Baking for the Dog

Today my baking took a different direction.

I decided to make some homemade treats for my pampered little pup.

 

I've had a few recipes catalogued in my mind for dog biscuits, cookies, and "pupcakes", but I've never taken the time to make any of them.

This recipe is fairly easy to make and is from one of my Gooseberry Patch cookbooks.

Here's how it went today:

Combine 2 cups whole-wheat flour, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, 1/4 cup cornmeal, and 1 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl.

 

  

Finely chop 1/4 cup sunflower kernels.  (I used unsalted.)  I chopped most of these by hand (because I like to chop things...makes me feel like a professional).....

 

 

 ...but I resorted to my mini-chopper to finish the job.

 



Add the sunflower kernels to the flour mixture.

 



Lightly beat 2 eggs.  Add the eggs, 1/4 cup molasses, 1/4 cup milk, and 2 tablespoons oil to the flour mixture.

 





Let your mixer's dough hook do the work for you.  It took 4-5 minutes for the

ingredients to form a thick dough.  I added a little extra milk near the end because the dough began to tighten and the mixing bowl got a little jumpy.

 

Here is how the dough will look....thick, grainy, and a little tacky to the touch. 

 

 



Using a cookie sheet as my floured surface (this corrals the flour and keeps it from getting all over your workspace), I began working with about 1/2 cup of the dough, which is a little elastic, at a time.  Roll out and cut as you would any cookie.  Combine scraps with a new scoop of dough.  Knead 4 or 5 times and roll again.

 

 

The recipe states to roll the dough 1/2" thick.  I had no way to accurately measure this, so my first dozen treats were a little thin.  I used a 3" dog bone cookie cutter to cut them out, which is fun, but you can use any cookie cutter you like.  A heart shape would be cute.

  



The treats don't spread as they bake, so you can put them close together on the pan.  This is a half-sheet pan (12" x 18").











 
Bake at 350F.  As they are baking, your kitchen will begin to smell a little chicken-ish, which is odd because there is no chicken in them.

Per the recipe, bake for 30 minutes.

Now...if you make your treats thin, like I did on the first pan....don't bake them for 30 minutes.  Bake them for 10-15 minutes.  I am embarrassed to say that I overcooked the first pan, so I had to throw them out.

The second pan, which had thicker dough cut-outs, did well baking at 20 minutes.



The finished product.

Cool the treats in the pan on a wire rack.  To make them harder, you can leave them in the oven with the heat turned off for an hour or more.

I'd hoped the excess flour would disappear during baking.  Next time I will brush them off a bit.







Of course, we had to have a taste test when they cooled.  These cookies were a bit large for him, so I cut one into thirds and gave him one piece.

He carried it around like it was a prize for a few minutes, and then settled down to enjoy his cookie.  (And came back looking for more.)   I took a bite of one also.  It's dense and a little chewy with not much flavor, but you do get a hint of the molasses.  I might throw in a bit of pumpkin or sweet potato the next time I bake these.

Now that I've made these, I want to experiment with other recipes for him.  Why not make a batch of these for your furry friend (providing they are not allergic to wheat)?  I am sure they will appreciate it!