If you know anything about my dogs, you know they love to eat. Buying treats all the time can be expensive, and even though they will eat anything I want it to be healthy. We also have to follow certain restrictions for my health! I have celiacs, so baking my dogs treats with whole wheat flour just isn't going to happen. After a while of searching for a special Christmas treat, I finally found a fully gluten free recipe. I used this recipe as inspiration, and made a few tweaks as I made some batches.
You will need:
1 Sweet Potato (large)
1.5 cups Almond Flour
.5 cup Coconut Flour
.5 cup Chicken Stock (low sodium)
Poultry Seasoning
If your dog has a sensitivity to chicken products you can omit the poultry seasoning and use water in place of the chicken stock. I upped the liquid from the original recipe because I was looking for softer treats, and because the chicken stock soaked up faster than the water.
Step One:
Cook your sweet potato. I did this by stabbing mine a bunch with a fork, wrapping it in a paper towel, and microwaving it. The cook time depended on the sweet potato but it was typically from 10 - 15 minutes.
Step Two:
While the sweet potato is cooking, mix your dry ingredients in a bowl. I didn't measure out the Poultry Seasoning too specifically, just gave the bowl a solid dusting (see picture), then mixed it in.
Step Three:
Once the sweet potato is cooked, cut it open and scrape it into the dry mixture. I found it helpful to scrape out the first half, mix that in with the dry ingredients, and then mix in the other half. It wont fully integrate, but make sure there are no giant lumps of potato, as much as you can.
Step Four:
Add in the chicken stock and mix. I found it helpful to add in 1/4 cup, mix, and then add in another 1/4 cup. It will not come together as a dough. It should look like the picture.
Step Five:
Lay out a piece of cling wrap. Using your hands, squish together the mix in the bowl and form a dough. Place the dough on the cling wrap, then wrap it up. I found I had best results once the dough was refrigerated. I either made the dough in the morning, then baked the cookies in the evening, or let the dough sit overnight.
Step Six:
Pre-heat your oven to 225 degrees, and pull your dough from the oven. Cover some cookie sheets with aluminum foil and start creating your cookies. I found that using the cookie cutters did not work so I went with forming them with my hands. Pinch off a section of dough. The size is up to you. My treats were definitely not a uniform size, but that's part of the fun! Roll your section of dough into a small ball, then place on the cookie sheet. Flatten the ball slightly with your finger. It should end up looking like a Charlee Bear.
Step Seven:
Fill your cookie sheets and put them in the oven. Bake the treats for 25 minutes, one tray on the top shelf, one on the bottom. After 25 minutes, switch the trays, then bake for 25 more minutes. The number of batches you get out of your dough will depend on how big you make your treats. This batch of dough I got one and a half batches of cookies and they filled two mason jars.
Step Seven:
Once your treats are done, they wont look much different. If you would like crunchy treats, let your cookies sit out to cool. Store them in open containers. If you would like soft treats, move them while warm into a container and store them with a closed lid.
Step Eight:
Let your pups enjoy the fruits of your labor!