Homemade Dog Treats

We have two miniature pinschers, Weezy and Sebastian, and yesterday was Weezy’s 4th birthday! We got her when we moved to Ohio after my husband was picked up by the Cleveland Browns. Back then he was gone at the facilities all day, I didn’t have my car there yet and I didn’t know any one so Weezy really kept me company during the time we were there. After my husband resigned with the Bills and we moved back to New York she joined us while my parents graciously let us live with them until we found a place in Buffalo. She was a trooper when we got her brother (who is much bigger than her and a real bruiser!) and had to give up her “only child” status. She’s so sweet and loving and we really were so lucky to have gotten her. I’ve been looking for a really great homemade dog treat recipe for a long time, but wasn’t sure how it’d go over because Weezy is such a finicky eater. I decided yesterday was a great time to try one since it was a special occasion and found a great recipe on this blog. I just made couple tweaks to the measurements and was sure to use organic ingredients when I could. Weezy LOVED these… she really couldn’t get enough of them which is saying a lot for her. This made over forty 4″ treats which was too much for our little dogs so I’ll probably halve the recipe when I make it next time but other than that this was perfect!

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Start off by combining 1 cup organic rolled oats and 1/3 cup unsalted butter that’s been cut into small pieces in a heat proof bowl. Bring 1 cup organic beef broth to a boil and pour it over the oats and butter. Stir well to combine and melt the butter and then let sit to soften for about 10 minutes.

While that’s softening, you can prepare the rest of the ingredients. Whisk together 3/4 cup organic yellow cornmeal, 2 tsp powdered beef bouillon and 1 tbsp white sugar in a small bowl. Goya makes a great powdered bouillon if you’re having trouble finding it. It was in the international section at our grocery store and comes in a box of individual packets. Each packet was approximately 2 tsp. In another small bowl combine 1/3 cup organic natural peanut butter, 1/2 cup milk and 1 organic egg. Mix that as well as you can with a fork to break up the peanut butter and the egg.

Once the oats have softened for the 10 minutes, add the cornmeal mixture and the egg mixture to it and stir really well. Add in whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time until it forms a dough. I added 2 cups, then turned the dough out onto the counter and added another 1/2 cup. After kneading really well, mine was a perfect consistency but the original recipe calls for 3 cups of the flour so you may need to add more.

Roll out into a 1/2″ thickness and cut out bone shapes. Wilton makes a 4 pack of dog cutters and I used the 4″ bone cutter from this. I got mine at Joann Fabrics but I’ve seen the pack at AC Moore, Michaels and Walmart so you shouldn’t have a hard time finding it. Like I mentioned before, this made over 40 of these bone shaped treats and they don’t spread out while baking so you can fit quite a few on a tray. I poked the middle of each one with a fork that had been dipped in flour for a decorative touch.