Cheesy Dog Treats

 

Its been a very long time since I shared treats for Mitzie on here.  I did a post on making your own dog food not too long after she was born, but I haven't done anything since, and I'm not sure why.  As a very important member of our family, she certainly demand equal time and attention!

 

I've always said I wouldn't feed her anything I wouldn 't eat myself, and thats not really true.  You will never catch me munching on her low fat dry food, nor the low fat wet that she gets a tiny taste of every day!  But these, I would eat.  In fact Todd tasted them and thought they were really tasty!

 

There isn't really anything unusual in them . . .  flour, egg, sharp cheddar cheese, oil, water. 

 

The original recipe called for garlic, but I have always understood that garlic and onion were poisonous to dogs, and so I did not include it.

 

They end up being rather like a thick, crisp, crunchy cracker!  I used my bone cutter to cut them out, and they turned out quite cute I thought.  But you can use whatever shape you like. Little bears would also be cute!

 

I cut the recipe in half as I wasn't sure if she would like them, but next time I will cook the full recipe, because she is rather fond of them, and they will keep quite a while.  I am pretty sure you could also freeze them for longer storage.

 

I got about 23 from half the recipe and my cutter is about 3 inches in length.

 

They certainly smelled really good while they were baking!

 

Mitzie loves cheese and whenever I am using it in the Kitchen, she hangs about waiting and hoping I will drop some, and yes, I confess  . . . I do always give her a tiny tidbit for a treat!

 

Today her patience was well rewarded!  She was very happy with this and could not wait to tuck in.  It was hard to take a photo of her eating it, as she was a big happy, tail wagging blur, crunching away on her treat!

 

*Cheesy Dog Treats*

Makes about 50

Printable Recipe 

Flaky and golden pastry treats, that you will want to eat yourself.  But they're for the dog. You will need your food processor for these.  I cut them out with a 2 inch bone shaped cutter, but you can cut them out with whatever shaped cutter you want to use. Obviously the number of treats you get depends on the size of your cutter.  The recipe can also be successfully cut in half. 

60ml water (1/4 cup)

2 medium free range eggs

280g plain flour (2 cups)

160g grated strong cheddar cheese (1 1/3 cups)

120ml vegetable oil (1/2 cup)

 

Place the flour, cheese and vegetable oil into a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse 5 or 6 times. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Pulse again until the mixture resembled coarse meal. Beat together the water and eggs.  Turn the motor on and drizzle this mixture into the food processor through the feeder tube  only adding the wet ingredients until the dough becomes a ball.  Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times.  Divide into two manageable balls.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6.  Line several baking sheets with baking paper. Set aside.

Roll each ball of dough out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out into shapes and place spaced slightly apart on the baking sheets.  Reroll any trimmings and recut until you have used it all up.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.  Remove from the oven and carefully turn over.  Return to the oven and bake for a further 10 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack and then store in a loosely covered container at room temperature.

Note - These are rather high in fat, so be judicious in handing them out!  I only give Mitzie 1/2 of one at a time. She loves them.

 

Now that's one very happy camper!  When she's happy, I'm happy!  Have a great weekend!