ColliePop Dog Treats

We are the proud puppy parents of a 1.5 year old Australian Shepard that we rescued from a local shelter last year. Argo is a rambunctious, clever, and crafty escape artist who is soon to, I believe, figure out how to turn round doorknobs. That being said, he is also very loyal and loving-- and so I can temporary forget the deaths of fleece jackets, curtains, pillows, and an mp3 player. 

On one of his better, non-Aussie days I decided to gin up some homemade dog treats... on a stick! In a moment of genius, I came up with the name ColliePops. I am still proud of this feat. After a quick internet search for recipes, I came upon a recipe for Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits on Everything is Homemade. The biscuit recipe below, minus the "stick" and instructions in bold, should be credited to Amy.


Ingredients:
3 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
1 ½ cups milk
1 ¼ cups all-natural peanut butter
1 tbsp molasses
ColliePops Addition: rawhide dog sticks, additional peanut butter (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, oats and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix the milk, peanut butter and molasses until smooth, then add to dry ingredients. Stir until well combined and a stiff dough forms. Add more flour if dough is still sticky. Form into a ball and knead for several minutes on a floured surface until smooth adding flour as necessary.

On a smooth surface roll the dough out to ¼ inch thick. As you roll out the dough continue to pat flour into the dough to keep it from sticking. I flip the dough over several times to make sure it is not sticking to the surface. Once the dough is rolled out cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on a cookie sheet. Gather up scraps and roll out again. Continue cutting shapes and rolling out scraps until all dough is used up.
 
Note: If making ColliePops, roll out the dough on a floured surface. In order to get the bones to stick together, I folded the dough over onto itself and placed the rawhide sticks between the two layers. Then, I cut through both layers with a bone-shaped cookie cutter. This will help to make the layers stick together. If you still have trouble getting the two sides to stick around the rawhide, you can also spread peanut butter and press them together before baking.


Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Turn off oven and leave in oven overnight or until oven is completely cooled. Store in airtight container or freeze. Leaving the biscuits in the oven overnight while the oven cools off allows them to harden really well. That way the biscuits are more crunchy and dogs find them more interesting to eat.

If any indication, these sold out the first day I brought them to the Market! You might also consider using different cookie cutters -- fire hydrants, dogs... have fun!