Of Dogs and Biscuits and Gold Hydrant Awards


Last chance today to enter my

Summertime Giveaway...
deadline is tonight,
June 12th, at midnight!

Today we made these mouthwatering dog biscuits (recipe below) in honor of the Gold Hydrant Award bestowed on this blog by Life With Dogs blog owner Neil Brogan. See the shiny new award in my sidebar.

Keep reading for your chance to have some
fresh, homemade dog biscuits sent to you next week!

Trixie, Tori and Ringo were SO excited when I told them about the award. And when I told them that I would make fresh dog biscuits for the occasion, well, they just about drooled all over each other! They were not as thrilled when I told them we should send some biscuits to Nigel, Sola and Truffles to thank them for the special award. I reminded them of the goodness in sharing.... um, they weren't buying it and said dogs aren't good at sharing. Well, I suppose that's true...

For those who haven't made our dogs' acquaintance, here are pics of the lot of 'em...

Ringo and Tori, waiting for the frisbee toss

Tori (again) and Trixie at Getaway Cabins, southern Ohio,
several years ago

Some history on my dog-biscuit-making capabilities...

Years ago, when my dalmatian was in his last year and had difficulty digesting his food, I would make fresh dog biscuits AND dog food all the time. It was the only thing he could eat without throwing up. What we will do for the love of a dog...

I miss this boy!

He loved sitting in a chair at the front door.

And I digress, as usual. For those who enjoy pampering their pooches, I'm providing the recipe for the dog biscuits as pictured above. (Recipe taken from Three Dog Bakery Cookbook)

Party Hearty Mix-It-Up Mix
Makes about 84 2-1/2" size biscuits (that's how many it made for me, at least)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup honey, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 egg and 4 tsp skim milk in a bowl. In a separate bowl, blend together 2-1/2 cups whole-wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp ground ginger.

Combine dry ingredients with wet mixture and stir thoroughly. Dough will be moist and sticky.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut shapes. Note: Do not add too much flour to dough - by the time you roll out a 3rd or 4th time, the dough can get unmanageable if too much flour mixes in. Use only enough flour to keep it from sticking to countertop.

Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool on rack and store in airtight container. Note: My oven runs pretty warm and I use the airbake cookie sheets, which usually bake items slower -- yet my time was still closer to 12 mins.

Overall, a very simple and delicious dog biscuit treat! The girls and Ringo wholeheartedly endorsed my revisit to the world of homemade dog biscuits, and they are paws-itively convinced that I should make more dog biscuits in the weeks to come. They twisted my paw, er, hand...I finally gave in... I said ok! We shall continue to bake healthy dog treats and offer them up as prizes and send them out to family and friends, so that their dogs can also enjoy healthy and nutritious dog biscuits!

Alrighty then. My next batch of fresh homemade dog biscuits will be even more deelish; I have many recipes. I'll be sending a box to the crew at Life With Dogs, with many thanks. I will also be sending out boxes to the first two readers who comment on this post... so if you have dogs, you owe it to them to be "quick on the paw" and post a comment here!

Note: These dog biscuits are made with human-grade ingredients, so you could eat them yourself, if you wanted to.... but really, they are for the dogs. So it might be helpful if you own a few dogs, or at least know someone with dogs, before you try to be one of the first two commenters to scam your freebies. :-)

23 comments:

  1. Hi Susan!
    Xena would love to try your homemade biscuits! She's been going through a bad week. Had a tumor removed from her leg on Monday, now I'm trying to keep her from licking the incision and drain sticking out from it. She hates the cone around her neck. She is now sleeping without the cone, but I'm with her and have her owwie bandaged for the night. Last nite there was no sleeping AT ALL! Hopefully, all will turn out well for my poor sweet girl, but it's been ruff! Lin

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  2. I am going to try this for my girls. By the way yours are beautiful. I give my animal crackers, they are low in fat and low in sugar. It sure beats the heck out of store bought treats that are loaded with fillers and fat and are expensive. Sadie has allergies and I have to really watch all the additives so this is great.
    I waiting for more. Maybe I'll bark and you will send me some too!

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  3. Awe darn we are too late! Maybe next time the great dog biscuits will be ours! They sound great and I really should make some for Chance..cause he likes treats! Thanks for the recipe!! :)

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  4. Great post, Susan, and it looks like a great dog biscuit recipe too! I've never made dog biscuits for our dogs, but after reading your post, I'm definitely motivated to try it. And I'm sure our greyhound Harley would be MOST appreciative!

    Congrats also on your Gold Hydrant Award. Your blog is lovely, and quite deserving of special mention such as this!

    I'm hopeful that one day we can meet up when Lee and I are making one of our twice a year road trips to my home state of Kansas to visit family.

