Since it’s holiday time and gifts are being passed around like candy, I decided to give my dogs a gift too: homemade peanut butter dog treats! I have two dogs: Chester (aka the Bear Dog) and Whiskey. Chester is an English mastiff/golden retriever mixed breed a bear and Whiskey is a golden retriever. Both think that they’re lap dogs and love to cuddle. I figure, what better way to show my dogs I love them than giving them treats that are better than most human food.
The recipe I found came from DogMomDays. It calls for:
- 2 ripe bananas
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 cup water
- a dog treat cookie cutter
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- In a large bowl, mash the bananas until they’re soft enough to mix
- Add peanut butter, flour and water
- Mix until dough is formed
- Roll dough and make shapes!
- Bake for 15-20 minutes. (note: if you’d like to make the treat a little harder, bake a little longer until desired hardness)
- Let cool
- Watch your puppy fall in love!
I wish I could say that I followed these instruction verbatim, but I did not. There are just some steps that weren’t worth it. Here’s my thoughts on it:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
I wish that you could preheat things one degree higher or lower, just to spite the recipe.
In a large bowl, mash the bananas until they’re soft enough to mix
Warning: mashed bananas in a bowl is super gross. Not kind of gross. SUPER gross. I don’t know how new parents do it.
Add peanut butter, flour and water. Mix until dough is formed.
This step saves the visual (thank god).
I’m not sure what kind of dough they were looking to have me make, but I’m pretty sure it’s supposed to have a consistency closer to bread dough instead of cookies. The amount of flour in the original recipe is definitely not enough. I added an extra… almost full cup of flour to the recipe. Don’t worry! Your dog will still love it and the peanut butter and banana flavors are strong enough to make the treat delicious and not floury.
Roll dough and make shapes!
Okay, I tried this. I really did, but you know what? I vote skip it and just grab little pieces of the dough, ball it up and flatten it on the tray. Rolling it out is messy and I definitely created a bunch of unnecessary dirty dishes. Cutting out the dough into dog biscuit shapes? Your dog doesn’t care what it looks like. It could look like a pile of garbage. You could actually craft your dough into a pile of garbage and they’d think “Wow! That smells great!” and then proceed to fit the entire pile of garbage that you spent hours creating into their mouth without breathing.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. (note: if you’d like to make the treat a little harder, bake a little longer until desired hardness)
Quick heads up: Make sure your pan is nonstick!
This was the best part. The whole house smelled like peanut butter heaven for a good two hours after baking. It was marvelous. As for the desired hardness, these treats come out with a very soft texture. It’s like a cookie (perfect texture for puppies with new teeth and old dogs with sensitive jaws). I put mine in for about 23 minutes so the treats would be a little firmer. I have a 2 year old and 7 year old dog so they can handle it.
Let cool.
Obviously.
Watch your puppy fall in love!
Staring at mashed up bananas was worth it. I’m not sure they even took the time to taste the treat they ate them so fast. I really love to spoil my dogs, especially during the holiday season. I don’t get to see them that often since they stay home at my parent’s house and I live at college. The looks on their faces when they eat those treats make it a delight to bake for them!
If you’re looking for a quick treat for your furry family members, this is the treat to make! Bananas and peanut butter (without xylitol) are the perfect combination to drive them crazy.
Until next time,
Dana
My Bright Corner 