Organic Oatmeal Sunflower Seed Dog Treats

George Approved!

I have found in the last year or so that I have focused mainly on the basics while cooking. And by the basics, I mean food that we are going to eat immediately. In other words it’s not food that I’m making because I have the desire to see “if I can make that.” So when I was looking around for some photographs to see what I could post here I came up with these dog treats.

I thought to myself oh boy, another dog treat recipe! My readers will be rolling their eyes and clicking right through to the next blog if I don’t find something else. And then I remembered the reason that I make dog treats. And that reason is… I love my dog! I love my dog like a member of the family just like many of you do I’m sure. So why wouldn’t I make different treats for him? His daily diet is a commercial kibble that I feel very confident in. But treats…? I don’t know, I don’t trust commercial treats right now. There’s been too many recalls and so many dogs made sick. I want George to have the best I can provide And anyway,dog treats are like making cookies for your dog! How fun is that!? I certainly don’t make the same flavor cookies for myself every time I make cookies, so why would I do that for my dog? Why would you?  You wouldn’t! And if you love to cook as much as I do, you can even use your dog as an excuse to cook, or buy fun cooking gadgets. Such as cookie cutters.

We were completely out of dog treats, and I happened to have the new beautiful cookie-cutter shaped like a piece of bread that I wanted to play with. However, I should have known this dough would be really thick. It wasn’t really cookie-cutter appropriate. No big deal!  I just used my fluted pasta wheel to cut the dough into various sized squares. I think the fluted edges of the rectangular treats are beautiful. George loved them!
Every time he hears the container in the refrigerator open he comes running!

A softer crumbly texture….

Oatmeal  Sunflower Seed Dog Treats

1 1/2 cups Organic oat flour
1 1/2 cups Organic brown rice flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups of Organic old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup finely chopped sunflower seeds (unsalted)
1/2 cup local honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pre-heat your oven to 350. Combine all your ingredients together until a dough forms.   roll the dough out to about a half-inch thick and then place it onto a large sheet pan. Use your hands to try to make it a little thinner, and  squish it down into the pan. Use a knife or a fluted pasta cutter to cut to the desired shapes. Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool completely. Store the treats in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

**This recipe is  Based on a recipe from the organic dog biscuit cookbook from the Bubba Rose biscuit company. I have mentioned it before, it’s a great book. If I don’t use the recipes from there outright, I certainly modify many of them, usually with the predicted results.