gone to the dogs

Here we are a little over a week away from Christmas and there are SO many other holiday-related donut pan ideas on my list. But I'm still burnt out from "Holiday Donut Pan Idea Week". That was too much! I needed a project this week that I could execute with ease, and it just so happens that this easy one made some great (and dog-approved) gifts for some of my friends with dogs.

Doggie treats! Vegan doggie treats, to be exact. These are a slam dunk. I researched online and used THIS recipe I found at an all-things-pet-related website called petsugar, so thanks to them.

This recipe yields 14 pet treats. I scored each one so they are easy to snap into quarters. Some of my recipients were big dogs, and one was a chihuahua, so it just made sense.

You will need 1/2 c. organic peanut butter, 1 c. water, 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour and   1 1/2 c. white flour. Also helpful is a chopstick for scoring the treats, and a parchment paper lined baking sheet.

Preheat your oven to 350º. There is no pan preparation required for once, hooray! Blend peanut butter, water and oil in the bowl of a stand mixer until well combined. Sift together the white and whole wheat flours in a separate bowl and then add the flour to the wet mixture a little at a time. By the time you've added the last of the flour it might be working your mixer pretty hard. If that happens you can always take the dough out of the bowl and knead it a little to finish the job.

One at a time, measure out 2 oz. pieces of dough, shape into balls and stretch into the donut pans. Press and shape the backs firmly until the pan cavities are evenly filled and the treats look smooth. While you're filling the pans, the big pile of dough will start to dry out a bit. You might want to cover it with a cloth or plastic wrap while working to keep it moister. I finished before I had too much of a problem. 

Before you put the pans in the oven, score the backs of the treats into quarters by pressing lines of holes as shown. My holes went about three-quarters of the way through the dough and worked great.

Bake at 350º for twenty minutes. While they are baking, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. After twenty minutes, remove the pans from the oven and carefully flip the treats out onto the baking sheet. Arrange scored-side up and bake for fifteen more minutes to dry them out a bit more.

When they are done, take them out and let them cool completely, then pack 'em up for your favorite dawgs! 

This is Boo-Boo. He and his brother Benny who live upstairs with our friends gobbled them right up!