Pumpkin Peanut Butter Dog Treats

My soulmutt, Millie, passed away back in July. To say that her loss broke my heart is an understatement of epic proportions, but I’m also just incredibly grateful to have had such an amazing dog for as long as we had Millie. She lived to the astonishing age of 17, beyond ancient for a Rottweiler/lab.

Our house was far too quiet without a canine companion, and so this fall Mike and I adopted Tucker, a German shepherd/pit bull mutt. Tucker is about 20 months old; he is full of energy and kisses, believes he’s a lap dog despite being 64 pounds, and has provided us with a significant increase in activity. Tucker needs two to three walks a day, and so out into our neighborhood we’ve gone, meeting neighbors we’ve lived near for more than a decade and yet not met until now. These pumpkin peanut butter dog treats are gifts for Tucker’s neighborhood dog buddies, the local pups helping socialize him and learn his doggie manners.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup pumpkin puree
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• Water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together flour, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt, and cinnamon. Add water about 1 tablespoon at a time, kneading the dough together with your hands – it will be very stiff and dry, but you don’t want to add too much. I think I added about 3 tablespoons, maybe 4, before it came together.

Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and cut using your desired shape; we chose trees for the season in celebration of the second day of winter and soon-to-be Christmas. Re-roll any scraps and cut, using up all of your dough.

Place on cookie sheets and bake for about 40 minutes, until treats are hard. Remove from oven and cool; store in an airtight container. Treats will keep for a few weeks according to various internet sources – being homemade, they don’t have as long of a shelf life as store-bought biscuits. Makes about 28, depending on your cutter.

Meet Tucker

Tucker is a German shepherd/pit bull mutt we adopted from Every Dog Matters, a rescue in Ohio. He enjoys walks in our neighborhood, hikes at North Park, playing tug-of-war and keep-away, snuggling, and barking at random things in the middle of the night. He has beautiful golden eyes and vampire-like fangs that appear whenever he lies on his back, is fascinated by deer, and wants to be a park ranger when he grows up.