Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Snacks: Tootie's Birthday

Tootie is not low carb, vegetarian or gluten free. She goes for the gusto.

Even though this blog is about human food, I'm going to take a little space here to show you something for your furry friends. They deserve whole, healthy living too.  My dog's birthday was a few weeks ago and I like to make her "cookies" occasionally. I don't really like to buy those store bought biscuits.  Who knows what's in those or where they've been stored.  I do sometimes go to a local canine bakery and buy her some.  I think she likes it better when I make them. 

Just a little icing is enough.

You have to be really careful when baking or cooking for your dog.  Lots of things can kill or hurt them that are just fine for us.  Some artificial sweeteners, avocado, chocolate, grapes or raisins, milk, mushrooms, onions, too much salt or sugar can be bad for your pet.  When in doubt, leave it out.

Pumpkin is good for constipation and diarrhea in dogs.  It's good for their urinary tracts too.  It can prevent coprophagi (or eating of feces) if you have a problem with that.  Peanut butter is just yummy for all species. I modified a recipe I found here for these.


Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Cookies
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 can canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Water


Peanut Butter Frosting  (optional)
1.2 of an 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened (4 oz total)
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoons of canola oil
Food coloring

The consistency of the dough.

1. Mix all the ingredients, except water, together.  It's really easy with a stand mixer, it takes some muscle with your hands.  Add water to get a pie crust like consistency (not wet like human cookie dough, see the photo). I normally have to add a tablespoon.
2. Roll the dough to 1/2 inch thick, like most cut cookies.  You may have to work it a little to get it to the right consistency, since you're using whole wheat flour.
3. Cut into shapes or squares.  I always use animal shaped cookie cutters or a bone shaped cookie cutter I have.
4. Bake for about 40 minutes, until they are hard and starting to brown.  Allow to cool.
5. Mix together icing ingredients and ice the cookies.

If the cookies are iced, they should be eaten right away or refrigerated.  They should last a week or so in a ziptop bag if they're uniced.  I normally don't ice cookies I make for her, but it was a special occasion.  She does love the peanut butter icing.

Tootie approves this recipe.