It's Easter time! For us humans that means treating ourselves to yummy chocolate Easter Eggs and forgetting about the scales for that one day of the year. But what about our furry friends? Can they be treated with just a small bit of chocolate? Well the answer is ABSOLUTELY NOT. Chocolate is actually poison for dogs and can make them very sick. So what can you treat them with? Well why not try a homemade, dog friendly Easter treat?
I have just made a batch of Easter Egg doggie cookies to give to my grooming clients as a special Easter gift this year. And may I say, for someone who is horrible at baking human sweets, they turned out pretty fantastic! Well, my three taste-testers thought they were worth eating!
When baking for dogs just remember that they can't eat a lot of human foods as their diet is a lot more simple than ours. So when making cookies, make sure you use whole-wheat flour and don't use any additives or flavour enhancers. I natural product that is fine for dogs to eat (and a flavour that they love) is peanut butter. Also remember to keep it simple and plain for any decorations or icing as well, using just a flour and water mixture with no added sugar.
These cookies are easy to make and can be used at anytime of the year (just cut the cookies into different themed shapes). Here is my recipe!
Ingredients -
½ cup Peanut Butter
2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup Oats (ground to a powder consistency)
1 cup Hot Chicken Broth
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 Tbsp Honey
All you need to do is combine all the ingredients and roll out the dough. Cut your cookie shapes and then bake them in the oven at 180 degrees celcius for 10 minutes. For the icing, combine whole wheat flour and water until you have made a paste and add a few drops of food colouring. After applying the icing to the cookies, bake for a further 2 minutes.
These cookies are a yummy and safe treat for your dogs this Easter. Remember that chocolate is poison for dogs, and so make sure your dogs are not around (or closely watched) when your children are hunting Easter Eggs left by the Easter Bunny!
Happy Easter!
Davina Dewar