Banana-Carrot Dog Cookies

I have been pouting on New Year's Eve because I had to work and my hubby has to work a double :/ However, I decided to do something I enjoy, which is baking dog treats!

Ingredients:
1 old banana that no one is going to eat
large handful of baby carrots
big glob of creamy peanut butter (big glob=1/2 Cup?)
1 large egg
some flaxseed
little bit of cinnamon (not too much!)
whole wheat white flour (enough to create a nice dough)
a handful of dog kibble (I used a free sample I randomly got in the mail of Rachael Ray's Just 6 dog kibble)

Directions:
1. Boil the carrots for quite awhile. They don't have to be mushy, but at least a little bit softer in order to blend them up in the blender.
2. In a blender, blend together the carrots, banana, egg, and peanut butter. Add some of the water used to boil the carrots. It should look like an orange-cream milkshake when all blended together. Yumm. Do not get confused and try it! Eww.
3. Glop the orange-cream-milkshake stuff into a large bowl and add the flaxseed, cinnamon, and flour to make a nice dough to work with.
4. Put the ball of dough on some plastic wrap, wrap up, and stow it in the freezer for a little while to allow it to cool down and become less sticky. Make some human treats while you're waiting! I did banana walnut muffins for breakfast in the morning :)
5. Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Cut out shapes and place on greased baking sheet. Place a piece of kibble in the middle of each piece.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 25 min. Let them dry out for a few hours. Store in an airtight container.

Some ingredients

Boiling carrots

Treats!

Mixture

Banana Molasses Dog Cookies

Ingredients:
banana, mashed
eggs
ground ginger
evaporated milk
molasses
brown rice, ground
baking powder
flour
water
salt


Directions:
Mix all wet ingredients and then slowly add dry. Drop small spoonfuls onto buttered baking sheet. Flatten with fork, and Bake at 350 for 20 minutes then let dry out in oven once turned off.

These smell delicious and they look like small peanut butter cookies. The dogs were in the kitchen the whole time I was baking :)
 

Everyday Holiday Dog Cookies

I made a rather large batch of these doggie cookies in order to freeze some and have them last awhile. They are good for everyday treat use because I did not add too much of each spice. Also use less than 1/4 C. of the brown sugar. It's just for taste not for diabetes! :)

Ingredients:
All purpose Flour
Oats, ground to flour in a blender
Vegetable Shortening
Eggs
Ground Ginger
Ground Cinnamon
Ground Cloves
Brown Sugar  or Molasses

Water

Food Coloring (optional)

Directions:
*Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix well.
*Melt the shortening in a bowl ( be careful not too long or it will start a fire)
*Add the other wet ingredients to the shortening (including brown sugar) and mix together well with a mixer.
*Slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients while mixing with a mixer.
*Plop the dough onto some plastic wrap and chill for a half hour or so.
*Roll out on a floured surface and cut shapes. I just have bone and heart small cookie cutters, but if you have          holiday themed cutters those would be even cuter!
*Butter the baking pan and lightly brush melted butter on top of the dog cookies.
*Bake at 350 F. for 35 minutes or until hard to the touch.

TIP: (I used about 5-6 C. of flour and oats, which yielded about 300 small dog cookies! I froze half of them and put the rest in the treat jar.)


TIP: (Remember the spices above are great to use, especially Ginger (aids digestion and works as an anxiolitic), but nutmeg is one spice that is toxic to dogs so do not use that holiday spice!) You can be somewhat liberal with the ginger, but don't add any more than 1/4 tsp. of the cinnamon and cloves. These are great, but too much will make your doggies butt burn :)

PB-Pumpkin-Parsley Dog Cookies

Ingredients:
PB
Canned plain pumpkin
Parsley
Oatmeal
Baking Powder
Water

Directions:
Grind the oatmeal into a flour, add dry ingredients. Blend together wet ingredients then add to dry mix. Spoon onto baking sheet and bake for about 30 min then let cool with the oven off for a few hours. (The parsley supposedly fights bad breath, so we will see. If this works then you may find all new treat recipes will include parsley lol)

My dogs, yes that was plural :) loved these! We adopted another dog from the shelter a week ago. He is definitely a big fan of these homemade treats, which makes it easy to train him! Pics will be up soon of our new addition, Joey. He is a Beagle mix too :)

Pumpkin Dog Cookies!

Oatmeal, ground to flour
milled flax seed
flour
egg
cinnamon
vanilla extract
salt
baking powder
water

Play around with the amounts of each ingredient whether you want a more liquid recipe to drop spoonfuls on a baking sheet or if you would rather have a more dry recipe to cut out cute shapes. They take about 30 minutes to bake. I like to make treats that are crunchy to help clean my dog's teeth. Let them sit for a couple hours to get even more crunchy.

P.S. These smell WONDERFUL when baking, and the aroma is a perfect fit for the Fall season :]

Chicken-Flavored Treats

I have been baking a lot this weekend! I must need the stress relief! I am going on week 3 of graduate school. So far I'm loving it, and I took advantage of less homework this weekend to bake a bunch of dog treats. I made those failed spritz treats yesterday, but I just wanted to fill up my dog's cookie jar so I made these scrumptious chicken-flavored treats today. Here is my recipe:

CHICKEN-FLAVORED TREATS

1 egg
food color, optional
2 T. butter, melted
1 C. low-sodium chicken broth
4 C. quick-cook oats, ground in blender
1/2 T. baking powder

Mix the wet ingredients with a mixer. Add dry ingredients and continually fold with a spatula. Roll out on a floured surface. Place on cooking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F. for 35 minutes. Let cool. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

 This is a picture of her cookie jar with the cheesy tidbits and the chicken-flavored treats. My dog watched me the whole time I was baking, and she enjoyed a few too many treats fresh out of the oven :) We both need a looong walk tomorrow!

