I am a doggie-mama. My 22-pound all black pug is named Duncan. Being one of the smaller breeds of dog, he is prone to weight management issues and must be carefully fed and well-exercised. The easiest way for me to keep his weight under control is to make all of his food and snacks so that I know exactly what is going into them, and can adjust as necessary.
Duncan came to me via a rescue organization called PRONE. When I first met him, he was living in foster care and the agreement was that I’d meet him in person to see if our personalities were a good match before beginning the adoption process. So the night before our meeting I stayed up late and baked dozens of these peanut butter cookies, cut into tiny, pug-sized bites. I brought them with me in a 1/2 pint container and won him over.
Since Duncan only gets about 6 or so cookies a day, and this recipe makes about 370 cookies in his size, I freeze them. Once they’re completely cooled I stuff them into a freezer bag or plastic storage container, taking out only a few at a time. They thaw in just a few minutes. This works out great for travel too as I always have snacks on hand.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup natural peanut butter
- 1 cup skim milk (non-fat soy milk may be substituted)
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the peanut butter and milk
- Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix until it comes together in a ball
- Remove from mixing bowl and knead for a minute
- Roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thick (I use wood dowels to ensure uniform thickness)
- Cut into the shapes of your choice and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet
- Bake. For smaller shapes, bake for 15 minutes, for larger ones- 20 minutes. The longer the cookies bake for, the crunchier they will be
- Cool on a rack
Recipe adapted from Three Dog Bakery cookbook.