Meet Luka, my lovable "grand-puppy". I still call her a puppy, but in fact she just marked her 10th birthday which, according to one dog age calculator, puts her into her 50s and makes her a senior dog - another reason you gotta love her! Luka is a mix of Pomeranian and Finnish Spitz. I made her cookies for her birthday and I thought you might like these recipes for your favourite canine.
The first recipe from Canadian Living caught my attention because they were called "Dog Breath Biscuits", and sad to say Luka is at times in need of breath biscuits (wink). In theory, the fresh mint and parsley should do the trick, but I can't say I have ever noticed an improvement. Nonetheless, she loves them and is happy to perform her twirly dance to get one.
The second recipe - "Sweet Potato and Apple Treats" - is a newer one I stumbled upon. It has fewer ingredients - faster if you are pressed for time. The source is a blog called Un Assiaggio. Meaghan is a fellow FBC-er with an interesting site. Hope you take time to view her work! P.S. She has added more doggie treats - Berry Treats and Peanut Butter and Banana.
I have made changes to the method for each of these, but have not bothered to specify the changes in "Notes / Tips" as I usually do. If you want to check out the original recipes, click on the links provided above.
You'll notice that I don't bother to use a fancy cookie cutter - Luka doesn't care what they look like :-)
1/2 cup (125 mL) all-purpose flour
1/2 cup (125 mL) whole wheat flour
1 cup (250 mL) rolled oats, (not instant)
3/4 cup (175 mL) cornmeal
1/4 cup (60 mL) packed brown sugar
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/4 cup (60 mL) butter, softened
1/4 cup (60 mL) peanut butter
2 eggs
1/4 cup (60 mL) minced fresh mint
1/4 cup (60 mL) minced fresh parsley
Breath Biscuits. Preheat oven to 325 F. In a bowl, whisk whole wheat and all-purpose flours, rolled oats, cornmeal, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
In a separate bowl, beat butter with peanut butter; beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Add / stir in flour mixture, mint and parsley to make a soft dough. Well, that's what the recipe says, but as many times as I have made these it is never a "soft" dough - in fact it tends to be a rather dry dough that doesn't want to hold together. I bring it to a workable consistency by adding more peanut butter or even some water.
I don't bother with chilling the dough, or using a rolling pin. I use my hands to shape it into a rectangle with the thickness I want. Then I cut it into bars and place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake in the centre of a 325°F oven until golden and firm, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool. I will often leave these out overnight to let them get even more dry and hard. These store well in plastic or a cookie container.
2 cups rolled oats or whole wheat flour
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored (should equal about 1 cup of grated apple)
2 sweet potatoes, peeled
1.5 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
Sweet Potato, Apple Biscuits. Preheat oven to 350 F. (If you decide to use the oats you need to blitz them into flour in your food processor. ) Cook the sweet potatoes whichever way you prefer. I zapped them in the microwave with skins on and then peeled them after. I threw the apples in a food processor to chop, and then added chunks of the cooked sweet potatoes.
In a large bowl, by hand, mix the flour, egg and cinnamon with the sweet potato/apple mixture. I use my hands to shape it into a rectangle to the thickness I want. Then I cut it into bars and place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
The original recipe said to bake for 15-20 mins, but IMHO they were still too soft for a doggie biscuit, so I pushed the time to 50-60 minutes. Leave them out overnight to let them get even more dry and hard. These store well in plastic or a cookie container. (P.S. If you hadn't realized, making these with rolled oat flour makes them gluten-free. Did not know that was a "thing" for doggies.)