Puppy Pleasing Pumpkin Treats
These treats received very high re"barks" from the taste testers. We hope you'll make these to share with all your furry holiday guests. If you make these please send pictures of your treats!
Pictured left to right: Puppy Pleasing Pumpkin Treats, SalmonTreats and Oliver's Treats (recipe to come)
Ingredients
1 - 15 oz can of organic pumpkin (puree - not pie filling)*
1 C organic golden flax seed meal**
½ Cup pasteurized egg whites
1 Cup organic buckwheat flour
20 ounces of potato starch (not potato flour) ***
The dough can be prepared in advance and refrigerated or frozen for baking on a day when you have the time.
Preparing the dough:
Add pumpkin and liquid egg whites to the large bowl of your food processor (9 cup or larger). Using the multipurpose blade, process the mixture for a full 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of bowl and the lid so that all the pumpkin puree is neatly in the bottom of bowl.
Add ½ cup of buckwheat flour to the food processor and pulse 3 or 4 times until well mixed. Scrape down the bowl and add the other ½ cup of buckwheat flour. Pulse several times to mix.
The dough will start to get very thick. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to be sure the dough is mixing evenly. Pulse 2 or 3 more times and then let the dough rest in the processor for 10 minutes. Make your self a cup tea and relax for a few minutes - you deserve it! Don’t skip this step - it’s important to give the buckwheat time to absorb moisture.
After the resting period, slowly add the potato starch to the food processor through the feed tube while the machine is running. After adding 10 or 12 ounces of potato starch, stop the processor and check the dough. The amount of potato starch the dough takes will depend on several factors - the moisture in the brand of pumpkin you used, the amount of humidity in the air, the temperature of the kitchen etc. Listen to your processor as you add the starch - if it’s slowing down or the pitch of the motor seems deeper, stop the processor and check the dough, even if you haven’t added 10 oz yet!
When checking the dough, run a scraper down the side and bottom of bowl to make sure the dough is mixing evenly. If the dough seems dry or too stiff to mix properly - the dough is probably done. If it’s still VERY sticky, and not too stiff for your processor, SLOWLY add ½ C more starch and check again. If sticky, but too stiff for your processor, remove the dough and proceed to add starch by hand as described below.
When the dough resembles the stiffness of cookie dough, remove from the processor and put dough in a large mixing bowl. Knead the dough with your hands for several minutes. If it’s sticking to your hands or the bowl, add a little starch but add only enough starch to keep dough from sticking to your hands. You can always add more, but a dry dough will not roll out evenly and the end product will look terrible. Once the dough is smooth and easy to handle, form dough into a ball and cover the bowl with a tea towel to rest while you preheat the oven and prepare the cookie sheets or get what you need to store the dough for baking at a later time.
At this point, you can store the dough if you don’t have the time or energy to bake the treats now. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, put in a zip top bag and store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. You can also freeze all or a portion of the dough for baking up to a month later. If freezing: thaw in refrigerator 24 hours before you plan to bake.
Baking the dough:
If dough has been refrigerated or previously frozen and then thawed, bring dough to room temperature by keeping it wrapped and out on the counter for one hour. You may need to add a little starch, especially if the dough has been thawed. Again, add only enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and rolling pin!
Heat Oven to 350 F
Roll out the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch. Cut out treats using cookie cutters, pasta cutter, etc. I use a pastry wheel because was cheap and makes the job quick and easy. I use a ruler to cut even squares. If you want to get a little fancier, you can buy a multi wheel pastry cutter and use parchment paper. Since the pastry roller isn’t sharp, I can roll out the dough directly onto the silicone sheet pan liners and run the roller across the dough. You can also use a pizza cutter, but then use parchment paper since a pizza cutter will cut your liners! I remove the dough along the edges, so that I only bake complete squares. Add those scrapes back to your dough ball. Put the liner or the parchment paper on your sheet pan and bake. There is no reason to separate the squares. If you rolled them very thinly, they separate as they bake or if rolled slightly thicker, they will easily break apart on the “scored” lines after baking.
If while working with the dough it gets sticky, dust the rolling pin with potato starch. If using traditional cookie cutters, dust the cutters with potato starch to keep them from sticking. If not rolling out the dough directly on liners or parchment paper, make sure the surface is dusted well with potato starch so you’ll be able to transfer the shapes to your sheet pans.
Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the treats over and bake for another 5 minutes. I like the silicone liners because I “turn” the treats over by lifting the edge of the liner and “roll” the treats onto the “naked” pan. It sort of looks like the trick where you pull the tablecloth off the fully set table. That’s the best way I know to describe it. The silicone liner cools down quickly, so I can roll out and the cut the next batch right onto the liner while the bottoms of the treats are browning in the oven. That way by the time the pan is empty, I can put a full liner right back on the pan. I usually have three pans cycling in and out of the oven in this manner. This system helps the whole process go much faster since I usually bake all the treats at once. Lucky likes to share treats with all his fur buddies!
When all the treats have been baked, pile up the treats on your pans and return the treats to a 170° oven for 2 - 4 hours to obtain the desired level of hardness. This step also helps to draw off additional moisture to extend shelf life of treats. Once cool, store treats in an airtight container.
Yield - 150 - 1 ½” squares
* Farmer’s Market Organic Pumpkin Puree produced the most consistent results. It required less potato starch and the dough was easiest to work with. Libby brand pumpkin puree was a bit more challenging to work with since the moisture content was higher than the Farmer’s Market brand and the moisture content seemed to vary from can to can. Libby’s brand required more potato starch and the dough was “temperamental”. So in the end, I HIGHLY recommend you buy Farmer’s Market brand. The cost was only slightly higher, but that was off set due to the much lower quantity of starch necessary.
** Dogs can’t digest whole flax seed. Flax meal is already finely ground so your dog gets the benefits of both the fiber and the plant based Omega 3’s. I choose golden flax meal, so that these light colored treats won’t have visible little black flecks from dark flax seeds all through the treat. That would look nasty!
*** On average, you’ll need 12-16 ounces of potato starch for the treats themselves, if you use the brand pumpkin I suggest. You may need some to dust your work surface, rolling pin and cookie cutters. Depending on where you live, the brand and sizes of potato starch will vary. I was able to find 4 brands at the “regular” grocery stores within walking distance of my apartment: Manischewitz (16oz canister), Gefen (16 oz box), Swan (12 oz box) and Streit’s (12 oz box). At the Health food store I found Bob’s Red Mill (24 oz bag) and Ener G (16 oz box). I tried three of the “grocery store” brands with two different brands of pumpkin.
In testing, I found that the brand of starch didn’t make much of a difference. The big difference came from the brand of pumpkin puree. Look for potato starch in the Kosher section of your grocery store and buy the brand with the best price per ounce.
Pictured left to right: Puppy Pleasing Pumpkin Treats, SalmonTreats and Oliver's Treats (recipe to come)
Ingredients
1 - 15 oz can of organic pumpkin (puree - not pie filling)*
1 C organic golden flax seed meal**
½ Cup pasteurized egg whites
1 Cup organic buckwheat flour
20 ounces of potato starch (not potato flour) ***
The dough can be prepared in advance and refrigerated or frozen for baking on a day when you have the time.
Preparing the dough:
Add pumpkin and liquid egg whites to the large bowl of your food processor (9 cup or larger). Using the multipurpose blade, process the mixture for a full 3 minutes.
Scrape down the sides of bowl and the lid so that all the pumpkin puree is neatly in the bottom of bowl.
Add ½ cup of buckwheat flour to the food processor and pulse 3 or 4 times until well mixed. Scrape down the bowl and add the other ½ cup of buckwheat flour. Pulse several times to mix.
The dough will start to get very thick. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to be sure the dough is mixing evenly. Pulse 2 or 3 more times and then let the dough rest in the processor for 10 minutes. Make your self a cup tea and relax for a few minutes - you deserve it! Don’t skip this step - it’s important to give the buckwheat time to absorb moisture.
After the resting period, slowly add the potato starch to the food processor through the feed tube while the machine is running. After adding 10 or 12 ounces of potato starch, stop the processor and check the dough. The amount of potato starch the dough takes will depend on several factors - the moisture in the brand of pumpkin you used, the amount of humidity in the air, the temperature of the kitchen etc. Listen to your processor as you add the starch - if it’s slowing down or the pitch of the motor seems deeper, stop the processor and check the dough, even if you haven’t added 10 oz yet!
When checking the dough, run a scraper down the side and bottom of bowl to make sure the dough is mixing evenly. If the dough seems dry or too stiff to mix properly - the dough is probably done. If it’s still VERY sticky, and not too stiff for your processor, SLOWLY add ½ C more starch and check again. If sticky, but too stiff for your processor, remove the dough and proceed to add starch by hand as described below.
