Tomorrow is Lily’s birthday. To be more precise, it is the anniversary of the day we found her. In case you are new around here, Lily is our little mutt of a Chihuahua. Seven years ago, we found her walking around the neighborhood, drinking water from puddle on the ground, stinky, hungry and pregnant, yet the sweetest dog ever be. Today, she’s still stinky from licking herself, hungry because to her there’s never enough food, not pregnant anymore and spayed, still sweet but a little grumpier since she turned 10. So for my special girl, I made some special Peanut Butter Apple Dog Treats with oat flour.
This peanut butter apple dog treat recipe is very simple and free of typical dog food allergens. Over a year ago, we found out that Lily is highly allergic, even to the vet recommended dog food for sensitive skin and grass! We gave her an allergy test and the results came in a huge booklet. She’s luckily not allergic to wheat, so you will find treats in the archive that contains whole wheat flour. However, feel free to substitute with other flour of your choice if necessary. Most dog treat recipes are reasonably adaptable.
I’m not the super fancy dog mom who makes my dogs dinner of salmon and peas. Though I have thought about it many times since we have an allergic dog and a very finicky eater (Sriracha, my other dog, one of Lily’s puppies, not the hot sauce). However, I know once I start making them dinner, I must be totally committed because there will be no going back. So for now, I will continue to read every single ingredient label on anything I buy for them; and they will settle for special treats only occasionally. 🙂
- 1 small apple
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoon creamy peanut butter
- A pinch of cinnamon
- 2 cup oat flour
- Extra oat flour for rolling
- 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter (optional peanut butter drizzle)
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Ground approximately 10 oz of rolled oats in a food processor until coarse flour forms. This will yield just over 2 cups. Set aside.
- Core the apple and puree in a food processor, the apple will yield approximately 1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons.
- Add pureed apple, egg, 2 tablespoons of creamy peanut butter and a pinch of cinnamon to a medium mixing bowl. Mix with a whisk until smooth.
- Add 1 cup of oat flour to the mixture and mix with the whisk until combined.
- Add 1 more cup of oat flour to the mixture. This time, use a spatula or mixing spoon to combine as the dough will be a lot thicker.
- At this point, the dough should be something between pie and bread dough, not too sticky. If it is sticky, add more oat flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the desired consistency is achieved.
- Sprinkle some oat flour on a cutting board or counter and turn the dough out, knead and shape into a disk.
- Roll dough out to about 1/4" thick. Cut with a 2” bone shape cookie cutter, and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet about 1/2” apart.
- Reshape scraps and roll out again to 1/4” thick and continue cutting out treats until finished. This will yield 30 treats.
- Dip the cookie cutter in some oat flour each time you cut so the cutter doesn’t get sticky.
- Bake for 40 minutes, flip treats upside down and rotate pan half way through baking time so they can brown evenly.
- Remove baking pan from oven and let cool on a cooling rack.
- Optional peanut butter drizzle: melt 1/4 cup of creamy peanut butter in the microwave for 30 seconds, drizzle with a spoon over dog treats.
2. If your oven is too cold, simply lengthen the baking time at the same temperature until the treats become golden brown and dry.
3. Store in an airtight container. If the treats are baked until they really dry out, they could last at room temperature for a week plus. By this time, these will be all gone at my house. But you can always store them in the fridge as well.
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