Everyone in the family should feel special at Christmas time, including our dogs. With these tasty recipes, you can provide them with homemade treats that will put a wag in their tail and a smile on their face. Its a proven strategy to better bonding, according to research!
We have 3 delicious Christmas dog treats for you, complete with ingredients and recipes, take a look.
Tasty Xmas Treats With Apple and Mint
Ingredients You Will Need
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 cup applesauce
- 7/8 cup water
- 1½ cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/3 cup oat bran
- 2 tbsp dry milk
- 2 tbsp chopped spearmint leaves
- 1½ tsp dry baking yeast
You’ll also need the following to produce the Christmas dog treats:
- A strong mixer equipped with a dough hook (a bread machine would also work)
- A big ball (if you use a blender)
- A rolling pin that won’t stick
- A small bone-shaped biscuit cutter
- Cookie sheets or parchment paper
Preparing Your Treats
- Prepare your bread machine and place everything inside, before setting the program for making the dough
- Place your prepared dough on a flat surface and make sure that you have floured it
- Roll out the dough until it is around 1/4 of an inch in thickness
- Cut the dough using your cookie cutter, gather up loose pieces, and roll again to use up all of the dough
- Cover a tray with baking paper and place treat
- Bake treats for an hour at 250F until they begin to brown
- Turn the oven off, leave the tray inside and let the treats dry overnight.
Candy Cane Xmas Treats
Light Dough
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1 ½ cups water
- One egg, beaten
Dark Dough
- 4 cups whole wheat flour
- ¼ cup molasses
- ½ cup cornmeal
- 1 ½ cups water
- One beaten egg
- 1 tbsp oil
Additionally, you will require cookie sheets, 2 wooden spoons, and 2 large bowls for preparation.
Getting Stuck In
To get started preheat your oven to 350F (175C), grease the cookie sheets, and use the following steps to prepare your light dough:
- In one large bowl use a wooden spoon to mix all dry ingredients
- Now add your wet ingredients and fold them into the mixture before giving it a good stir to create a consistent mixture with no lumps
- Stop mixing once you have a firm dough
Making Dark Dough
Now it is time to make the dark dough using these steps :
- Using the second bowl mix all dry ingredients together
- Add wet ingredients to the mixture
- Mix ingredients using the second wooden spoon
- Stop mixing once you have a smooth and soft consistency, less dense that the lighter batter
Finishing Up Your Treats
Now that you have both doughs ready, prepare using the following steps:
- Cover your cutting board with flour
- Take a small amount of each dough, around the size of a golf ball
- Roll out each piece into logs of similar length
- Place both logs side by side and begin to plait
- Bend the top of the single log to look like a candy cane
- Place cookie sheets onto a baking tray and line up your canes
- Bake for 10 minutes
- Turn oven off and leave inside to cool for 20 minutes
Honey and Cinnamon Xmas Treats
- 3 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 ¼ cups water
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ cup vegetable oil (preferably olive oil)
- 1 tbsp fresh ginger (finely chopped)
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup molasses
- 2 tbsp honey
Once you have your ingredients you will also need a couple of large bowls, measuring utensils, a cookie cutter, and some parchment paper. Now you have all that you need, here is how to create these tasty treats:
- All the wet ingredients should be combined in one bowl
- Add the dry ingredients to the second big bowl and thoroughly combine them
- Mix after incorporating the dry ingredients into the wet mixture
- Make two portions of the dough
- Each component should be put in a bowl, wrapped, and chilled for at least 3.5 hours. The optimal time to chill the dough in the refrigerator is for about 5 hours
- Place the dough on a flat surface when it has chilled
- Use the rolling pin to roll out the dough to a thickness of 1/4”
- Set your oven to 350 degrees (175 C)
- The dog biscuits should be cut out using the cookie cutter
- The Christmas dog treats should be put on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper
- Bake your treats for between 10 and 15 minutes
- Open the oven, turn it off, and let the dog treats cool inside
- Decorate the cooled Christmas dog treats with carob or yogurt drips after cooling
Why not give these Christmas dog treats a try and let us know how they turn out?
Check out our main page for more recipes, dog breeds and information about your furry friend!
