Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I love to spoil my dog. And she knows it. I tackle something new to bake just about every weekend, and this weekend I decided to turn my attention to my dog, Dasha. These treats are super simple to make, and I didn't have to buy a thing- just used staple items around the house. I love building the hype for the treats- getting her excited about what's on the counter and feeding her bits of "cookie" dough. The best part about it? I know exactly what's going into her *often sensitive* tummy. 


Originally found this recipe in a local pet directory which I modified a bit (mostly because I live at 7,000 feet).

Ingredients:
4 tbsp blackstrap molasses
1/2 cup natural unsalted peanut butter (though I improvised with regular pb- it's fine for dogs)
1-1/4 cup water
1 tbsp oil (this is less than the original recipe called for- I didn't see it as necessary)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1-1/2 cups rolled oats


- Preheat over to 350.
- In a large bowl, blend together molasses, peanut butter, water, and oil.
- Add whole wheat flour and oats to wet ingredients. Mix well.
- Drop tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet (these cookies do not expand, so put as many on one sheet as you'd like!). Gently flatten cookies with a cup bottom.
- Bake 20 minutes or until done. 

I store the treats in a tupperware container, and anytime Dasha's being a good girl, I ask- "Want a cookie?" She now knows the word "cookie" quite well.


Did you try one? you may ask. As tempting as it was, I have not. It's the just idea of it being for the dog...

Baking catch-up

I would like to share two recipes... One for monkey bread, and one for a failure of a double layer chocolate cake (don't worry, recipe is fine, it's me that was the problem):

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/monkey-bread-i/Detail.aspx  

(minus the walnuts, and use homemade dough)

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-cake-iv-10000001110246/

(minus the coffee, per John's request)

Monkey Bread:

Start with a delicious mix of sugars and cinnamon.

It's true, I was lazy. WAY better homemade.

Roll the dough in the sugar mixture.

Add butter to remaining sugar mixture.

Crazy bad- crazy delicious.

Pour.

Bake. Flip. Serve.

Chocolate Cake:

Fail #1: Only one cake pan. Never settle for only one cake pan.

This part was perfect.

Lots of creams and different types of chocolates and sugars and... ah!

My favorite part.

Did this instead of chocolate flakes- that way my extra baking squares didn't go to waste.

Fail #2: Collapsed cakes. Not sure what the heck happened.

Spread delicious whipped mouse on first layer.

Thought I could get away without trimming it. HA...

Trimmed. Homemade frosting applied.

A bit of a mess.

Fail #3: Added strawberries. Fine if eaten all that evening. But even though I took the strawberries OFF the center before putting it away for the night, the juices from the strawberries made the middle mold in only one day. FAIL.

Ended up looking okay.

And that once piece we did get to eat- pretty delicious.

Tomorrow for Easter I'm going to dip some marshmallow peeps into chocolate and decorate them a bit with some frosting. Should be easy, and kind of cute. =) Then I'm going to make homemade wheat rolls for Easter dinner. 

I hope you don't fail as miserably in the area of baking as I have. Night!

Melody