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  5. Oh gosh, you turn out to be a source of easy to make dog/human recipes! Yummy. Our dogs will love this. I'm planning to make the biscuits and the easy coffee cake. I have to find out what 375 dgrs F is in C. Before I set the place on fire ;-)

    Anyways, the legs are doing fine! The blue is gone, as are the purple, yellow and green ;-) But they are quite sensitive still. I fear that will last for a while. Keep forgetting that it hurts if I sit down and cross my legs for instance. Hehe. So my face muscles have a regular work-out these days ;-)

    Congrats again on your gold hydrant award. Has it dawned on you yet that he probably doesn't mean 'beer' with gold hydrant? LOL
    And yet we are proudly displaying it on our blogs....

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  6. Oh dear, now Amie and Chewie want to know why they have to eat stale ol' store bought dog biscuits. Looks like I'd better get to baking! Thank you for the recipe, this is great!

    What did you make your dalmation for food? I buy big packages of chicken legs and thighs and add that, plus steamed broccoli, to their dogfood to stretch it out. Chicken is far cheaper per pound than dogfood!

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  7. Congrats Lin & Demainca, you'll be getting some fresh, homemade, allergen- and preservative-free doggie biscuits in the next few weeks!

    Lin - I'm so sorry to hear of Xena's surgery and I hope she's feeling better in no time - hopefully a surprise in the mail will cheer her up!

    Demainca - Animal crackers, interesting and economical idea there. Since Sadie has allergies, hopefully my biscuits will work great for her - no wheat, corn, soy or yeast, which are common problem foods.

    Far Side of Fifty - The girls (and Ringo) really love the biscuit recipe I've posted here. It has whole-wheat flour, but as long as your dog isn't sensitive to wheat, these biscuits will work out just fine - better than store-bought!

    Jan - Harley would LOVE homemade biscuits. Trust me on this one. The girls are yapping that everyone should at least try the homemade route ONCE. Would love to meet you and Lee if you are travelling through our neck of the woods -- zap me an email and let me know!

    Carolina - There's plenty of conversion websites out there, so I'm sure you can find out what 375 F converts to in Celsius. I still find that photo of your legs just amazing; you should have been in hospital with that injury!!! Glad to hear they are healing. WHA? No beer with our Gold Hydrant award? - that is just wrong on so many levels, lol...

    SDF - I made my dal's dog food from a book called The Natural Dog by Mary L. Brennan. It had a wonderful chart which listed all the grains, protein, veggies, oils, vitamin/mineral supplements, etc.... you could pick and choose from each list to create your own specialized dog food. It was great and so easy -- I made a big batch for him every 2-3 weeks with chicken as the main ingredient - kept fresh in frig and froze the extra.

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  8. Hi there
    Thanks for visiting our blog and congratulating us on the Gold Hydrant Award - we have been keen to reciprocate but up until now have not been able to leave a message!
    Blogger having a bad day!
    It is really lovely to meet you - we have been going to try making dog biscuits for ages and now we must try your recipe!
    I truly empathised with what lengths you will go to for a dearly loved dog - been there, dont that as they say!
    Look forward to getting to know your blog.
    love
    Martha, Bailey & Mum xxx

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  9. that should read 'been there, done that!' xxx

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  10. Those sound good enough for people. Now why don't you start your own homemade dog biscuit business. You're so darn talented, ya know. There's so many opportunities for you. HUGS

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  11. Hi ya Ringo and Tori! I stopped by yesterday but didn't get to meet you. She told me she had some chocolate love in her house like my Mom does. I love your names, very cool.
    I'm definitely going to push for her to make me some of those tasty homemade treats. Thanks for the recipe.

    Woofs and tasty slobbers,
    Chester

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  12. What a great looking dalmation--I am sure those homemade snacks are always a hit.

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  13. Love your babies and love the recipe too - no dogs here at the moment, just a house full of kitties, but I'm sure some of our doggie friends would love this for a special gift :-)

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  14. Hi There!
    Thanks for stopping by my blog and congrats on the golden hydrant too. What sweet dogs and I just may need to try a recipe. I make my own frosty paws.

    Norwood

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  15. Believe it or not I used to eat dog biscuits as a young boy! I reckon I'd really enjoy these home-made ones!

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  16. Brought back memories of my german shepherd "Sam" Good post

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  17. Love the pics, I'll have to try this recipe.

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  18. You've got some handsome roommates there!

    The last time I commented, I forgot to extend my invitation to you for Small Town Snapshot Sunday. I thought you might enjoy it since you are living in the country now! :)

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  19. Wonderful post. Enjoy reading about your doggie friends...they are so lucky to have you as their mom. Congrats on your new award!

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  20. Congrats to you, too, fellow Golden Hydrant winner. :) Your pups are beautiful. And thanks for the buscuit recipe!

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  21. Congrats on your Golden Hydrant! This reminds me, I gotta try that coffee cake recipe. LOL

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  22. Ah yes, the homemade dog biscuits ALWAYS get eaten by the people in my house! It's awfully embarrasing when my daughter brings friends over and asks, "Do you want a dog biscuit?" Gah!

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  23. Awww, he was *beautiful*! Thanks for stopping by my house of spots! :)

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