Baking Day.....for the DOGS

Can someone please tell me what's going on with Blogger! All these different sized texts that I didn't program in. I hope they "fix" this soon. 

I had a choice of getting out in the rain and cold and driving 5 miles to buy dog treats, or finding a recipe and making them. I opted for the latter.

It was the first time in years I've baked dog treats. I did so in the 1970s for my sweet little Cocker Spanier, Gamby. I made them back then because someone gave me a cute cookie cutter in the shape of a bone. The cutter is long gone, but I found a plain old cookie cutter that worked just fine. The dogs certainly don't care about the shape.

Here's the recipe I used (from all.recipes.com).

1 cup rolled oats

1/3 cup margarine

1 cup boiling water

3/4 cup cornmeal

2 teaspoons white sugar

2 teaspoons beef bouillon granules

1/2 cup milk

1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese

1 egg, beaten

3 cups whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

In a large bowl, combine rolled oats, margarine, and boiling water. Let stand 10 minutes. Grease cookie sheets

Thoroughly stir in cornmeal, sugar, bouillon, milk, Cheddar cheese, and egg.

Looks good enough to eat, doesn't it? (I tasted one after baking, and no, not so good to my taste)

.Mix in flour, 1 cup at a time, until a stiff dough has formed.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, mixing in additional flour as necessary until dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Roll or pat out dough to 1/2" thickness.

The dough was easy to work with; don't forget to dust the kneeding/rolling surface heavily with flour.

Cut with cookie cutter, and place 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets.

Bake 35 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Cool before serving. Store in a loosely covered container.

Using the cutter I had, the yield was three dozen treats.

Here are the substitutions I made in the recipe:

• I used chicken broth instead of milk.
• Since I didn't have whole wheat flour, I used two cups white and one cup oat bran.
• Substituted canola oil for margarine

They look like Ritz crackers, don't they? I'm likely going to store these in the refrigerator, at least most of them. to avoid mold.

I read the reviews and one person said these don't last as long as commercial brands due to no added preservatives. It might be a good idea to keep the dough refrigerated and bake only enough to last a few days, or refrigerate the baked ones.

The recipe uses corn meal; some dogs may be allergic.

One person left out the bouillon and cheese and substituted peanut butter.

Not a super-healthy recipe because of the white flour; but these are probably  more healthy than grocery store variety.

Water droplets frozen on cedar tree branches.

So this is how I spent my Monday morning. By afternoon, ice was beginning to form on tree limbs and there's a potential we could have an ice storm tonight. It all depends on just how cold it gets outside.

A goofy-looking picture of Valerie, not helped by my not holding the camera still.

Now, that's better.

Kris giving his sad look. But it IS cold outside!

By now the dogs have tried the dog treats and given a paw up. I told them not to get used to this homemade variety though. While they are easy enough to make, I don't believe I want to do this every week!

So how did you spend your Monday?