Sunday, December 13, 2009

Reader Mail!

Received this email from Charice (Dogmom of Tula - pictured) from Southbridge, Massachusettes ~

Saw the blog post, Looks like fun for all! We want to make some cookies for all of Tula's dog friends in the neighborhood.... what do you use for a dog cookie recipe and frosting embellishments?
P.S. We love our chocobloom collar and leash set. Will have to send a picture showing it off.


Well Charice it takes a bit more thought to bake and decorate dog cookies as so many things we use in human cookies are not safe for dogs but with a bit of preparation and a Whole Foods you too can make cookies that look delicious and will be safe for Tula to eat.
Basic Cookie Recipe:
2 cups of whole wheat flour (sub oat or barley flour if desired)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 cup of Natural Peanut Butter (be sure no added sugar and no added salt)
1 cup of skim milk
Preheat oven to 375. Mix dry ingredients in one bowl and wet in another and then slowly add dry to wet. Knead dough onto a floured surface and roll out to 1/8-1/4 thickness. Place on greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. You want a crunchy but not burnt cookie.
The key to storing a dog treat long term is getting all traces of moisture out - to do this leave cookies in low temp oven for a few hours or in a dehydrator till super-duper crunchy.
If you want to be a bit of a cheater like the Lucky Fiona Street Team you can also purchase Cloud Star Buddy Biscuits that come in the shape of Gingerbread men and are nicely embellished with your own frosting and toppings. For those grain-free diet doggies out there the Cloud Star Provence cookies come in the shape of Stars and again are easily jazzed up with frosting and decorations.
*To "frost" we used:
Unsweetened Carob (a safe "chocolate-like" treat for dogs - available in bags of chips at health food stores or Whole Foods) Pipe onto cookies or spread like frosting.
Unsweetened Yogurt Drops (again available at natural stores and melted in microwave)
Sugar Free Vanilla Frosting (a bit gritty to spread but dog safe!)
White Chocolate Wafers - contain some sugar but are safe to ingest unlike regular chocolate and come in different colors to pipe onto cookies.
To decorate we used:
Honey - helps things stick onto cookies and naturally sweet and safe for dogs
Sugar Free Sprinkles - available again at Whole Foods
Sugar Free Aerosol Cookie Coloring - little spray cans you can spray on cookies or frosting to color easily
Ground Peanuts - dogs love 'em and if you have a Slap Chop easy to ground down
Tapioca Balls - instead of sugary nonpareils they make nice accents on frosting
I'm sure there are other ideas out there if anybody else would like to post some! Good luck with your cookies Tula - you will be sure to make tails wag among your furry friends this holiday season.

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