Holiday Cooking Round-up: Easy Dog Treats

This year, I was fortunate enough to have a chunk of time off around the holidays (still on vacation!), so I spent quite a bit of time in the kitchen cooking up a storm and trying new items that have been on my cooking to-do list. Something I’ve been meaning to try for awhile are dog biscuits. I feel like I spend a small fortune on dog treats for one special Dalmation/American Bulldog named Daisy, so why not see what I can make on my own for a fraction of the cost?

After some searching, I found a very easy recipe in one of my favorite cookbooks, Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates. I had all the ingredients all hand except brown rice flour, so I picked up just what I needed in bulk and got cooking (though I think you can make these with just white flour, if need be). I made this recipe x4 so I would have plenty on hand for awhile and gave away some to friends with interested parties.

Dog Biscuits
(adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Celebrates)

2/3 cup brown rice flour
1 2/3 cups unbleached white flour
1/2 cup brewer’s yeast
1/2 cup wheat germ
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons soy sauce (I used tamari)
1 cup water

For the topping

1 tablespoon soy sauce (tamari)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Preheat the oven to 400 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix together the flours, brewer’s yeast and wheat germ. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, garlic, tamari and water. Add this to the dry ingredients and mix well.

Flour your counter and knead the dough for a few minutes until it is pliable. Roll out dough thin and cut into shapes using a cookie cutter. I used a dog bone shape, since I was giving out some as gifts, but use whatever you have on hand (just be sure to label them later so no one accidentally eats them! While I was tempted to try these, I couldn’t bring myself to do it).

Arrange the sheets on the tray. They don’t spread at all, so you can keep them pretty close and make large batches at once. Whisk together the topping and lightly brush on top of each biscuit. The recipe said to bake for 20 minutes, but I found mine were done in about 12-15 minutes. Bake until browned on top. A good tip Moosewood gave is to put the biscuits back in oven (turned off) for a half hour or so to make sure they are extra crunchy.