See Related Recipe: Stella’s Double Whammy Dog Treats Recipe
We really, really like bacon. Because we spring for the humane, small farm kind, we save all our precious bacon fat. It adds smoky, meaty flavor to all sorts of foods, from sautéed greens to ginger cookies (no kidding). But despite our efforts to eliminate waste, we still had a surplus. Enter Dog Treats.
Nicole and Stella, our chow-collie mix, both adore the flavor of peanut butter as much as bacon. Nicole has a fondness for peanut butter, honey and bacon sandwiches, and for years we stocked store-bought peanut butter dog treats for Stella…so those flavors seemed like a good place to start. We looked around at what recipes we could find, combined the best of what we saw and started tinkering.
Yes, that does mean we sampled the treats ourselves. But remember that we’re essentially making crackers, with darn good ingredients, and we’re getting better at it all the time. Though our goal is to use up whatever flours and grains we have on hand, the dog biscuits turn out well despite every adaptation. Using yeast lightens the texture enormously, and the technique of cutting in the fat gives them a superior flaky texture.
A few years ago, Lisa, who had been stockpiling other types of rendered fat because they just seemed too good to throw away, hit upon the notion of a Christmas dog treat baking bonanza. Since the dry and wet ingredients were added in different stages from the fat, the recipe was amenable to creating multiple flavors from a single big batch. She has since found that about any rendered fat will work, although the firmer the better—lamb, beef, chicken, turkey all work well. Duck fat, although almost too precious to use on dog treats, is particularly lovely. We think we may actually tinker with the duck version a bit and roll it flatter to make a cracker for people.
As you will see, this recipe is very receptive to what’s on hand, so don’t be afraid to experiment. If you’ve never made anything home-made for your pet before, start small and watch for any allergies to emerge. Our dog is quite hearty, and tolerates wheat, rice, and oat flours well.
The recipe below is large, but you can halve or quarter it. We tend to make big batches since they freeze really well, plus we share with other, less fortunate dogs. Stella supervises quality control; she does not leave the kitchen or nap while they are being made. She does whine as they are packaged up to be given away—she knows! Let us know what your pets think and if you come up with a new variation.
Click on this slide show presentation to see all the images showcasing the various steps to making these doggy treats.
Lisa Bell spent the first fifteen years of her working life as a pastry chef, recipe developer, test kitchen director, food stylist and print editor. She has also taught cooking classes, run a small cooking school, and worked as a food scientist. She transitioned to a new career in video production five years ago and now works freelance as a producer, writer and editor. Her passions include cooking, of course, animation, video editing, food writing, sustainable agriculture and organic gardening—and cheese.
Nicole Rees is a food writer and cookbook author specializing in baking science. Her most recent book is Baking Unplugged, just now in bookstores, is filled with simple, scratch recipes that require no electric gadgets beyond an oven. Nicole currently works as a baking scientist. She balances her love of sweets with an interest in health and well-being, encouraging everyone she meets to cook with whole foods and eat at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a day. Her section of the garden is filled with parsley, cabbage and a variety of greens. She doesn’t believe any food is actually bad for you, but she believes in making every bite count.
8 Comments
I am interested to know whether these two dogs or overweight and/or have bad teeth and/or loose stools from being fed on fat, peanut butter and pure sugar, which is what honey is.
Hi Rose of the Shire (love your name): No, I believe their dogs are pretty healthy though I only met them once, a number of months ago. I think that these treats are fine in moderation, and not as a substitute for regular canine food. Reminds me of a Michael Pollan talk I went to where a little girl asked him if it were alright to eat candy. He responded (and I am paraphrasing here) that of course, it was, as long as it was a special food—not something given out in the same manner as regular food. Moderation is the key.
Great article here, and great advice about checking the peanut butter since dogs love it, but that doesn’t mean they can’t get sick from it either!
Hi Lisa,
Rebecca’s information is spot on regarding the peanut butter recall. I eat peanut butter every day, so I’ve checked online to make sure my peanut butter is not associated with the recall. While Stella’s dog treats are baked, theoretically eliminating the risk of Salmonella, MY daily ritual of apple slices with peanut butter would put me at risk.
Notice I say the risk is theoretically eliminated. . . I want to emphasize that cooking to proper tempertures is only step one. Countless illnesses are caused by cross-contamination. So, if you touch the baked dog treats with hands that just rolled the raw dough, or set the finished dog treats on the same board you used to roll the dough, you’ve potentially re-contaminated them.
I commend you for putting your dog’s health first. Many folks insist that dogs are not as susceptible to Salmonella as humans, but from what I’ve read, the verdict is still out. Since my dog can’t tell me when she feels bad, I’d rather not put her at risk.
The recipe has been adapted to work with just about any kind of fat, so peanut butter is not essential for good dog treats. Many times, Lisa has begun to make dog treats only to find I’ve eaten all the peanut butter, so she’s ground nuts in a food processor, or used almond butter instead.
Nicole (aka June1)
Lisa:
If you use a store bought container of peanut butter for the recipe, based on what the FDA is saying, you should be ok to use that. You are right to be wary, this outbreak has been going on since September of 2008, to date, over 150 products containing peanut butter have been recalled, and illnesses are still being reported.
This is an ingredient based contamination problem that appears to be associated with one company plant in Georgia. Here’s an excerpt of what the Center for Disease Control reports as of January 23, 2009: Department of Agriculture Laboratory isolated the outbreak strain of Salmonella Typhimurium from an open 5-pound container of King Nut brand creamy peanut butter. ” King Nut creamy peanut butter is distributed in many states to establishments such as long-term care facilities, hospitals, schools, universities, restaurants, delis, cafeterias, and bakeries. It is not sold directly to consumers and is not known to be distributed for retail sale in grocery stores.”
The apparent difficulty is in tracking down all the processed foods containing the King Nut peanut butter paste, used in an unknown number of food products. The FDA must investigate primary, secondary, tertiary, and possibly additional downstream sources to identify the all the potential products that may contain this contaminated ingredient.
To date, there has not been any reports of a recall on store bought jars of peanut butter. We have several calls in to the Food and Drug Administration, and are working on a post, possibly for this Friday.
Hope this helps.
Great recipe! I was sad when I realized that I wouldn’t be comfortable including peanut butter, in light of the recent recalls. Any ideas on substitutes?
Thanks! We tried to make cat food once and that was not popular, oh, the disgruntled looks we got which ended up w/one cat throwing the food back up IN HIS BOWL. However, am coming back around to trying again, new recipe, now that one cat is on special urinary diet formal from the vet which is super expensivo…key ingredients seem to be mainly be high water content, low ash, and acidifying ingredients like cranberries and blueberries. I know raw meat would be better for them too…As far as cat treats here at 2junes, those are mostly variations on human treats doled out in teeny portions like homemade chix liver pate, salmon or trout mousse, etc.
What a great concept! Great treats for Stella and another great way to put good food to use. We used to make our Sally a homemade meal the last 2 years of her life, after she became ill. I was amazed how her energy turned around! I know she would have loved these too!
I know cats are different critters totally, but have you ever tried these with cats?
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