Dog Friendly Christmas Cookies You Need To Make This Week
Gingerbread Dog Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup molasses
4 tablespoons honey
1 cup water
½ cup vegetable oil
6 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger or one tsp. of dried powder ginger
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. You will need two bowls, one medium, and one large. Combine the molasses, honey, water, and oil in the medium bowl.
- In the large bowl mix the flour, the baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger. Then you will want to slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Make sure you combine them well.
- Divide this dough in four balls, wrap each ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 - 5 hours, or you can freeze them for 1 - 2 hours (just don't let them get solid!)
- After the dough is cold, lightly flour your surface and roll the dough out into about 1/4" thickness. Remember, the thicker you make it, the longer it will take to cook. Cut the dough out into fun shapes, such as Gingerbread men, with a cookie cutter. You can also forget about shapes, and use a pizza cutter and make the cookies into squares and strips, depending on what you want to do.
- Bake for around 20 - 25 Minutes, until the cookies start to get brown. You can take one out and break it to see how crunchy it is. If you want it really crunchy, then you will want to bake them longer.
Optional - You can use melted yogurt chips to decorate them!
Snickerdoodle Dog Cookies
Ingredients:
1.5 cups oat flour
1.5 cups brown rice flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 cup honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup water
Directions:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oat flour, brown rice flour and cinnamon.
- Add the honey, egg and vanilla extract and stir until well blended.
- Add ¼ cup water and mix with a fork. Continue to add more water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the ingredients start to come together. Then use your hands to lightly knead the dough in the bowl until it forms a ball.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in center position.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough until it's between ¼" and ⅛" thick.
- Cut out biscuits with a cutter; I used a 1" bear cutter, but any shape and size will work. Place the cutouts on a baking sheet. Press together scraps and repeat.
- Bake biscuits until they are golden and lightly brown around the edges, about 12 minutes (longer for larger biscuits). Allow biscuits to cool on the baking sheet; they will harden as they cool.
- Store the biscuits in an airtight container at room temperature.
Cranberry & Pumpkin Christmas Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup rye flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tablespoons organic honey
3.5 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dried cranberries, finely chopped
2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
Instructions:
- Add the flour, baking powder, applesauce, honey, and olive oil to a mixing bowl. Stir until well combined.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Knead dough on a lightly floured surface and roll out to about half an inch thick. Cut treats with a cookie cutter and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Firmly press a few pieces of chopped cranberries and pumpkin seeds into the top of each cookie.
- Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until treats are firm to the touch.
- Turn off oven and open oven door. Allow cookies to cool in oven, about 20-30 minutes.
- Storage: cookies will keep for several days when stored in a covered airtight container in a cool, dry, shaded location. Cookies may also be frozen: separate treats with parchment paper and store in an airtight covered container.
Recipe by Jen Elizabeth's Journals
Candy Cane Dog Treats
Ingredients:
2/3 cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 eggs
3 cups oat flour
red and green food coloring
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the pumpkin, peanut butter, and eggs. Mix on medium-high speed for a couple of minutes (scraping down the sides of the bowl, as necessary) until the ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
- With the mixer on low, gradually add 2-1/2 cups of the flour, mixing until just incorporated. Add an additional 1/4 cup of flour at a time (as necessary) until the dough is no longer sticky to the touch.
- Remove the dough ball from the mixing bowl and knead with your hands for a minute or two.
- Separate the dough ball into two equal-sized balls of dough.
- Flatten one dough ball and place a couple of drops of green food coloring into the middle. Fold the dough in on itself and knead the food coloring into the dough ball until the dough is completely green.
- Repeat with the remaining ball of dough – coloring it red.
- Break each dough ball up into several 1″-2″ balls (depending on how big your want your dog treats to be).
- Using your hands and the counter top, roll a green ball into a long skinny snake. Roll a red ball into a long skinny snake (equal in length).
- Now braid the two snakes together (one over the other) until they are completely twisted. Bend the top half of the twisted dough down to form a candy cane-shape.
- Place the candy cane onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet.
- Repeat the process with the remaining balls of green and red dough.
- Place in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the bottoms begin to brown.
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Let cool completely.