These dog treats are pretty easy to make and a nice alternative to the traditional milk bone type biscuits. Sure, there are some gourmet options out there, but they are a little pricey and if you like the idea of controlling the ingredients, this recipe is a great alternative. These can be made from regular ingredients you might already have on hand and are great if you dog has a sensitive tummy. If you use gluten free oatmeal, then these are gluten free as well.
A food processor works best for grinding the oatmeal and mixing the dough. I like to grind 1/2 the oatmeal into oat flour before mixing in the other ingredients and the food processor makes light work of this. So start by putting 3 cups of dry, old-fashioned oats into the food processor and pulse until if makes a flour. You don’t have to be super fussy about this – a nice coarse grain is fine. **If you are making gluten-free, pulse an extra 1/2 cup of oats that you can use later for rolling out the dough.** Then, add the egg, olive oil, flax seed, canned pumpkin, and rosemary. Pulse to mix, then add the remaining 3 cups of oats and pulse to mix again. At this point, let the dough sit for a couple of minutes so that the liquid part is fully absorbed into the oats.
Sprinkle some flour or oat flour onto your counter and dump the dough out for rolling. Sprinkle a little flour or oats on top and roll to about 1/4 – 1/2 ” thickness.
You can cut the treats using a cookie cutter or use a pizza cutter to make random squares. Champ’s not particularly fussy about the shape!
Place the treats on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then flip them all over and bake for another 45 minutes. Leave them in the oven (heat turned off) overnight to make sure they dry out completely. The trick to these treats holding up for a long time is that they are dry. You could also dry them out in a food dehydrator.
Store them in an airtight container and they’ll last for months.
Champ (Dog) Treats
Ingredients
- 6 cups old fashioned oatmeal
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 Tbsp. ground flax seed
- 1 can pure pumpkin not pumpkin pie mix
- 1/4 tsp rosemary optional - good for healthy digestion
Instructions
- Pulse half the oatmeal to turn into oat flour.
- Add egg, olive oil, flax seed, pumpkin, and rosemary. Pulse to mix.
- Add the remaining oatmeal and mix well.
- Let the dough sit to ensure all liquid is absorbed into the oats.
- Roll on a floured counter.
- Cut into squares or cookie cutter shapes.
- Bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes. Flip and bake another 45 minutes.
- Let dry overnight in the oven (cooled).
- Store in an airtight container. they keep for many months.
