Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I am a doggie-mama.  My 22-pound all black pug is named Duncan.  Being one of the smaller breeds of dog, he is prone to weight management issues and must be carefully fed and well-exercised.  The easiest way for me to keep his weight under control is to make all of his food and snacks so that I know exactly what is going into them, and can adjust as necessary.
Duncan came to me via a rescue organization called PRONE.  When I first met him, he was living in foster care and the agreement was that I’d meet him in person to see if our personalities were a good match before beginning the adoption process.  So the night before our meeting I stayed up late and baked dozens of these peanut butter cookies, cut into tiny, pug-sized bites.  I brought them with me in a 1/2 pint Chinese take-out container and won him over.
Since Duncan only gets about 6 or so cookies a day, and this recipe makes about 370 cookies in his size, I freeze them.  Once they’re completely cooled I stuff them into a freezer bag or plastic storage container, taking out only a few at a time.  They thaw in just a few minutes.  This works out great for travel too as I always have snacks on hand.
Ingredients:
1 cup natural peanut butter
1 cup skim milk (non-fat soy milk may be substituted)
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 375
  • In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the peanut butter and milk
  • Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix until it comes together in a ball
the dough
  • Remove from mixing bowl and knead for a minute
  • Roll the dough out to ¼-inch thick (I use wood dowels to ensure uniform thickness)
using dowels ensures uniform thickness
  • Cut into the shapes of your choice and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet
all lined up and ready for the oven
  • Bake.  For smaller shapes, bake for 15 minutes, for larger ones- 20 minutes.  The longer the cookies bake for, the crunchier they will be
  • Cool on a rack

cooling

J
Recipe adapted from Three Dog Bakery cookbook

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