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If you missed my previous post For Banana Oat Dog Treats, you missed this fun fact! In addition to managing veterinary clinics, I had not one but TWO dog treat businesses. This Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treat Recipe – HALLOWEEN MIX was one of the most popular. I remember making bags and bags of these, selling them through a local dog bakery. Those were the days. But now, I am sharing all of my recipes with you. Let me show you how to make these 🙂
These are my rescue dogs, Sparky (an 8 year old Rat Terrier) and Ryleigh (a 10 year old Chihuahua mixed with something two DNA tests can’t quite nail down) lol They LOVE these treats.
How to make Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treat Recipe – HALLOWEEN MIX
I use whole wheat flour for this recipe, but if your dog is gluten sensitive, I love the Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour. There are other brands on the market as well. Lighter flours are a bit more difficult to work with, but it can be done. Just know that if you use them, you may have to adjust the moisture content.
Pure pumpkin puree is up next (not pumpkin pie filling). The ingredients should just be pureed pumpkin.
One egg, beaten.
And a natural or sugar free peanut butter.
WARNING #1: Xylitol is a deadly ingredient to dogs. PLEASE CHECK YOUR LABEL CAREFULLY!!!
Related articles:
WARNING #2: CHOCOLATE is EXTREMELY TOXIC to your dogs. Carob is the SAFE ALTERNATIVE.
Related article: What to do if your dog eats chocolate (veterinarian written article)
What is Carob Powder and is it safe for dogs?
For the darker cutouts (bats and black cats), we’ll be using carob powder. Carob does NOT contain chocolate and therefore it is a SAFE, dog-friendly alternative. I buy organic carob powder on Amazon (*affiliate link)
Once you mix your dough, remove half of it. The uncolored half will be for our pumpkins and ghosts. If you have an all natural food color, you could even tint some of the dough orange if you’d like. But I promise you, the pups won’t notice the difference 🙂
To the remaining half, add two more tablespoons of pumpkin puree and 2 tablespoons of carob powder. That extra moisture is required to get the carob powder to fully blend into the dough.
Roll the dough to about 1/4″ thick (you should NOT need any flour to roll this dough out) and start cutting. I bought these copper cutters soooo many years ago. I haven’t seen them since but Amazon has a bunch of options. Be sure to purchase ones that say “MINI”. I’ll link to just a few here:
I make all of my cuts then gently remove the excess dough. You can use an offset spatula to help transfer the cutouts to a parchment lined baking sheet.
The cookies do not spread much (if at all), so feel free to put them fairly close together.
Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes.
FOR A CRISP COOKIE WITH A BIT OF SHELF LIFE, after the initial bake, lower the temperature of your oven as low as it will go. Mine is 170 degrees. Allow the cookies to dehydrate in the oven until firm. This could take an hour (or more). Once they are dehydrated, breaking them should create a snap and you can store these for at least a week or two. Without dehydrating, a few days.
I buy these little cello cookie treat bags at Michaels or Hobby Lobby and they come with a coordinating twist tie. They are generally the Wilton brand.
The ribbons come from Michael’s, Hobby Lobby and/or JoAnn’s. You can also find a lot of these online.
Sparky goes c-r-a-z-y for treats, standing on his hind legs, twirling and barking. Laser focused 🙂
Ryleigh will never take a treat from your hand. Ever. She has to make a mess and chew them on the carpet ;(
Did you make my Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treat Recipe – HALLOWEEN MIX? Leave me a comment below and let me know what you thought! You can also tag me with your photos on Instagram @projectpawsrescuenetwork or on Twitter @iluvprojectpaws and on Facebook @ProjectPAWS.org
If you enjoyed the recipe, please like, share, comment and PIN! It really helps the site grow 🙂
Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treat Recipe - HALLOWEEN MIX
Equipment
- Electric Mixer
- Miniature Halloween Cookie Cutters
- Parchment Lined Sheet Pan
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 c Whole Wheat Flour
- 1/3 c Pumpkin Puree
- 2 tbsp All Natural Peanut Butter Very Important ---> NO XYLITOL!!!
- 1 large Egg
FOR THE CAROB VERSION:
- 2 tbsp Pumpkin Puree
- 2 tbsp CAROB Powder Very Important ---> NO CHOCOLATE!!!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine whole wheat flour, pumpkin puree, egg and all natural peanut butter (NO XYLITOL) in an electric mixer. Remove half and set aside.
- To the remaining half, add two additional tablespoons of pumpkin puree and 2 tbsp of unsweetened carob powder (NO CHOCOLATE).
- Roll both doughs, cutting the pumpkin and ghost from the natural dough and the bats and cats from the carob dough.
- Arrange cutouts on the lined baking sheet. They do not rise much, so you can put them close together.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. (SEE NOTES FOR SHELF STABLE COOKIES)
Notes