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Apples, Cinnamon, Sweet Potatoes, Pumpkin…these are the flavors of the season. We go crazy for lattes, pie, cookies, candles, everything and anything containing those ingredients or scents. All the while, someone close to you is feeling very left out. Your best friend! Staring at you with those big eyes (I have an expert beggar on my hands), hoping you’ll be kind enough to share a bite.
Don’t leave your dog out when you’re celebrating the tastes of the season! Apples, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin are actually all very common ingredients in homemade dog treats. Dogs love these flavors and they are really healthy for your pup. Homemade dog treats are super simple to make and you can easily tailor the recipe for any special diets. So next time you’re in the baking mood, whip up a quick batch of healthy homemade dog treats for your pooch!
Olive was very patient in letting me photograph her before eating these cookies. They are her new favorite treat!
I just know your pooch will love these biscuits as much as Olive did, so don’t let fall pass without baking them up at your house too. They’re also great as hostess gifts for pet-loving pals. Imagine the delight when your friends get to indulge in pumpkin cheesecake trifles and their pooch gets a mason jar full of homemade dog treats!
Homemade Dog Treats
Ingredients:
For Peanut Butter Pumpkin Treats:
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup oats (optional if your dog is on a grain free diet, sub an extra 1/4 cup grain free flour)
- 3 cups whole wheat flour, brown rice flour, or gluten free flour
- 3 tablespoons of all natural peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
For Sweet Potato Treats:
- 1 cup of canned sweet potato (you can sub fresh if you want)
- 1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour, brown rice flour, or gluten free flour
- 1 egg (beaten)
For Apple Carrot Treats:
- 1 cup of whole wheat flour, brown rice flour, or gluten free flour
- 1 cup of grated carrots
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
Directions:
For Peanut Butter Pumpkin Treats:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In small bowl, stir together the flour, oats, and cinnamon.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together the eggs, pumpkin and peanut butter until combined. Stir wet ingredients into dry.
- Pour onto a floured surface and roll dough out to 1/2 thick. Cut out using cookie cutter.
- The dough will be a little sticky, a dusting of flour for your hands and the rolling pin will help! Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until golden brown.
- Place on cooling racks and let cool thoroughly. They will harden as they cool.
For Sweet Potato Treats:
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Stir ingredients together in a large bowl until dough forms.
- Roll dough into small balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Press dough down slightly so the biscuits are about about 1/4 inch thick. Bake until golden brown and let cool on a wire rack.
For Apple Carrot Treats:
- Preheat oven 350°F.
- Mix ingredients together until dough forms.
- Roll dough into small balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Press dough down slightly so the biscuits are about about 1/4 inch thick.
- Bake until golden brown and let cool on a wire rack.
Notes:
Peanut Butter Pumpkin Treats:
- These are the treats that are pictured.
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt can be added to these treats to help extend the shelf life but, it is optional.
- Cinnamon is fine to use in recipes for dogs, however do not use a pumpkin spice blend or anything that could contain nutmeg. It is toxic to dogs and even in small amounts can make them sick.
Sweet Potato Treats:
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt can be added to these treats to help extend the shelf life but, it is optional.
For Apple Carrot Treats:
- If the dough is really sticky, add a few more tablespoons of flour.
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt can be added to these treats to help extend the shelf life but, it is optional.
- Peanut Butter Pumpkin Treats are adapted from Sweet Pea's Kitchen.
- Sweet Potato Treats are adapted from Brown Eyed Baker.
- Apple Carrot Treats are adapted from For the Love of Pooch.
Follow Jamie on Instagram. We love to see what you're baking from MBA! Be sure to tag @jamiemba and use the hashtag #mbarecipes!
Thank you for the post! I was looking online on how to make dog food at home and I found your site. I am doing a lot of research about dog’s food, health and animal medicine for my blog. This is a great topic, since most of dog food nowadays have preservatives and stuff.
James,
Thank you so much!
Lindsay
Thank you for the post!! My lab has several allergies (corn, wheat, soy, and peanut butter); the Sweet Potato and Carrot recipes fit within his limits!I t’s so difficult to find treats he can eat! I can’t wait to try them!! :)
Christine,
That’s great! For the pumpkin treats you could substitute sun butter, applesauce, or just extra pumpkin instead of peanut butter. Happy to hear you have some options for your pup!
Lindsay
These sound great…thanks so much for the ideas! What type of oats? Steel cut/old fashion?thanks!
Breanna,
The recipe uses old fashioned oats. Thanks so much! Have a great day!
Lindsay
Fun! I think I have everything I need at home right now to make at least the pumpkin treats. I haven’t made homemade treats yet because they sound time consuming sometimes, but these sound really easy. I use treat dispensing toys quite a bit and getting treats the right size can be challenging, so I love that I can make these just the size I want them, though I do love the cookie cutter idea too :-)
Hopefully the treats make it off the cooling rack and into a jar…Jones is a talented countertop surfer and I’ve lost quite a few things to his sneaky ways. :-)
Caitlin,
I hope they make them into the jar too! Let us know how Jones likes the treats :)!
Lindsay
He loved them! They did make it safely into the jar. Making the tiny little balls I wanted was pretty time consuming, so I ended up doing half that way and half as larger treats. I ran out of room on my cookie sheets though and ended up pushing dough into the bottom of a mini muffin tin. This worked really slick, giving me nice little coin shapped treats and I will do it again for sure. This saved me rolling the dough and using cookie cutters. I just found my dough was really sticky to roll out, which may have been because of the flour I used (gf). I’m also thinking of freezing half the batch of dough next time to have a longer time to use them all. Thanks for the great recipe! Jones thanks you too!
Oh great! The dough is a little sticky, extra flour on the counter and rolling pin helped. Thank you so much for stopping back!
-Lindsay
Wow! I made such a similar pumpkin peanut butter dog biscuit! Great minds :) http://littlechefbigappetite.com/homemade-pumpkin-peanut-butter-dog-biscuits/
Awesome :) Thanks so much!
Thank you for the recipe! I have the peanut butter pumpkin ones in the oven right now!
I’m sure my lab will love them.
Angela,
That’s great! Please stop by and let us know how they turned out! Thank you!
Lindsay
Do I need to cook the brown rice before adding to other ingredients?
Hayley,
The recipe calls for brown rice flour (or you can substitute gluten free flour or whole wheat flour). Thanks for stopping by!
Lindsay
If I have all purpose flour on hand, will that work ? Can’t wait to make these .
Paula,
All purpose flour will work fine for the treats. Please stop back and let us know your experience with the recipe! Have a great day.
Lindsay
They came out great …..could use a little salt in my opinion…..hahahaaaaaa . No , really , I had one. :) The good thing was that 2 of 3 batches are not too hard and that’s great since I have the senior citizen brigade here . 12-20+ . Also , to make it easy I just sprayed my hands with Pam and took a small spoonful, rolled into a ball and then made ” coins”. Worked great . Thanks and the Seniors thank you for the recipe .
Hi! We have two dogs, one is very picky and turns his nose up all cookies, the other LOVES al treats, but they agreed these were the best! They stood and cried at me as I took them off the cookie sheer!
Jenna,
That is so cute! I’m thrilled that they loved them! Thank you so much for stopping back to let us know!
Lindsay
I have our dog on a grain free diet as well…can’t wait to make these! I’m sure our Harvey will love them!
Janet,
Thank you so much. I’m sure he will too! Have a great day!
Lindsay
Thanks for posting these! They’re fabulous!
Ashley-
You’re very welcome! Have a fantastic day!
-Lindsay