Dog Bones
We have always had dog treats on hand, for rewards, encouragement, love. We usually buy Kirkland large size bones - a big box weighing 6.8kg. We have lots of dogs and this has, until now, been our best buy. But the price has gone up $10/box!You know - it’s that Covid thing, that war over there, that shortage thing, that supply chain problem - all those excuses we are being fed on the media for our lives costing twice as much as they did 2 years ago. So today I’m making dog “bones” and will share my recipe with you. The dogs tell me they like them just as well as store bought. Quantity wise one recipe makes about half the amount of one of those Kirkland boxes.
The “bone” part of this recipe is optional. If you like rolling out dough, cutting bone shapes with your cute little bone cookie cutters, placing each bone one at a time on the pan to bake…go for it. Me, I roll balls of dough between the palms of my hands, then flatten them with a fork and make cookies instead of bones.
WARNING! These dog cookies LOOK LIKE PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES! You might want to slap the hand that tries to sneak one when they’re cooling, or, if you have a wee devil on your shoulder, you could just smile and watch.
Dog “bones”
first the DRY INGREDIENTS
15 cups whole wheat flour
(or 1/2 white, 1/2 whole wheat) flour
3/4 cup wheat germ
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 & 1/2 cups powdered milk
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 Tablespoons garlic powder or granulated garlic (Some people believe garlic is poison for dogs. If you’re one of them, then omit the garlic.)
then add the LIQUID INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup fat (bacon drippings, lard), melted
6 eggs
1/4 cup molasses plus 2 Tablespoons bouillon powder in 3 cups hot water,
(or use molasses and 3 cups canned or homemade chicken or beef broth)
MIX, in addition to the liquids in the recipe above, you will need to add more water a bit at a time to get all the dry ingredients to blend together. You will probably have to use your hands. You want a heavy dough.
PLACE one inch diameter balls on lightly greased cookie sheets. You can crowd them, they’re not going to rise much or spread.
SQUASH with a fork. If the fork starts to stick, put it in flour.
BAKE at 350° for 30 minutes.
DEHYDRATE in a 250° oven. These treats must be hard and dry. If they yield when you squeeze them they’re not hard enough. Dogs like them crunchy and they will mould if they have retained too much moisture. Initial baking will not likely be enough to reduce moisture. Pile up the already baked ones and put them back in the oven until they are hard. You are essentially dehydrating them.
STORE at room temperature in an open container, a cardboard box works.
Little variations of this recipe are fine. If you’re missing an ingredient add something else instead but try to keep the amount of dry ingredients & liquid ingredients about the same. Brewers yeast gives a good nutritional boost. I didn’t have any wheat germ today so I substituted oatmeal in this batch.
