Pumpkin Dog Treats Day Three: Getting Challenging with dog-breath ‘mint’ cookies

More confident in our baking skills, today we challenge ourselves with a little more complex recipe. Grating is involved, and yes, I own a grater.

Cooking I do… baking not so much.

If you’ve been following our four-day doggie treat adventure in the kitchen, you’ll have noticed I’m no expert baker. So, I started easy (check out cookie number one) then added a step (cookie number two).

Now I’m ready for the bigger leagues: more than two steps.

Dog cook number three is supposed to be good for doggie breath – or avoiding doggie breath more specifically. Thank you shout out to damndelicious.net for the general recipe. But I cut it in half because hey, I’m currently over-run with dog cookies.

This version easily yielded a baker’s dozen dog-shapes.

Dodging Dog Breath Pumpkin Cookies

½ grated apple

¼ cup mint leaves

1/8 cup of parsley

½ cup of canned pumpkin puree

1 egg

1 ½ cups of whole wheat flour

In a bowl – a stand up paddle mixer is better but I don’t have one so I used an electric mixer – mix egg and pumpkin on low speed for about two minutes.

Gradually add flour like at expert – ½ a cup at a time until it’s mixed well.

Add the grated apple, parsley (from my garden), mint (also sort of from my garden. My neighbour grew mint so now I do. It’s like a weed). Chop the herbs more finely than I did so the dough will ‘cut’ easier and you’ll have a nicer shape.

Knead the dough into a big ball then roll it out on a lightly floured surface.

Then cut the shapes. I went with dog shape and if I did it again, would like of something to us for an eye.

Bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degree F for about 20 minutes, turning over once to avoid burning if (like me) you don’t have a convection oven.

What did my elderly black terrier Victor think? He’s a picky eater remember and … these were not his favourite. He wasn’t interested at all until our cat Daisy sniffed her way to the plate then little Mister Food Aggressive (my dog) got antsy and decided he did want a cookie.

Only he didn’t eat it. He ‘buried’ somewhere in the house. At least it smells like mint.

Up Next: Day 4 and we’re doing brunch.

What to make your own treats like the pros?

Check out available on Amazon.com (affiliate link) or buy Three Dog Bakery Treats ready made from Amazon.com (affiliate link).

We visited Three Dog Bakery in Michigan – check it out.