Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Treats

THANK YOU to everyone who's been voting for me in Project Food Blog. I didn't make it to round 4, but that's okay. I wasn't happy with my last post, so I wasn't surprised by the results. You see, I had people over on Saturday for my "luxury dinner party," drank too much champagne since I was celebrating my birthday, & woke up too late on Sunday (the day the post was due). I spend the entire day nursing a headache, editing pictures, and writing the post. I knew something was missing; it just didn't feel complete. But, since the deadline was looming, I submitted what I had. Of course, the next day I thought of a few other things I could have added to the post to make it better.

Nevertheless, I'd planned ahead just in case I did make it to the next round...which was a photo challenge. I actually made couscous-stuffed whole branzino last Monday, but I wasn't impressed with my photos or the recipe itself. So, I had an idea to make homemade dog treats and let my pups "help." My friend Corey was kind enough to take some photos while we were cooking.

Arlo

Don’t let his big brown eyes & floppy ears fool you; Arlo’s kind of a pain in the ass. In fact, right at this moment his barking his head off in my ear at nothing in particular. At least he’s not chewing something up. Like my shoes, FIVE pairs of which he’s already destroyed.

This puppy will eat anything. He’s shamelessly swiped a hunk of brie off the counter and once even devoured an entire stick of butter at the blink of an eye. The only remaining evidence was the greasy schmear around his mouth.

But, despite his annoying behavior, I love that damn dog. He’s almost 9 months old, so he’s still learning how to be a big dog. And, he’s come a long way in the 5 months he’s lived with us. Luckily, he has his “big brother” Lewis to lead him in the right direction.

We often have to put Arlo to “bed” while we’re cooking and eating dinner, because he’s just tall enough to reach his head onto the big butcher’s block in the middle of our kitchen. He’s a quick bugger, so it only takes him a second to grab food & high-tail it out of there.

However, I thought it would be fun to bake some homemade dog treats and let Arlo & Lewis help me by licking the mixing bowl & beater clean.

Arlo was pretty interested in what was going on from the very beginning, from measuring out ingredients...

...to rolling out the dough...

...to cutting out the cookies.

He did not, however, like the rolling pin much...

No, I wasn't really hitting Arlo on the head!

I’d never made dog biscuits before, so I did my research and discovered that several recipes contain special ingredients like wheat germ and brewer’s yeast or ingredients I don’t really want to feed my dogs like white flour.

I finally decided on a recipe from Delish that uses only whole wheat flour, oatmeal, pumpkin puree, peanut butter, eggs, a pinch of salt, & a little water. The dogs LOVE these treats, so much in fact that Arlo was eating the raw dough when I had my back turned!

He also tried to swipe a treat before they were cooled. Sneaky bastard!

Peanut Butter & Pumpkin Dog Treats

2 cups whole wheat flour, plus extra flour for dusting
1/2 cup rolled oats
2 large eggs
3/4 cup canned pumpkin
3 tablespoons natural peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup water

• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Combine all ingredients in stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Mix until the ingredients are well-combined. 
• Flour your work surface. Roll dough to 1/4″ thickness. Cut into 1″ to 1.5″ pieces.
• Bake in for 25-35 minutes (depending upon the size).