When the dough resembles the stiffness of cookie dough, remove from the processor and put dough in a large mixing bowl. Knead the dough with your hands for several minutes. If it’s sticking to your hands or the bowl, add a little starch but add only enough starch to keep dough from sticking to your hands. You can always add more, but a dry dough will not roll out evenly and the end product will look terrible. Once the dough is smooth and easy to handle, form dough into a ball and cover the bowl with a tea towel to rest while you preheat the oven and prepare the cookie sheets or get what you need to store the dough for baking at a later time.
At this point, you can store the dough if you don’t have the time or energy to bake the treats now. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, put in a zip top bag and store in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours. You can also freeze all or a portion of the dough for baking up to a month later. If freezing: thaw in refrigerator 24 hours before you plan to bake.
Baking the dough:
If dough has been refrigerated or previously frozen and then thawed, bring dough to room temperature by keeping it wrapped and out on the counter for one hour. You may need to add a little starch, especially if the dough has been thawed. Again, add only enough to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and rolling pin!
Heat Oven to 350 F
Roll out the dough to a thickness of ¼ inch. Cut out treats using cookie cutters, pasta cutter, etc. I use a pastry wheel because was cheap and makes the job quick and easy. I use a ruler to cut even squares. If you want to get a little fancier, you can buy a multi wheel pastry cutter and use parchment paper. Since the pastry roller isn’t sharp, I can roll out the dough directly onto the silicone sheet pan liners and run the roller across the dough. You can also use a pizza cutter, but then use parchment paper since a pizza cutter will cut your liners! I remove the dough along the edges, so that I only bake complete squares. Add those scrapes back to your dough ball. Put the liner or the parchment paper on your sheet pan and bake. There is no reason to separate the squares. If you rolled them very thinly, they separate as they bake or if rolled slightly thicker, they will easily break apart on the “scored” lines after baking.
If while working with the dough it gets sticky, dust the rolling pin with potato starch. If using traditional cookie cutters, dust the cutters with potato starch to keep them from sticking. If not rolling out the dough directly on liners or parchment paper, make sure the surface is dusted well with potato starch so you’ll be able to transfer the shapes to your sheet pans.
Bake for 15 minutes, then turn the treats over and bake for another 5 minutes. I like the silicone liners because I “turn” the treats over by lifting the edge of the liner and “roll” the treats onto the “naked” pan. It sort of looks like the trick where you pull the tablecloth off the fully set table. That’s the best way I know to describe it. The silicone liner cools down quickly, so I can roll out and the cut the next batch right onto the liner while the bottoms of the treats are browning in the oven. That way by the time the pan is empty, I can put a full liner right back on the pan. I usually have three pans cycling in and out of the oven in this manner. This system helps the whole process go much faster since I usually bake all the treats at once. Lucky likes to share treats with all his fur buddies!
When all the treats have been baked, pile up the treats on your pans and return the treats to a 170° oven for 2 - 4 hours to obtain the desired level of hardness. This step also helps to draw off additional moisture to extend shelf life of treats. Once cool, store treats in an airtight container.
Yield - 150 - 1 ½” squares
* Farmer’s Market Organic Pumpkin Puree produced the most consistent results. It required less potato starch and the dough was easiest to work with. Libby brand pumpkin puree was a bit more challenging to work with since the moisture content was higher than the Farmer’s Market brand and the moisture content seemed to vary from can to can. Libby’s brand required more potato starch and the dough was “temperamental”. So in the end, I HIGHLY recommend you buy Farmer’s Market brand. The cost was only slightly higher, but that was off set due to the much lower quantity of starch necessary.
** Dogs can’t digest whole flax seed. Flax meal is already finely ground so your dog gets the benefits of both the fiber and the plant based Omega 3’s. I choose golden flax meal, so that these light colored treats won’t have visible little black flecks from dark flax seeds all through the treat. That would look nasty!
*** On average, you’ll need 12-16 ounces of potato starch for the treats themselves, if you use the brand pumpkin I suggest. You may need some to dust your work surface, rolling pin and cookie cutters. Depending on where you live, the brand and sizes of potato starch will vary. I was able to find 4 brands at the “regular” grocery stores within walking distance of my apartment: Manischewitz (16oz canister), Gefen (16 oz box), Swan (12 oz box) and Streit’s (12 oz box). At the Health food store I found Bob’s Red Mill (24 oz bag) and Ener G (16 oz box). I tried three of the “grocery store” brands with two different brands of pumpkin.
In testing, I found that the brand of starch didn’t make much of a difference. The big difference came from the brand of pumpkin puree. Look for potato starch in the Kosher section of your grocery store and buy the brand with the best price per ounce.
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