Dog Biscuits

I have a dog. He's not just any old dog though - he's special. He knows English. He listens to me intently no matter what I say - even when I'm not using words like "go," "treat," "ride," "need," "walk," and "Sammy." He looks me in the eyes all the time. Sometimes, I swear it feels like there's a human's reincarnated spirit trapped inside his canine body, and it's trying to communicate with me through him. He's an awesome companion, and when I say companion, I mean companion in the truest most complete sense of the word. He wants to be near me, by me, and with me no matter what (unless of course, we are in an open field, the woods, at the beach, or if there is any small game or other dog nearby to chase - but that's just instinct, it's nothing personal). This is regardless of my mood (although he does tend to be hyper-sensitive to any level of irritation or anger he senses from me - likely because he was abused by the people who had him before me and gave him up).

So, a dog like this deserves more than store-bought Milkbones. This dog, this friend, this companion, this partner deserves the best. And, to me, the best is a homemade dog treat made with the finest organic ingredients and most of all, lots of LOVE. As fate would have it, a friend's mother gave me dog biscuit cookie cutters shaped like bones for Christmas a couple of years ago. On the back of the adorable tin container, there was a simple recipe for dog biscuits:

3/4 Cup Hot Water
1/2 Cup Powdered Milk
1/3 Cup Butter, Softened
1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Egg, Beaten
3 Cups Whole Wheat Flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, pour hot water over powdered milk. Stir until mixed. Add salt, butter and egg. In ½ cup intervals, add the flour. Combine dough until it forms a stiff dough. Dust surface with extra flour and roll dough with a rolling pin into a ½ inch thick. Cut into bone shapes or use any cookie cutter. Bake for 50 minutes. Biscuits will harden when cooled.

This is so much fun! I recommend rolling out portions of the dough rather than the entire batch of dough at once, as there is always excess from cutting the cookies, and the dough can become easily dried out and over-glutenized with too much repeated rolling and cutting.

I made these as a Christmas gift for Alex and Sam, and I decided to make two batches. To one I added an entire jar of real bacon bits, and to the other I added about 6 Tbs. grated parmesan chese. They were a big hit, and it felt so good to give them good treats made with love!