Based on Pumpkin and Peanut Butter Dog Treats by Sam Turnbull
My twenty-year-old dachshund, Vala, has been on a prescription diet for years for IBD and food allergies. With prices on the rise across the country, I have been looking for ways to reduce costs. One way was to start cooking her food and baking her doggie treats. With her food allergies, I needed to find a recipe with limited ingredients, which could easily be substituted if she was allergic to any of them. I had tried baking treats for her years ago and she had turned her nose up at them, but when I found the recipe for Pumpkin and Peanut Butter Dog Treats, I knew I had found the right recipe.
The recipe has only three ingredients: pumpkin puree, peanut butter and oatmeal. Unfortunately, Vala has a peanut allergy, so an alternative would have to be used. The most popular choice for people with peanut allergies is almond butter or cashew butter. I have found that the consistency of both of these nut butters is much thicker and not as creamy as peanut butter. My choice for a peanut butter alternative is Sun Butter, which is made from sunflower seeds. Sun Butter has slightly higher fat than peanut butter, but the sodium and fat content is lower. This makes it a great choice for your dog.
If your pooch is also gluten intolerant, be sure to grind more oatmeal than needed for the recipe. You can also substitute a portion of the oatmeal flour with flaxseed meal. Flaxseed meal contains fiber, fatty acids and nutrients that is good for their coat and joints. The dough is very stick, so you can use the additional oatmeal flour to dust your cutting board as you roll out the dough. I rolled the dough to a thickness of 6 mm, which yielded approximately 40 treats. The thicker or larger the treat, the longer you will need to bake the biscuit.
Treats will keep for a week at room temperature, but can will keep longer if refrigerated or frozen.
I hope your dog enjoys them as much as mine did!
Pumpkin and Nut Butter Dog Treats
Ingredients
Credit: Pumpkin and Peanut Butter Dog Treats by Sam Turnbull
- 1 1/2 cups oatmeal (old fashioned, 1 minute or instant), ground finely
- 1/3 cup pure pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
- 1/4 cup Sun Butter (creamy sunflower nut butter)
Directions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
- Grind oatmeal in a food processor. Reserve 1/2 cup to use when rolling out dough.
- Add pumpkin puree and Sun Butter to food processor. Blend together until a sticky dough is formed.
- Refrigerate dough for up to half an hour.
- Working in batches, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface using the extra ground oats. Roll dough to approximately 6 mm (1/4 inch) thickness.
- Cut out with cookie cutter and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat.
- Bake 30 to 45 minutes until dry and hard.
- Cool completely before serving. Store in an airtight container.
- Keep at room temperature for a week, two weeks in refrigerator or freeze.
Variations
- Add 1/4 cup blueberries to dough.
- Replace 1/4 cup of oatmeal flour with flaxseed meal.
- Replace oatmeal flour with whole wheat flour.
- Replace sunflower seed nut butter with other creamy nut butter.
Baking with Marilyn 