We love our little dog Hector! We had actually not been planning to get a dog at the time, but Hector came into our lives in a truly serendipitous fashion.
One of our good friends was picking up a puppy from a local breeder, and upon arrival discovered that there was actually one puppy left! He had been returned, because the little boy he was meant for was incredibly allergic (Hector is hypoallergenic, but sometimes allergies are severe, and he’s still a dog!). She texted me a photo of Hector, and I fell instantly in love. And then for the moment of truth: I had to convince Jordan. Luckily Jordan took one look at Hector, heard he didn’t shed, and was sold! Almost two years later (I can’t believe it’s been that long!) we can’t even imagine life without Hector.
I really do believe that whatever powers may be were at play, and he was meant to be in our lives. He’s the most loving, patient and happy dog. We love him to pieces!
So when you’re like us, and your dog is part of the family, you want to give them the very best possible! From day one we’ve been buying Hector organic dog treats, because if pesticides are bad for humans, I can’t imagine what they do to our furry little friends’ systems. However, they get really expensive really fast! So I decided to try making Hector some homemade treats. They were actually way easier than I thought, and I love that I can control all of the ingredients! If you want to try these at home, see the recipe below! Your pup will love you (even more!) for it!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 cups oat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup oats
- 3 strips cooked bacon (totally optional, I just had them leftover from breakfast so I threw them in!)
- I also had leftover grated carrot from his homemade dog food (I’ll share that recipe in a future post), so I threw that in too. Why not!
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the peanut butter, egg and milk on the lowest speed. Whisk together the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Add the flour mixture in batches to the peanut butter mixture until just combined. Add in the oats and bacon if using. (You can also do this in a bowl, but the dough is really thick and heavy! I found using the stand mixer MUCH easier, but if you skipped your arm workout today feel free to use a large mixing bowl and spoon)
3. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured cutting board. Use your hands to knead the dough once or twice to make sure all the little pieces are integrated. Use a floured rolling pin, and roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Take whatever cookie cutters you like, and cut out your desired shapes. I used these cute dog bone cookie cutters. I love that they come as a set with a large and a small size! Our dog is small, so I don’t want to give him big treats. He has lots of big friends though, and I love that I can make treats for them too!
4. Arrange the sheets on the parchment lined baking sheet. If you’re making different sizes, I recommend putting them on separate baking sheets, because the larger ones will need to bake a little bit longer. Bake for 18-20 minutes, and then turn them to bake for an additional 8-10 minutes.
Obviously, remember to let the treats cool completely before giving them to your puppy. Once they were cooled I stored them in the fridge. Since mine had bacon in them, I went off the bacon expiration date which was about a week. This made quite a few small treats, so next time I will either omit the bacon and store them in the fridge for about two weeks, or store half in the freezer.
I hope your best friends love these as much as mine does!
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