “people” foods that are dangerous and sometimes deadly for pups, such as:
Avocado
Beer
Walnuts and macadamia nuts
Chocolate
Candy that contains xylitol
Caffeine
Grapes and raisins
Onion
You know your pet best so use common sense when it comes creating treats for your four legged friend(s). If you’d like some dog treat recipe book recommendations, let me know in the comments section!
Curvy Girl Guide Contributor Stephanie Elton is a compulsive knitter, an avid coffee consumer and unapologetic science fiction fan. Oh, and if you couldn’t tell, she loves dogs. She currently works at an integrated marketing communications firm in Northwest Ohio where she advises clients on social media strategy. Follow her on Twitter @StephElton. Better yet, follow your nose over to her blog, www.littlehound.com, and check out the nonsense she posts over there.
Wait…onions are bad for dogs? But Loki LOVES onions!!
Of course, this is also the dog that has eaten 3 razor blades, an entire corn cob (whole, just swallowed it), and half a tub of Swiss Miss. (Seriously, found white dog laying in chocolate powder in the morning, twitching like a coke addict.) He has figured out how to open all the drawers in the kitchen, so it’s hard to stop him.
I think the onions are the least of my worries.
Also, AWESOME dog treat! Going to have to try this one.
White dog and Violet the Beagle sound like they could be partners in crime. She is very good at finding inedibles and swallowing them whole. She’s also a boozehound; we have to be diligent when beer bottles are in the vicinity.
Yeah, we can’t even leave anything on the kitchen counter anymore. He’s so big he’ll just put his front paws up there and take it. We’ve lost whole steak dinners that way. He also loves canned goods, because he can peel the labels off and eat them. We have had many a mystery meal because we couldn’t check the can label before he swallowed it.
Is it a problem that, with the exception of eggs, this looks strikingly similar to the recipes I eat?
Exactly. These are my new Girl Scout Peanut Butter Sandwiches.
Never again will I pay $3.50 a box.
I won’t tell, I promise.
I’ll have to make these for my beagle soon. I also make him dehydrated sweet potatoes, which make the house smell amazing and he LOVES them. Love the info on dog food nutrition, we searched everywhere for a chicken free line with good quality ingredients. We finally settled on Fromm, which our pup loves.
I’m a big fan of Fromm. It’s on my short list when people ask me for dog food recommendations.
Stephanie, I am getting a dane, would it be cheaper for me to, perhaps, just buy a whole cow?
Hmm, probably not. Unless you know someone that will go halfsies with you on the cow, I’d stick with the dane
i’m excited to make these! i started baking treats for my dog about 6 months ago because i was tired of paying for dog treats that seemed to disappear quickly and i soon realized how easy it would be to make them myself. thanks for the recipe!
These look yummy enough for me to eat hahah. I’m always worried about what’s in doggie treats so this will be a fun alternative to make! My pup loves apples and peanut butter so this treat is perfect! Can’t wait to try it out!
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