With all this chatter about Valentines Day goodies making the foodblog rounds, I got to thinking: wouldn’t the furry friends in our lives also appreciate a token of our affection? Methinks yes, and Oreo (our Labrador Retriever) wholeheartedly agreed when I asked her. So I decided to whip up something to satisfy her canine tastebuds. In the end I made two varieties of treats: the Oatmeal & Peanut Butter ones pictured below; and Chicken Flavored Biscuits, which are only slightly pictured because Oreo is in the process of eating them.
Oatmeal & Peanut Butter Treats
About 1/4 of a Chicken Flavored Treat
The first recipe is a combination of three or four recipes I found on the internet, while the second one was given to me several months ago by a friend named Jane. Oreo loves them both and baking for your dog has an added bonus: you don’t have to worry about eating everything you’ve made! Guilt-free baking at its best.
Oatmeal & Peanut Butter Dog Treats (My Recipe)
Ingredients:
- 1 cup plain mashed potatoes. (I used Hungry Jack mashed potato mix and used water to cook the flakes. Replace the milk with water and omit the butter and salt.)
- 1 cup of oats
- 2 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 2 tbs honey
- 1 tsp active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water + sprinkling of white sugar
- 1 egg
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Put the warm water in a small bowl then sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the top. Allow to sit for 5 minutes.
In the meantime mix the potato, oats and 1 cup of the flour in a large bowl. Add the peanut butter and egg. Add the yeast mixture, combine well, then allow to sit for 5 minutes. Add 1 more cup of flour. Mix until a stiff dough has formed.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, sprinkling with the remaining 1/2 cup flour as you go, until the dough is smooth (wheat grains aside) and only very slightly sticky. Roll or pat out dough to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters (I used heart shaped ones but bone shapes would be cool, cat shapes hysterical!) wiggling the cutter a little when you press it into the dough.
Place cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until treats on firm to the touch (i.e. unlike human cookies they should be relatively hard). When they are finished allow them to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.
Chicken Flavored Dog Biscuits
Recipe courtesy of Jane, whose blog is, alas, no longer active.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
- 1/4 cup reduced fat peanut butter
- A dash of garlic powder & oregano (NOT raw garlic and never onion anything)
- 2 tbs corn oil
- 1/2 cup chicken (or beef) broth
- 2 eggs, mixed with 1/4 cup powdered skim milk
- 1 egg, beaten
Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl mix together flour, cornmeal, garlic powder, oregano, and peanut butter. Add oil, broth and egg mixture. Mix well, the dough should be firm. Let sit for 15-20 minutes.
On a lightly floured surface roll out dough 1/4 inch thick. Cut into shapes and brush with beaten egg. Bake for 25-35 minutes, until golden brown and firm to the touch. Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before serving.
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This entry was posted on Monday, February 5th, 2007 by Ariela and is filed under Fun for Fido, My Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
22 Responses for "Oatmeal & Peanut Butter Treats for Fido"
hi ari,
I’ve been reading (and sometimes baking after) your blog for quite some time now and I really love it, but I never posted before. this time though I just feel I have to post. because: peanut butter, yeast and honey/sugar really aren’t good for your dog. or any dog. also spices (see garlic and oregano) aren’t supposed to go into a dog’s tummy.
I really don’t mean to offend you or anything, it’s just that as a dog owner, whose dog is fed with unhealthy stuff by my parents (because she’s living with them and I can’t educate them not to feed her with other things than dog food), I felt I had to tell you. all the best to you and oreo (cute name btw)! mcCutcheon
Heya mcCutcheon -
I emailed you about this but I’ll post here too. After reading your comment I thought about deleting this post, but then I did some research on the Internet and in my dog books and confirmed that peanut butter is ok to give to dogs, as is oregano, garlic powder, honey, etc. I can definitely see the reasoning behind what you’re saying, but I think it’s probably only bad for dogs to eat these kinds of treats on a regular basis - just as it would be bad for me to eat pumpkin brioche or scones or whatever every single day. I’ve given these treats to Oreo and to other dogs and they have all loved them, nor have they gotten even slightly sick. Also, if you look through “dog cookbooks” on Amazon you’ll find that all these ingredients are regularly used to make homemade treats. So I completely respect that you wouldn’t feed these to your dog, but as for Oreo she gets to indulge every once in a while. (But she certainly isn’t going to eat all of these!)
I don’t have a pooch, but I think it’s fun to throw some doggie treats into the recipe mix every now and then. Thanks for thinking outside the box, Ari.
McCutcheon, I’ve also made treats using peanut butter or garlic powder and my dogs were totally fine and VERY happy. I think I even mentioned it to the vet once and even though he didn’t like the idea of giving dogs lots of treats he said it was OK so long as it’s very much in moderation. A cookie now and then doesn’t hurt!
Oh, I love this! My dogs thank you in advance!
Great shot of Oreo eating her treat.
Paz
Yep, I agree Peanut Butter is okay for the pooch. I have bought organic peanut butter biscuits at the petshop . These were highly recommended by the employees. It’s fun to bake for pooch every now and then.
I’m sure that Clementine would think them lovely, but Winston eats so fast that I don’t believe he tastes anything on the way down! I bet he’d appreciate the effort, however.
I might try this recipe out and see if it gets my husband interested in all things kitcheny! He loves his dogs. That’s for sure.
She’s such a cutie!
Oreo is so cute! I think the concern with yeast for dogs is only in raw dough. As far as I know cooked is fine.
Oohh, how fun! My dogs are going to love these.
I think all this stuff is fine so long as it’s in moderation like Ari said. I mean, with yeast, why else would it be ok to give dogs bread? It’s not “good” for them, but chocolate isn’t “good” for me and I still eat it every once in a while!
Bowie would love them!
But did you add one egg twice in the first recipe? Or did I read it wrong…
Oops, yes I had mentioned the egg twice Melissa, thanks for pointing that out.
All fixed now.
I said I was going to try these and I did! And my pooches LOVED them! Thanks Ari, me and my pups thank you.
Oh, how I love me some Oreo!
I’m so glad those treats are still a favorite!
And the picture is just lovely… as always!
P.S. As you can still I’m still alive.. barely kicking.
Hey Jane! You’re alive! How are you??!
Yes, those treats are a huge favorite around here. Oreo just sits and stares at the bag they’re in. Looks at me. At the bag. At me. At the bag. You see what I put up with?
These sound terrific! My dogs would go nuts for them! Check out my new recipe posted on my site!
Oreo is just beautiful! And what a lucky girl to have someone to bake her cookies. These recipes remind me of the cookies my mother and I used to make for our yellow lab, Samantha, when I was a kid.
These look great! Our dogs birthday is actually on Valentine’s day and we make him treats every year. I may have to give these ones a try as I know he’d love them!
brings new meaning to the saying ‘lucky dog’
at first my eyes skimmed over the mashed potato part and i was like, why is this dog food… then i saw it and went ‘oooooo’.
I made these (the peanut butter ones) for my dog this week and he so lovd them - thanks! He likes them better than the treats I was buying and making them myself costs a lot less. Woopie!
I love the way the biscuits look, Ari. If I didn’t know that they are for dogs I’d probably eat them myself. But since I do know….not so much.
Oreo looks quite taken by them!
Tali - I’m so glad you’re dog enjoyed the treats!
Utenzi - Haha, yea, I wouldn’t eat these, they’re definiately just for the puppies.