Yet another first occurred at Cocker Crazy towers this week, when I embarked on making our very own dog treats. As all Cocker Spaniels are absolutely food bonkers, it seemed like a great way to help us reward our two spaniels for being such gorgeous doggies. Also, the treats would hopefully help us to train our beautiful little Sprocker puppy Lola!
So where to find a reliable recipe? I’m a keen cook and love to read Good Food magazine to get ideas and inspiration for the human members of the household. Thankfully, in 2019 the magazine shared some recipes for dogs. I squirreled the page away and put the recipes in my file. I’m ashamed to say they have only just seen the light of day… but hey, lockdown has given us the time to try new things, hasn’t it? Or at least that’s my excuse!
Peanut Butter and Banana Bites
So, the first job was to decide which recipe to try first. I decided that Peanut Butter and Banana Bites sounded scrumptious…good enough for all of us to eat frankly! With only 6 ingredients and a simple enough method I decided to give it a go. The recipe makes 40-50 bites and only takes half an hour… here it is!
Ingredients
- 100g buckwheat flour
- 100g rolled oats
- 70g smooth peanut butter (salt and xylitol free)
- 1 small banana mashed
- 3 tbsp ground flaxseed
- 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
We had all of the ingredients, bar the ground flaxseed and buckwheat flour, but both were readily available from Sainsburys. I used Whole Earth peanut butter, which is practically salt free and has no xylitol in it.
Method
The recipe asks that you put the oven on at 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Then line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.
Stir all of the inmgredients together and add 4 tbsp of water to make a dough.
The recipe then asks for you to turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface, to 5mm thickness and use a 2cm cookie cutter to make the bites, then arrange on the baking trays. I had two problems here; firstly I did not have a cookie cutter that small; secondly the dough just didn’t seem sturdy enough to get out of the bowl. Next time I’ll make more effort to get this stage right, but I (rather lazily) decided to push the dough into the side of the bowl and hope for the best!
Next, what to use as a small cookie cutter? I tried a melon baller first, but I couldn’t get the dough out of it satisfactorily. Next, I tried a bottle screw top (I know, I know!). However, I had the same problem and couldn’t get the dough out! My ingenious husband then went and had a search in the shed and came back with a plumbing fitting, which was just the right size and had an open top, so we could push the treat out! After giving it a thorough wash… bingo… success!
Once we’d got to this stage, the treats were simple to make and I arranged them on the sheets, and put them in the oven to bake for 18-20 minutes. We had to then leave them on the trays until cool.
The dogs verdict?
I’m glad to say they all came out unburnt and looking good enough to eat! They also smelt lovely and two Spaniel noses were twitching with interest in the kitchen!
The dogs absolutely loved them and they are a great training aid for Lola, as well as a yummy treat for Rosie, when she deserves one simply for being lovely!
I thoroughly recommend giving this recipe a try, although I would urge you to make sure you have the right sized cookie cutter first! I’m definitely going to make another batch soon, I don’t think the dogs would forgive me if I didn’t! Have fun Cocker lovers and do let us know on Twitter how you get on.
One reply on “Taking the Biscuit… making your own Cocker Spaniel dog treats!”
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