dogs – The Pirate Pieman

Gracie has the purple leash and Louie the red.

We are on day 27 of our Stay Home/Stay Safe order here in Michigan, USA and it has been 31 days since the President declared a National Emergency. I did a pretty good job of stocking up on essentials and preparing our family for 30 days of sheltering in place (only taking trips to the pharmacy and bank so far) however I forgot one thing… dog treats. Our dogs, Gracie and Louie are accustomed to getting treats every day at bedtime (this started as an attempt to keep their bellies full so we could sleep in on the weekends) and occasionally in the afternoon just to break up the day and add a little excitement. But no worries I told myself… I can make some!

I needed to make some important exceptions because we avoid peanuts (my daughter is allergic) and we use a largely plant based diet so we did not have a lot of bacon lying around or liver etc to add flavor. Many recipes used peanut butter as a central ingredient in dog biscuits and was the hardest to work around. Substituting almond butter felt too decadent knowing the price tag. After a couple hours of reading I went with a basic recipe from http://www.mkclinton.com Barking From The Bayou which included whole wheat flour, cornmeal, oil and water. I added some of the other popular ingredients that I stumbled across in my research: carrots and broth. My daughter emerged from her room while these were baking and wondered if I was going to serve her beef stew with egg noodles! They did smell pretty tasty and, I did taste them (why not? they are all human grade ingredients) and they were savory and mild with a meaty aftertaste. I do want to highlight that I used sodium free beef bullion so be careful not to make yours too salty if you use a different product.

Beef Stew Style Dog Biscuits

1/2 cup cornmeal
2 cups whole wheat flour
6 tbs vegetable oil
2/3 cup water
3 packets of granulated sodium free beef or chicken broth
1 finely grated large carrot
pinch of salt
white flour for dusting the board

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl. Allow dough to start off a little dry because carrots will impart moisture. Knead the dough on a floured board until smooth. Roll out to 1/4″ thick and use cookie cutter to form shapes, press firmly to cut through bits of carrot. Bake for 20 to 30 min switching trays around halfway through. The biscuits should be dry, hard and lightly golden. Store in air tight container for up to two weeks, they can be frozen for up to 3 months.