All things Collie: The party...

We had fun celebrating Ryder’s and Kori’s birthday yesterday. Kia baked them a cake, and when I got home we made special dog cookies for them. It was my first time trying this recipe, but the collies must have approved, because they were glued to our sides while we were making the cookies. And with six collies, in a small kitchen, that made it a bit difficult! (difficult, but funny) The recipe was posted on my blog a few days ago, but I’ll copy it here, for anyone who wants to try it.

Homemade Dog Biscuits with Peanut Butter & Bacon

•1/8 cup bacon grease

•2 cups whole wheat flour

•1/4 cup ground flax

•1/4 cup wheat bran

•2 tsp baking powder

•1/2 cup natural peanut butter

•1 egg, lightly beaten

•3/4 cup water

Instructions:

1.Preheat oven to 325° F

2.Cook bacon until crispy. Drain on a paper towel.

3.Pour the bacon grease into a glass measuring cup.

4.In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground flax, wheat bran, and baking powder.

5.Crumble the bacon, once cooled, and stir into the flour mixture.

6.In a microwave safe bowl, warm the peanut butter. Approximately 30 seconds.

7.In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg. Then pour in the peanut butter, water, and bacon grease. Use a fork to whisk together the wet ingredients until completely combined.

8.Make a well in the dry ingredients, and pour in the peanut butter mixture.

9.Stir until combined.

10.Knead lightly in the bowl with your hands.

11.Lay down one large sheet of parchment paper, roll your dough onto it, then lay another piece of parchment on top. You'll essentially have a dog treat dough sandwich. See the video for tips.

12.Roll out to 1/2 inch thickness.

13.Lightly spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

14.Cut shapes out of the dough and place on your prepared baking sheet. Gather the extra dough, knead into a ball, and repeat the process of rolling and cutting until there is no more dough.

15.Bake for 15 - 18 minutes.

16.Turn off the oven and leave them there to cool for 2 hours or overnight.

Storing - These homemade dog biscuits will stay fresh in the refrigerator for up to two weeks. They will keep in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Yield - Using a 3 inch bone shaped cookie cutter, you will get 18 homemade dog biscuits.

Tips & Techniques

•Ground Flax - Flax has so many wonderful health benefits. Learn more about using flax in your homemade dog treats, with our Cheesy Flax Squares recipe.

•Choosing Cookie Cutters - Because this recipe uses baking powder, these peanut butter dog biscuits will puff up some during the baking process. Because of that, you will want to choose a dog cookie cutter that has simple shapes. The puffed cookie will not show the same amount of detail as another dog treat recipe.

•Crumble Bacon - After the bacon is cooked and cooled, it's time to crumble. Instead of doing this by hand, one tiny piece at a time, break your bacon into large pieces and place in a plastic zip-lock bag. Then easily break and crumble the bacon inside the bag with your hands. This saves time and greasy fingers! :)

•Bacon Grease - Pour the grease into a glass measuring cup, as opposed to a plastic one, because it will be very hot. You can make these homemade dog biscuits even more special by using the entire amount of bacon grease, instead of just 1/8 of a cup. If you choose to do this, do not add the full amount of water. Depending on how much extra grease you have, add the water 1/4 cup at a time. Continue adding water, up to 3/4 of a cup if needed, to make the dough combine.

•Choice of Bacon - If your dog loves bacon, but needs to keep his homemade dog biscuits on the healthier side, you can use turkey or low-sodium bacon for this recipe.

•Peanut Butter - Once you have warmed the peanut butter, try to work quickly adding the other wet ingredients. The reason is that the peanut butter will start to harden, and it's much easier to combine everything while it is still quite warm.

When we made these last night, we didn’t have the flax or bran, so we just added an extra ½ cup of the flour. The collies didn’t mind one bit either!

Since the collies had cake and cookies, we didn’t give them their Frosty Paws. We told them that it would be their birthday weekend, and that we would continue the celebration tonight with a trip to the dog park followed by Frosty Paws. They did get their presents, but we gave each collie a present, not just Kori and Ryder. The dog training facility where we go for classes has a little store. They were selling antlers, and the large antlers were on sale for only $6 each. Petsmart was selling smaller antlers, for $15 each, or $20 for the large antlers. So we bought a bunch of the $6 antlers, and everyone got one. Kori and Ryder each got a new toy, but with the excitement over the antlers, they didn’t care about the toys.

Waiting for their cake