*Failed* Dog Spritz Cookies

This was an experiment, to say the least :) I'll keep trying until I get it right! These failed spritz cookies did however make cute, delicious little morsels. Jade loves them, so that's all that matters! Here is the recipe I used:

Gourmet Cheesy Tidbits:

4 oz. 2% velveeta
1/4 C. butter
1/4 C. sugar
1/4 C. skim milk
2 C. oatmeal
1/2 T. baking powder
1/2 C. all-purpose flour

Cream together the butter, velveeta, and sugar. Add the egg and milk and mix well. Grind the oatmeal in a blender until it resembles flour. Gradually add the dry ingredients. Stuff your spritzer and use the attachment that makes "tidbits" (i don't know how to better describe it). Dot on a cookie sheet. Bake at 300 degrees for 30 minutes or so. Store in an airtight container. Bon[e] Appetit!

.

Salty Dog Cafe inspired dog treats

These treats were inspired by the treats that the Salty Dog manufactures. While on vacation, my mom bought some from their store and my dog was going crazy for them! She was staring at the pantry because she knew the treats were in there! So, I wrote down the ingredients and modified them a bit (i don't have things like spelt flour). They must smell good because my dog watched me the whole time I was making them.

Here is a link to the Salty Dog online store and their wonderful treats:
http://www.saltydog.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=25_91&products_id=596

Here is the recipe I used:

1 C. whole wheat flour
2 C. quick-cook oats
2 T. ground flaxseed
1 C. apple juice, room temp.
1/4 C. peanut butter
1 egg

In a blender grind up the oats into a flour. Put in bowl and add whole wheat flour and ground flax seed. Set aside. In blender, add egg, peanut butter, and apple juice. Blend together well. Add a little at a time to the dry mixture while stirring with a spatula. Mix together well. Let sit 10 minutes. Roll out on floured surface and cut out shapes. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 25-30 minutes. Turn oven off and let them sit in there for a couple hours til hardened. Enjoy!

Travel Treats

My dog and I are sitting looking out at a lagoon on Hilton Head Island. . . .she's one lucky dog! I made some treats to ease car-sickness before we left and guess what. . .they really worked! Jade was calm for the entire drive. I thought I'd share them on here.

Ginger Dog Cookies
2 1/2 Cups whole wheat flour
1/2 Cup butter, melted
1 T sugar
2 1/2 T ground ginger
1/2 t salt
1 egg
1/2 Cup skim milk

Mix together all ingredients. The dough is very easy to work with and you only need to flour the rolling pin. Cut out shapes and bake at 350 degrees F for at least 30 minutes or until crunchy. Turn the oven off and let them dry out. They won't keep more than a couple days, so you can freeze some too (that's what I did).

Healthy Everyday Dog Treats

This recipe is very similar to the Peanut Butter Treats, except it is even easier! I am always very busy, so I love easy.

2 Cups quick-cook oats, ground to flour
1/2 Cup or so all-purpose flour
1/2 Tbsp. baking powder
1 Cup chicken broth (low sodium, no MSG)
Food coloring (optional)

Grind oats into flour in a blender. Set aside in a large bowl. Add baking powder. Add chicken broth. Add flour to get desired consistency. Let sit 5 minutes. Break into sections and add a different food color to each section. (I did orange, yellow, and green). Poke holes to ensure even baking. Bake 15-20 min or until crunchy at 350 degrees F.

If you want to keep it more natural and omit the food coloring, you can do that too. You can also use organic coloring or a cheap way is to buy a can of unsalted beets and use the red juice for coloring. I usually use the beet juice, but I didn't have any. You also can't keep it for more than a week if you use any fruit/vegetable. We are leaving for vacation in a couple days, so I needed to make treats that will last more than a week.

Easy Peanut Butter Dog Treats

Ingredients:
2 C. Quick-cook oatmeal
1/4 C. Peanut butter
1 C. Water
1/2 Tb. Baking powder
Heavily floured surface

I have always used oatmeal as a flour because it seems to be easiest on her stomach (less farting). I just put the oatmeal into the blender until it turns to flour. Put it in a bowl, add baking powder, then blend PB and water in blender and add to the dry mix. Let sit for a half hour. Use a heavily floured surface. Bake at 375 until crispy.

This is a very easy and cheap treat recipe because I always have oatmeal and peanut butter on hand. Even my parent's dog, Jack, loves these treats and he is an extremely picky Yorkie :)

Waiting and waiting for the treats to be ready!

The finished product. These are good to keep for a week or two in an airtight container. . .another reason why I love this recipe.

My First Post!

Welcome to Baking for my Beagle and thank you for visiting. I love baking and I love my Beagle! A little about my Beagle: her name is Jade and she is 2 1/2 years old. Jade enjoys eating, and so do I. As a grad student I get stressed out often, but baking cute dog treats helps relieve some stress. I am hoping this blog will serve the same purpose. I will post my favorite dog treat recipes and pictures. You can also look forward to many pictures of Jade too!