by SamanthaWhen you’re busy in the kitchen this holiday season, make sure you don’t forget about your four-legged family members! This Pumpkin Dog Treat recipe is easy to make with only 6 ingredients, and they are also a great way to use up any leftover pumpkin. Your dog will definitely thank you!
My kitchen is in a very busy state right now with a flurry of pumpkin recipes flying through. I have bought so many cans of pumpkin in the past few months that I alone may be largely responsible for keeping the pumpkin puree industry in business.
The only problem with this is that, for a lot of my recipes, I don’t seem to end up using a whole entire can of pumpkin puree. Which means I have a lot of half-full cans that I don’t want to throw away, but am not entirely sure what to do with them.
Well I’ve found the perfect solution to all of this leftover pumpkin puree — bake it into puppy cookies and feed them to your furry family members!
Pumpkin is a dog friendly ingredient that even can be good for their digestive tracts. I mixed this up with some other dog-safe ingredients including peanut butter (possibly my own dogs’ favorite flavor in the whole world), eggs, flour (I used a mix of whole wheat and all-purpose, though you can certainly use just one or the other), and just a little bit of baking powder.
The dough is then rolled and cut out using cookie cutters — I used two different sizes of bone-shaped cookie cutters from Amazon, but you can use any shape!
Because their texture is harder and crunchier than your average cookie, they take a little extra time in the oven, but mixing them up and cutting them out takes only minutes.
My dogs absolutely adored these pumpkin dog treats, and since they’re so easy to make, you can bet I’ll be making them over and over again!
PUMPKIN DOG TREATS
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter*
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 cup flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl using an electric mixer, stir together pumpkin, peanut butter, and egg yolk until completely combined.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flours and baking powder.
- Gradually add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture until completely combined (dough will be quite dry).
- Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface and roll out to approximately 1/4″ thickness.
- Use cookie cutters to cut shapes out of dough and transfer cut out cookies to prepared cookie sheet, placing at least 1″ apart.
- Re-combine any dough scraps and re-roll and then cut out to use all of your dough.
- Bake cookies on 375F for 20 minutes for small cookies and 25 minutes for large cookies.
- Allow to cool completely before sharing with your pet.
- Keep uneaten cookies in an airtight container for up to two weeks.
Recipe Notes
(Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.)
Other Recipes You Will Love
“Pupcakes” for your dog’s birthday!
Here are some recipes for humans that use partial cans of pumpkin!
Pumpkin Amaretto Cheesecake Bars
