Regular readers of this blog will appreciate that I'm not "Martha Stewart junior," rather a woman who gets enthusiastic about things and whose experiments don't always come off as planned, at least on my first attempts.
Homemade dog biscuits for Clifford would be one of those things. Please avert your eyes if you're looking for stylized perfection, since this wasn't it.
During my recent visit to California I watched my friend Grace make homemade dog biscuits as part of her ongoing community work for the National Charity League. She shared the recipe with me, which is courtesy of the Pasadena Humane Society:
3 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup dry powdered milk
1 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1 cup ice water
3/4 cup margarine, shortening, or meat drippings
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp brown sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 180 degrees C. Combine flour, milk, salt, garlic and sugar. Cut in shortening until mix is like a coarse meal, then mix in egg. Add enough water until it forms a ball. Pat out dough to 1/2 inch thickness and cut into shapes with a cookie cutter. Place on lightly oiled tray and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove and cool on rack. Biscuits must be frozen if not used within three days.
In anticipation of making these for Clifford I picked up a dog bone shaped cookie cutter, and decided to bake up a batch for his homecoming from the farm this past week.
Only problem was that I was too smart for my own good: in reading the recipe, I noted that the instructions were quite similar to those used for making pastry or pasta dough, which can be made in a food processor. So to save time I whipped up the dough in my food processor rather than by hand.
Grace had warned me that the dough could be quite "gooky," and my dough would have won the Gooky Award hands down. So much so that it was difficult to cut with cute little my dog bone cookie cutter. I ended up doing the best I could:
Slightly deformed, yes I know. But they were a big hit with Clifford even if they didn't look like quite like the gourmet canine treats I'd intended. Next time I'll mix them by hand and see if the situation improves with insight and experience, as is the case with most things for me!
Haha..I don't feel so bad now because that's the shape my biscuits turned out as well. Thanks for the great receipt. http://www.bestfriendfence.com/
Posted by: Dog Fence | 03/25/2014 at 07:21 AM