If there is something I love more or as much as travelling and food it's definitely dogs. I'm one of those people who says hello to dogs on the streets even if I don't greet the owner. I even clap my hands ridiculously sometimes when I see a dog :D Unfortunately I don't have a dog of my own but I am sure that one day I will fulfil that dream <3
Lucky for me though I have a friend who let's me dog sit for his pooch once in a while and she is always welcome at my doggy spa. The first time I met her it didn't take long for her to take one look at me and I knew my heart would be her's forever.
Today is Finnish dogs day and I couldn't go a day more without posting these pics of my scruffy little friend as she has got to be my favourite model ever....however not the easiest to photograph in bad lighting as she wouldn't sit still or at least not where I wanted her to :D
Not long ago was I dog sitting Lilli (a mix breed between a Yorkshire terrier and a dachshund which to me makes her look like Ynk or Sorry-oo the dog in the Moomins) and wanted to welcome her to and my home with freshly baked treats. I had wanted to make doggy biscuits already for a long time but it would make no sense to make them if I didn't have the approval of a real pup.
I had seen some amazing pics on pinterest and instagram of which one of my faves has to be the one on twiggstudios account from where I chose the first recipe from and changed a bit the second one. I also googled what ingredients are suitable to give a dog as of course I couldn't just bake any kind of cookies.
Pumpkin, cheese, apple (not the seeds), liver, meats, peanut butter, carrots, eggs, cooked chicken, yoghurt, salmon, green beans and oatmeal are just among the few recommended ingredients.
I chose to go with pumpkin and cheese in one of the treats and apple and liver in the other and I assure you they went down a treat.
The biscuits didn't quite turn out as pretty as I had wished but Lilli didn't mind.
She would already have emptied the plate infront of her before I even had taken the first pic. After our photoshoot I even caught her stealing some of the goods :D bless her.
After I hid the cookie jar she'd be wandering around sniffing every corner to find any leftover crumbs.
I even ate a few myself and I can tell you they were actually quite tasty.
Cheddar and Butternut treats
1/4 cup of pumpkin puree (use canned or roast some yourself like I did)
1/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of plain flour
Mix the ingredients together in a bowl. If the mixture is too dry just add a bit more pumpkin puree. Roll into balls and place onto a baking sheet and bake at 180°C for 8-10 mins
Liver and apple treats
1cup of rice flour
1/2 cup shaved apple
1/2 cup warm water
1/8 cup of chopped cooked liver (I can't exactly remember the amount of the liver but add it like you were adding chocolate chips to a chocolate chip cookie....keep in mind though chocolate is not for dogs)
1 egg for brushing
Cook the liver on a pan until almost cooked and chop into tiny pieces.
Mix all the ingredients except the egg and knead. Add a bit of water if the mixture is too dry. Roll into a round bar and slice into small disks about 1/2 cm to 1cm thick. I tried rolling my mixture flat with a rolling pin so I could use a cookie cutter but it just didn't work. Next time I will try to make the mixture a bit more dough like maybe by adding some egg to the mix or adding a puree of some sort.
Brush the cookies with the egg.
Bake the treats in 180°C until crispy. My treats ended up being really small and therefore they baked really fast. I even ended up burning a trayful :(
I wasn't too happy of the look of these but the taste is all the pooches really care about :)
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| Waiting patiently |
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| It's taking too long...let me dream about COOKIES |
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| Play time |
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| Can I have more please? |
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| Time for some belly rubs |
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| Goodnight! |
