It’s the beginning of 2025 and in -apparently- long standing tradition I’m ready to upload a bunch of recipes that I’ve been making over the last several months. I don’t know how it has evolved to this cadence but at this point I’m just going to embrace it and finally get some stuff posted. Hurray! The first recipe (and photo) is one for homemade dog treats and it comes from one of my favorite websites, cookiesandcups.com. You can make them into any shape you want; over Christmas I cut them into miniature holiday shapes; but this does take longer to do so basic squares also works great.

• 1/2 cup pumpkin or applesauce (my pups love both kinds)
• 1/4 cup peanut butter*
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, measured in liquid state
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (or 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour)
• 1/4 cups quick oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350 and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Combine all ingredients in a bowl, or stand mixer, and mix until the dough comes together. Turn out on to a lightly floured, flat surface and roll into a rough rectangle approximately 1/4″ thick. Cut into any shape you like, re-rolling the dough as many times as needed to use it all up. The shapes won’t really spread so you can pack in as many as you think will fit on the sheet. Bake for 17-20 minutes, depending on the size of the treat. You want them to be well baked and crunchy. Let them cool completely and then set out overnight so they dry out before storing them in an airtight container.

*If you use natural peanut butter then your dough will be drier so just pay attention and use a little less flour if needed. You want it to be able to stay together when you roll it out.