Pumpkin-Oat Dog Treats

We were nearing the bottom of our homemade doggy treat stash in the freezer and I thought I better get more made before we completely ran out. We can't have a sad doggy running around, now can we? This time I thought we could work in a fallish theme with cinnamon and pumpkin... and after throwing a few ingredients together, I ended up with these Pumpkin-Oat Dog Treats.

When making the treats for our pups, I like to use a variety of flours - in this case, I went with whole-wheat flour, old-fashioned rolled oats, rye flour, brown rice flour, a couple tablespoons of milled flaxseed and for a little warmth, a few dashes of cinnamon. If your dog doesn't tolerate whole-wheat flour, you can try swapping that out with barley or quinoa flour.

Into those dry ingredients, I added mashed pumpkin, a bit of water, canola oil, a drizzle of honey and an egg to bring it all together. Using a sturdy wooden spoon, we ended up with a dough that was still a bit rough and on the sticky side. Scooped out onto a floured surface, it was smoothed out by kneading the dough for a few minutes with my hands, adding enough additional flour to end up with ball that is just barely tacky to the touch.

With a few minutes rest time to let the dough relax, it was then easily rolled out and cut into shapes with some festive small cookie cutters I had handy, along with a bone-shaped cutter just because! The treats will puff up slightly during baking, but they won't spread much at all, which means you can keep them fairly close together and fit a good amount on each baking sheet. We got over two half-sheet trays full and while they can all be baked at the same time, just be sure you rotate them at least once for even doneness. If you only want to bake one or two sheets at at time, cover the other with plastic wrap to prevent them from drying out until you're ready to place it into the oven.

When the treats are golden and firm, they can be taken out and cooled - however, if your pup likes their treats extra crunchy, turn the oven off, leave the oven door ajar and let them sit inside for a few hours to cool down slowly.

Recipes

Pumpkin-Oat Dog Treats