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Dog Treats

Today is my dog’s birthday.  His name is Cooper and he is turning 7.  Cooper is awesome and I love him. He is a labradoodle, half standard poodle and half labrador. The great things about labradoodles are that they have hair and do not shed. 

Cooper loves to play ball and can fetch for hours, he loves kids.  He also loves his stuffed animals but none of them have stuffing in them anymore.  It usually takes about 5 minutes before all the stuffing is out on the floor. 

For his birthday he usually gets a fresh bone with lots of bone marrow, it keeps him occupied for hours, and I am sure a sore jaw the day after.  But this time I decided to try to make my own dog treats for him, and he loved them. I have no idea how but he sat in the kitchen waiting for them, he knew they were for him.

I got this great recipe from Michelle from Big Black Dog blog who created this recipe. This makes about 25 dog treats but it depends on what size you make them, I made mine pretty large (2”x 1/5”).  Also depending on the size of your food processor you might not fit all the flour in there and have to use a bigger bowl to mix the rest of the ingredients.

Dog Treats

Recipe adapted from Big Black Dog

Yields: 25 treats | Prep Time: 10 minutes | Bake Time: 12 minutes

3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup oatmeal flakes
1 medium apple
1/3 cup peanut butter (or use 1/2 c. Chunky Peanut Butter)
1/2 c crushed peanuts (skip if you’re using Chunky Peanut Butter)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Turn oven to 400F.

You will be using a food processor for all the mixing.  Dice up apple. Don’t bother to peel the apple.

Add to a food processor, diced apple, peanut butter, oil, water, eggs and vanilla. Blend until apple is completely emulsified.

Add the cornmeal and oatmeal and blend. With the food processor running, gradually add the flour until completely incorporated.

Add nuts and pulse 2 or 3 times, just enough to mix nuts into the dough. Dough will be thick and sort of rubbery to the touch.

Remove dough to a small bowl.

Roll 1 tbsp of dough into a ball. Depending on the size of your dog, you may want to make a smaller sized ball.

Place each ball of dough on a parchment lined baking sheet and press down to form a flat disk. Dog treats do not rise when baked, so whatever size they are going into the oven, is the size they will be when baked.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes. When treats are done, turn off oven and crack open oven door. Leave treats in oven overnight to dry out.

The treats do mold easily so freeze what you can’t use in 1-2 days. Then just thaw as needed.



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Comments

  1. Happy Birthday to your baby Cooper. He is such a cutie!!!
    Thanks for the recipe for doggie treats. I’m going to try making these for my three doggies as their special treat. I know they will love them!
    I am giving you a stumble! It was my 70th discovery!
    BTW, if you ever want a tile/trivet painted of your adorable blog header, I can do that for you 🙂

  2. He is adorable. Aren’t our doggies the best? I have a choc. lab and his birthday will be coming up soon. He will be 8. I am sure he will loves these treats, too. Especially with the apples. Thanks.
    Mine also used to take all the stuffing out of the toys, but stopped recently. I think he only wanted to get to the squeaker.

  4. Happy Birthday Cooper! What a handsome boy! I’m not sure how my dogs know when I’m making them treats but they sort of lie in wait in the kitchen.

    You are very welcome and so glad I could help add some treats for Cooper’s birthday!

    I’m making my dogs some new treats this week so stay tuned for more dog treat recipes!

  9. This warmed my heart—HAPPY BIRTHDAY, COOPER! Our pets are totally family members, so I find it especially sweet that you baked something for your little one to commemorate his birthday. (On her most recent birthday, my cat Koko got a salmon dinner!)

  11. Great photos of your doggie1
    We just got a Mini Aussie in Dec. (first pet-we have four boys).
    This little guy has been such a picky eater. He wouldn’t even eat ANY of the training
    treats we got him–and we tried every kind. I made him some homemade biscuits and he loved them. I need to make some more!

  12. thanks so much for visiting me blog and your comment, gorgeous Dog and how cool you made dog biscuits love Michelle

    Rebecca

  14. Happy birthday, Cooper! He is very cute and I’m sure he was very appreciative of his special birthday treat. I’m always looking for home made treats for my dog. These sound easy and healthy. Thanks for sharing!

  16. Aww, i love Cooper-he’s got the cutest face! I really have to try these-my dogs would love them, for sure.

  21. I’m making my dogs some new treats this week so stay tuned for more dog treat recipes! Aw, how lucky is he to get such a special treat for his birthday.

  22. He is adorable. I am sure he will loves these treats, too. I have two dogs, a poodle and a yorkie. Ohhhh, Cooper is adorable!

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