Best of Breed Dog Biscuits

Posting has been a little bit sparse around here lately.  I apologize.  The month of February has come and gone and I'm not sure when exactly things got out of hand!  It started with a week in Costa Rica, then we took off for a long weekend in Vegas and tomorrow we're leaving for the NYC for a few days.  In between all that we finally decided to bite the bullet and put our house on the market.  

We've been talking about doing it ever since hubs retired a few years ago.  We'd like to build a much smaller place in the same neighborhood, but have kind of been waiting on the housing market to improve.  Since that doesn't seem to be happening we figured what the heck....let's just do it.  Well, after the initial excitement, the reality hit and I realized before I'd ever let strangers nose around in here, I had to clean out 10 years of accumulated closet clutter!  Dayum.  What a chore!  But it's done and Casa Buker officially hits MLS on March 1.  Anyone interested???

Since the big fella's life will (hopefully) be disrupted with lots of strangers invading his space, I thought he deserved a little treat.  I'd never made dog biscuits before, but these were super simple and he loved them.  I mean looooooved them!  If he actually had thumbs he would have put all four of them up!

But since Rafter isn't really what can be described as a picky eater (the dog once ate a whole jar of Fish Oil pills.....which resulted in some incredible stinky breath but a beautiful coat), I decided to enlist a few of his friends for additional taste testing.

Lucy and Lola's gave them a 5-bark rating (after they growled at each other and Lola ran off with Lucy's)

Sweet Cody thought they were super crunchy and peanut buttery.

Oh, and then there's Toby who thinking, "Treats?  When did we get treats?"  

Make these for your best friend.  It'll result in all kinds of big, sloppy, wet, thank-you kisses!

Best of Breed Dog Biscuits

King Arthur Flour

2 cups White Whole Wheat Flour or Premium Whole Wheat Flour
1 cup rolled oats, regular or quick
1 tablespoon dried parsley or 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup Baker's Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup peanut butter, crunchy or plain
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon cold water, enough to make a cohesive dough

1) Preheat the oven to 300°F. Lightly grease a couple of baking sheets, or line them with parchment.

2) Mix together the flour, oats, parsley, dried milk, and salt.

3) Add the eggs and peanut butter, stirring to combine; the mixture will be crumbly.

4) Add enough water to bring the dough together; depending on the season, you may need to add a bit more (winter), or a bit less (summer).

5) To make biscuits using a dog-bone cutter, roll the dough about 1/4" thick, and cut with a 3 1/2" cutter (or the size of your choice). Gather and re-roll the scraps, and continue to cut biscuits until you've used all the dough.

6) To make dog "cookies," drop the dough in walnut-sized balls onto the prepared baking sheets. Flatten them to about 1/4".

7) Bake the biscuits for about 40 to 60 minutes, baking the smaller cookies for a shorter amount of time. When finished, the biscuits will be dark golden brown, and will be dry and crisp all the way through.

8) Remove the biscuits from the oven, and cool right on the pans.

Yield: about 42 larger (3 1/2" dog-bone) biscuits, 60 smaller (round) biscuits.