Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats or The Reincarnation of Percy the Pumpkin
Percy the Pumpkin did double duty this year. He guarded the balcony and when he was done, I roasted him up to make pumpkin puree for dog treats. Most people know that carving pumpkins aren’t what you want for baking (too stringy) but they are perfectly fine for making dog treats and I’ve yet to meet a pup that doesn’t like pumpkin.
If you aren’t using canned pumpkin, the first step is to roast your pumpkin
- Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treats from Allrecipes
- Homemade Dog Treats from Pinch of Yum
- Pumpkin Dog Cookie Recipe from Bestdogtreats.com. This one intrigued me because it uses a bread maker (there are also instructions for making the dough if you don’t have a bread maker).
Ingredients
1/2 C warm water
1/2 C roasted pumpkin (thank you Percy) or canned
1/2 C peanut butter (make SURE you use peanut butter that does not contain xylitol; it’s toxic to dogs and can be fatal)
2 Tbsp oil
2 Tbsp milk powder
2 1/2 C rye flour
1/2 C whole wheat flour
1/2 C oats (I used steel cut Scottish oats)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp yeast
Method
- Place all ingredients in the order given in your bread maker and set it to the dough cycle.
- When the dough is done, remove it and roll it into a 1/4” thick rectangle.
- You could cut the dough into shapes (if you weren’t lazy like I am). I just used a pastry scrapper (or you could use a pizza cutter) to make different size squares for different sized breeds.
- Put the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, cover with a clean tea towel and let them rise for an hour. Note: these did not actually rise at all…I think it was because of the peanut butter (or my yeast was dead).
- Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, at 275 degrees F.
- Turn the oven off and let the cookies continue to dry until the oven cools down completely (or overnight).
- They should end up being hard and crisp.
- Store in an airtight container, at room temperature, for several weeks. Or bag and freeze for up to two months.
Percy receiving the coveted Penny and Wade (PAWS) seal of approval
Yah, I know, my video skills need work – hard to do while feeding Ridgebacks dog treats.