One of the things I loved to do for my puppy dog was make Homemade Organic Doggy Treats. Before he passed away (at the ripe old age of 16 1/2 years old!), I was constantly on the hunt for healthy, organic treats that he could have without worrying about gaining weight. He was a little guy (7lbs) so it didn’t take much to add weight on to his slight frame. After a lot of trial and error, I finally came up with a recipe that met my standards, and Ollie really seemed to like them. I started giving them to friends for their dogs. The dogs all seemed to love them (so their humans told me), so I kept making them. #OllieTheOG may be gone, but the requests for his Doggy Treats haven’t slowed down. I make them – and send them to friends when I can. It makes me happy, and makes me think of Ollie. But you don’t have to wait until I send you some – make them yourself!
I’ve fine-tuned my recipe over time, and I’m happy to share it with you. I live at high altitude, so if you live at lower than 5,000 ft elevation, you’ll have to make some adjustments. (The most obvious will be to decrease liquids). Play around with the ingredients, sizes, etc. Make the recipe yours! Or, just use my recipe – your dogs will love you for it!
(The number of treats this recipe makes will depend on the size of cutter you use, and how thin you roll the batter)
I purchased my cookie cutters here: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0027CU0GS/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I’ve never used the large, and I rarely use the smallest. I generally use the two middle sizes.
RECIPE
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
INGREDIENTS (I use organic, but you can use what you like)
2 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c wheat germ
1 t sea salt
1 t chicken buillon
1/2 cup + 2 t very warm water
1 egg
Enough olive oil to grease cookie sheets
1. Put all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowel
2. Add teaspoon of chicken buillon to very warm water. Mix until fully disolved.
3. Add chicken buillon/water mixture to dry ingredients.
4. Add egg to dry ingredients.
5. Mix all ingredients together with your hands. Dough should have consistency of cookie dough, but slightly stickier.
Dough will be mixed thoroughly when you can form one large ball of dough.
Lightly coat counter (rolling surface) with a small amount of whole wheat flour. Place dough on rolling surface and flatten as much as possible with your hands. Then start to roll with a rolling pin. Make sure to coat the surface of the rolling pin with flour.
Roll the dough out to 1/4″ or thinner. (Play around with thickness until the treats are your preferred thickness once cooked.) Ollie didn’t have a lot of teeth left, so he tended to prefer very thin treats. Younger, bigger dogs tend to prefer thicker treats.
Cut the dough with the cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheet. (You only need to grease the sheet once. You can continue to use the same sheet, without re-greasing for more batches). The treats can be close to each other (they will not “spread” while cooking), but not touching. Fill the cookie sheet up and place in oven.
Here’s the tricky part: The amount of cooking time will depend on the thickness of the treats. 1/4″ thick should cook for 30 minutes. Super thin cookies should cook for 15-20 minutes. Again, it will depend on your elevation and how thinly you’ve rolled the batter.
Perfectly cooked treats should be about the color of peanut butter, maybe slightly darker – but not by much!
You can’t really make these incorrectly, except if you overcook them. You’ll know right away if that happens. But don’t worry – my dog still loves them, they just don’t look as pretty.
I store them in a paper bag. Don’t put them in a ziploc or any type of plastic – the moisture in the treats will start to mold. If you freeze them, make sure to use them within a week of thawing. If you DON’T freeze them, and just keep them in a regular paper bag, they will last a very, very long time!
Good luck! Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions.
