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Usually Saturday or Sunday mornings mean recipe development for the blog. This also usually means baking chocolatey-goodness or some sort of paleo-friendly treat that I just have to taste test over and over.
The past few weekends however were extra special, because little Jax got to be the real taste-tester. Let’s be real, Mike and I tried them too, of course, but the real test was our puppy- and it passed the test with flying colors! So, instead of your traditional Foodie Friday with myself and American Express, this one is for all the dogs out there!
The best part about these, aside from them being packed with nutrients, is that the dough yields up to/if not more 60 dog cookies (depending on your cookie cutter size)! Seriously so much better than spending $10-15 on 20 grain-free cookies! PLUS, you need only 5 ingredients. Total win all around.
That is one happy puppy. He was ready to sit, roll over, throw his paws up, and pull out every trick in his book for these. His eyes lit up way more than with his usual treats!
5 Ingredient Grain-Free Dog Treats
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup peanut butter or nut butter of choice no added ingredients
- 4 organic eggs
- 1/2 cup coconut oil
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp sweet potato puree or pumpkin puree**
Optional add-ins:
- 1/3 cup shredded carrots
- 2 tsp dried parsley
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients and form dough into a ball
- Roll out dough in between two sheets of parchment paper*
- Gently use your desired cookie cutters to cut and lift cookies into ideal shape**
- Transfer to a lined baking sheet
- Bake for 12-15 minutes or until cookies are hard
- Let cool completely before serving
Notes
This has me thinking of a doggy birthday cookie cake for this newly 6-month old pup (his birthday was yesterday). I made him two massive cookies and sandwiched them between peanut butter. Happy, happy birthday puppy!
I was selected by American Express to contribute to their Tumblr community. As such I was paid for my services, but all opinions in general and about American express are my own.
Do you make homemade dog treats? What are your favorite ingredients to use?
I made these in silicone dog molds and cooked for 25-30 minutes and these never hardened. I don’t know if they have to be made super thin to hardened or what. Will not try this again, big waste of my time. Do not make in silicone molds is my suggestion.
My dog’s absolutely love these!
If they only last a week why should I make a recipe that makes so many? How can I store the extras? Can I freeze them or just cut the recipe into fourths?
You can certainly cut the recipe down or freeze!
These look amazing my dog has IBD and I don’t want her to miss out on anything in life !
I was wondering how long do these treats store for in the fridge and in the freezer thank you !
3-5 days in the fridge and a couple months in the freezer!
I assumed the treats were crunchy treats but clearly I was mistaken. The dough was too wet to roll out. It was more like a cake batter even after modifying the recipe. I added a cup of almond flour and reduced to 3 eggs and about 3/4 cup of pumpkin. However, the dough, was still too wet. I have put it in the refrigerator and will try again in a couple of hours. I am not accustomed to modifying a recipe to make drier as I live in a very arid climate it’s typically the opposite. I will allow to completely dry out in the oven as suggested. I might suggest omitting the eggs entirely, unless your pet prefers cake treats of course! I appreciate you publishing a grain free option that can be modified for any pet’s/ owner’s preferences/ needs.
I have done some research on which nuts are toxic to dogs and cats. There are several toxic nuts and nut butters for pets. Your recipe says add “nut butter of choice”. You need to clarify which nut butters are safe for pets to consume since some or toxic and could cause severe damage or death to a pet.
Walnuts are poisonous to cats, dogs and rodents along with some other nut butters.
Please research ingredients for safe pet consumption.
How long will these keep and how do I store them?
about a week! if you put them in the fridge they’ll last longer.
Since these have egg how long will they stag fresh if not in fridge?
about a week! if you put them in the fridge they’ll last longer.
This recipe is a good start, by the time I get it to be how it works for me (I want crunch, and shelf life) it will be a completely different recipe. It makes the kitchen smell great. Thank you.
Because of the “wet” comments I only used two eggs and kept adding sweet potato to make it a rolling consistency.
Also added a whole grated carrot to make the batch larger (my dog is 70 lbs, I need economy). Will add two next time.
My cheap peanut butter has the sugar in it — I think it binds it all together better. It also adds salt, a necessary mineral.
I will try blending in some other flours that are characteristically dry to try to get them to bake up crunchy.
I baked for 30 minutes and they still were soft-ish. The last cookie sheet I just turned off the oven and let them sit overnight while it cooled, that was the crunchiest batch.
I’m making these today! Thanks for publishing a grain free recipe. Do these need to be refrigerated?
After baking, put in a dehydrator, or if you don’t have one turn off the oven and leave the treats in for 6 hours. Removes most of the moisture and makes treats crispier.
Our Beagles love these wonderful treats! We have been cutting them into 1inch squares. Any idea of how many calories each will have? Thanks.
Just made these as treats for working with my vehicle-reactive dog, after discovering he loved some coconut cookies he got as a birthday present.
I did use melted coconut oil. Like some others, I found the dough was too wet to roll out, even when I added more coconut flour. I made one batch as drop cookies and refrigerated the remaining dough after which it could be rolled out.
I think next time I’d halve the eggs, or maybe even use water instead as someone suggested so that they turn out crispier. I had to bake these for like 20 min to get them crispy enough, even though I flattened them out to like 3-4 mm.
Anyway, the dog loves them!
A naturopathic doctor and a scientist told me to never heat up flaxseeds or flaxseed oil as it becomes toxic and never use flaxseeds or flaxseed oil to bake with for same reason.
I’m also allergic to eggs and a doctor confirmed that some people with egg allergy can actually eat eggs if they’re baked in foods like breads and cakes etc because the protein in the eggs is changed when baked at temperatures like 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15, 20 or more. I’ve been able to consume eggs that way without any problems. I just can’t eat scrambled eggs or even a fried egg. I’ve been able to tolerate hard boiled eggs.
I don’t know if it’s safe to heat up or cook with chia seeds though. But it is safe to make non heated cold pudding using flaxseed and/or chia seeds.
Is this dog cookie hard or soft? Older dogs and puppies need softer foods. I’m trying to learn to cook grain free gluten free dog treats. I used to make dog cookies ( soft) using wheat until my dogs started having food allergies to gluten, corn and other foods.
I’m also trying to figure out how to make dog shampoo as my dogs are allergic to chemicals like I am.
We don’t need your life story Ellen, just your review of the dog biscuits will do!
How much applesauce to replace the eggs?
What does the apple sauce replace? Pumpkin/potato purée?
Do you have to refrigerate them cause of the eggs?
I haven’t made these yet, but scrolling through the comments I’m wondering if the eggs are preventing the biscuits from getting crunchy?
If they aren’t necessary, maybe just use water. Also, coconut is very absorbent so maybe allowing the dough to sit for a period of time
to absorb the moisture before rolling them? I have a pit with multiple food allergies so I am making her treats. I am experimenting with different recipes using foods that I know she can have. I am finding that I have to bake treats at a low temp for quite a while to dry them out once they are actually cooked. Another idea would be to dry them in a food dehydrator if they are still moist?
Since all homemade foods and treats do not have preservatives, unless they are really dry, they will only keep a few days and especially not in plastic which will cause moisture build up and mold faster.
Hope all of this helps. I will try making these after we get back from a trip this weekend.
What to do if the dough is too wet?
Try mixing all ingredients and then add eggs one at a time (you may not need 4).
I made these but cut the eggs down to three and the pumpkin to 3/4 cup. It was still very soft but I made mini doughnuts and mini cake bites. Worked perfectly!