Pumpkin & Peanut Butter Treats
Like every Halloween, I enjoyed carving my pumpkin! However I didn't want to waste the insides, so I thought what a better way to put them to good use than to make some dog treats! I quickly researched how dogs can safely ingest pumpkin guts, and the answer is in a puree form, once separated from the seeds.
Once I had finished my pumpkin, I put the separated guts into our blender to make it into an even puree texture. I then gathered the ingredients I wanted and began to plan the experimental dog treats! I researched and compared a few recipes, and I took the parts of them I liked to create my own recipe... I always seem to do this if I turn to the internet for ideas! I only follow recipes if they're from a dog recipe book I have and trust, just because I try to chose the most natural ingredients for Casper, but it is a treat!
Here are the ingredients I used:
- Whole Grain Flour
- Fresh Pumpkin Puree
- Neoh & Nobo Dog Peanut Butter
I did want to use fresh eggs as well but we didn't have any! But without the egg I was actually really happy with the consistency of the mix.
I can't make it sound any better than... I just threw it all into my mixing bowl! I also considered putting some oats in as well, but like I said I was happy with the consistency. But they are another option, especially if you wanted to make them more like a biscuit texture.
I chose the whole grain flour as this is more natural and nutritious than the plain white flour which we would use for ourselves. This further makes them more hypoallergenic, as this simple choice of ingredient reduces the chances of a dog being allergic. I used 125g of the flour which produced two large and one small tray, on average about 35 treats.
I decided to not just make them pumpkin flavour, but also add some dog peanut butter because every dog loves peanut butter right?! We always have a pot of the Neoh & Nobo dog butter open as I am constantly using it to make mental stimulation games for Casp. I really love the brand and their products as they are natural and organic! I have full trust in any of their products that they are high quality and made with care! Their butter is made from 100% nuts and they're palm oil free and definitely have no added xylitol, salt or sugar!
Once the mix was ready, I placed them in balls on a baking sheet, and they held their shape perfectly. I kept an eye on them in the oven and took them out when the knife I pierced them with came out clean, this was the best way to determine when to take them out, as I found that the tray at the top of the oven cooked faster than the ones below it, so I moved them up once the first batch were done. However, we have just moved house and this may be due to our oven, which temporarily is without it's fan element! So for those cooking with a fan oven I would say to give them approximately 12 minutes while keeping an eye on them.
They turned out great! I loved the texture of them, the best I can describe them is that they were like soft dough balls, which was a nice change for Casper and his friends! I took the batch to our Hoopers & Agility training session that night on Halloween... they went down a treat!
You could furthermore experiment with them and be creative, I would have used frozen peas to make them fit in with Halloween! This is an idea I got from a recipe on the Soopa Pets website. They have a great Halloween dog treat recipe which uses their Carrot & Pumpkin Topper. I hope to try this soon, and their treat recipe looks like they give you more of a crunchy biscuit treat!
I'd love to hear any of your dog treat recipes and interpretations!
Thanks for reading!
Amy & Casper
Neon & Nobo Peanut Butter: https://www.neohandnobo.com
Soopa Pet's Recipe: https://soopapets.com
