Guess what's just around the corner? I know....with the summer heat still hanging on it's hard to imagine it, but it is just around the corner. FALL I mean. And with fall comes apple picking and pumkin fields. Here's a good dog friendly way to use some of that pumpkin too! And Rover will LOVE you more for it!
PUMPKIN COOKIES AND DOG ICING
PUMPKIN COOKIES
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tablespoons dry milk
1 cup white flour
1/3 cup corn meal
1/2 cup oats
1 1/2 teaspoons dry yeast
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup water + 1 tablespoon water
Directions
Place all the ingredients in your bread machine and set the machine for the dough cycle.
When the dough is finished, remove it and roll it into sheets that are 1/4" thick.
Using cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes and place it on a lightly greased cookie sheet or an ungreased pastry mat.
Let the cookies rise for about an hour.
Bake the dog cookies for an hour at 275-300 degrees F.
Turn off the oven, and let the dog cookies continue to dry overnight in the oven. When they are completely done, they will be hard, dry and crisp. The dog treats will be hard for you to break in your hands--and better for your dog's teeth and gums.
You can store these dog cookies for a month or so at room temperature.
If you would like to give the dog treats as a gift, serve them at a dog party or use them as a festive treat, you can decorate them with dog treat icing and sprinkles.
Your stars will be easier to decorate if you use a larger star cookie cutter to make bigger stars. You can always break them in half for a smaller dog.
Make sure you keep some pumpkin cookies on hand for the holidays.
You'll want to have some for Halloween, for Thanksgiving and for the Christmas holidays.
Dog icing for cakes and cookies
You can spread yogurt, cream cheese or cottage cheese on a cake. You may wish to puree cottage cheese for a finer consistency. Melted carob can be drizzled on many cakes for dogs.
Mashed bananas works well in dog cake recipes like this one:
Banana & Mock-Choc Frosting:
• 2 cup mashed banana
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 6 tablespoon powdered carob (NEVER EVER USE REAL CHOCOLATE IN YOUR DOG TREATS!)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 tablespoon unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
Blend thoroughly and spread on cooled cake.
Cinnamon and vanilla are fine to use as flavorings in dog cake recipes. Bananas make great treats for dogs. Especially frozen bananas on a hot summer day.
It’s up to you how you want to use the frosting and icing. You may want to spread it on thinly or, in the case of bananas, you could use them for decoration and places slices around the top of the cake. You could place a layer of cream cheese on the cake and lay banana slices on top. And so on. It’s fine to be as creative as you like when working with dog cake recipes as long as you are using ingredients that are healthy for dogs.
Birthday cakes for dogs always benefit from these frostings and icings, especially if you wish to enhance them a little with some safe food coloring. There’s no reason why all of your dog cakes have to be white or natural-colored. You can add some food coloring and make cakes for dogs that are bright and bold.
Remember that, as with human cakes, frosting for dog cakes (including dog birthday cakes) sometimes handles better when it has been allowed to cool in the refrigerator for a while. It shouldn’t be either too warm or too cold when you’re trying to put it on the cake. If you’re baking the cake then the cake should be thoroughly cooled before you attempt to do any decorating. Put the decorated cake bake in the fridge to let it “set” before you serve it. You may be making birthday cakes for dogs for a group of wild puppies but you still want it to look nice.
That’s really all there is to it. Frosting and icing are an important part of making cakes for dogs into something really special for your dog. They are, literally, the icing on the cake. Your dog will love them.
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