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I love to spoil my dogs, don’t you? Treats are always at the top of our grocery list, but they are getting ridiculously expensive. Like $15 a bag that lasts us a week. So I went online looking for the best homemade dog biscuit recipe EVER and I found this recipe for Soft pumpkin dog treats. Perfect!
I have senior chihuahua dogs, and they are somewhat picky when it comes to treats. I was a little worried they wouldn’t like the pumpkin. But they really did, it gives the biscuit a little bit of a sweet taste. Yes, I tried one and they weren’t too bad.
I gathered all my ingredients together and one can of pumpkin will make two batches of treats, I just put the other half of the can in a plastic container with a lid in the refrigerator and will make the second batch in a week, so it won’t go bad.
You can use the whole can and double the recipe. Then you can just freeze 1/2 of the treats for later. That will save some time, these will last my dogs a week. So next time I will for sure make a double batch. I already make their food each week, so I can make the treats at the same time as I make the food.
How long do homemade dog treats last?
These treats will last a week, maybe more, my dogs ate them in a week. We just put them in a zip bag on the counter. If you freeze them they would last much longer or you could put some in the refrigerator to make them last for a couple weeks.
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What is the best flour to use for dog treats?
I just used regular flour that I normally use baking for us, I like to use the non bleached kind. But it’s totally up to you. I’m trying to save money at the grocery store so I’m using what we use.
Can dogs have peanut butter and banana?
Yes, dogs can have peanut butter and banana. This recipe only calls for peanut butter.
Soft Pumpkin Dog Treats Recipe
Supplies Needed:
Cookie Sheet
Dog Bone Cookie Cutter
Ingredients:
2/3 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 large eggs
3 cups flour
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In bowl add pumpkin, I used about 1/2 the can and put the rest in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic container. Add peanut butter and eggs, mix together, then start adding in your flour until your dough is no sticky anymore.
Then place on a floured surface, knead several times. I just patted down the dough with my hands, you can use a rolling pin. You want the dough to be about 1/4 inch thick. Now get out that cute dog bone cookie cutter and cut out the shapes and put them on the baking sheet.
I rolled the rest of the dough until I couldn’t get anymore, then just baked the cut out piece as a whole, then after it baked it made nice little bits of treats. The dogs really don’t care what the shape is.
Bake in over until golden brown, approx. 20-25 minutes.
Let them cool completely before giving your pets the treats.
My dogs LOVE these soft pumpkin dog treats and think they are the Best Homemade Dog Biscuit Recipe Ever!
Chipy approved!
Hi, is the cookie sheet greased or ungreased ? Also, when storing, put a slice of bread in the bag with the treats to help keep them soft. I used that trick for regular people cookies too. 😉
Hey Sue,
Ungreased. Good tip about the bread!
thank you for the recipe. I tried it out ( i never bake, haha). it turned out great!
you can see the results here. i made my own cookie cutter to make it more fun. https://www.instagram.com/p/CZFfmsTv0GP/?utm_medium=copy_link
thicker is better for sure. in fact, i have been sharing the treat with my dog.
Yay!
Hello! Wanted to try this recipe. Sounds awesome for my granddogs. I wanted to make them for their birthdays. What can I put as far as decoration(frosting) on top?
Hey Nancy, that sounds fun! I would mix up some yogurt with a little starch, and enough milk to make it creamy like frosting. It will dry hard.
Do you think whole wheat flour would be healthier and if I was to substitute would I need to adjust the amount?
Hey Cathy,
Yes, I use whole wheat all the time. No need to change anything, they only time I would adjust with whole wheat is when I make bread, I then add 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 regular flour or else my bread is too thick.
Happy Baking!
Michelle
I used whole wheat flour and the dough was stiff after adding 2 cups. Since I had an abundance of pumpkin, adding another 1/3 cup remedied it. I ended up adding another 1/2 cup of flour and 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.
The dogs loved them!!!
This yielded 26 snowmen biscuits (couldn’t find bone shaped ones at the stores).
Awesome! I need to make some snowmen!
Hi we don’t have can pumpkin in Australia can I just cook and mash pumpkin for dg biscuits cheers
Hey Wendy,
No worries, you can totally mash up pumpkin after cooking or you can use other things. Sweet potatoes might be easier. Here’s a list I found.
Pumpkin Substitutes
For 1 cup canned pumpkin or pumpkin puree, substitute 1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potato or butternut squash. These ingredients, in these amounts, are interchangeable in most recipes.
Replacing Canned Pumpkin with Pumpkin Puree
After cooking and draining, this is what to expect from a typical cooking pumpkin:
2-1/2-pound pumpkin = 1-3/4 cups puree 3-1/2-pound pumpkin = 2-1/2 cups puree 5-pound pumpkin = 2-3/4 cups puree 6-pound pumpkin = 2-3/4 cups puree
Have you tried roasted butternut squash instead of the canned pumpkin?
Ok so I thought these were soft. My dog has just had dental surgery and only has 13 teeth left so I was hoping these were truly soft. I put them in the oven for 20 minutes and the bottom was a bit brown. I did feed one to my dog in tiny pieces and she gobbled it up. Next time I’ll reduce cooking time to 15 minutes.
I roll mine out kinda thick. And it depends on your oven and how thick your dough is. Glad your dog likes them!
My dog loves pb and pumpkin but, unfortunately, is allergic to eggs. Is there an ingredient I could substitute for the eggs? Thanks
No problem, just add a 1/4 cup more water to the recipe.
Can I substitute banana in place of peanut butter?
Give it a try and let us know how it turns out.
We have three elderly dogs who have a tough time eating the prepackaged dog treats/bones because they are too hard for them to chew. These are perfect and they love them. I have the second batch in the oven now. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
You’re quite welcome! So happy you found them for your fur babies!
Do these stay soft once thawed out of a freezer? I’m looking to make treats I can hide medicines in and such. Or do these get hard like biscuits?
Yes they stay soft. Since they don’t have any preservatives in them I freeze most of the batch and only get out a handful every couple days from the freezer. My dogs love them. They would be perfect for hiding meds in.
Have you tried roasted butternut squash instead of the canned pumpkin?
No, but that sounds wonderful!
Peanut butter is contaminated with aflotoxin( fungus) in the US due to methods of storage of peanuts. I use raw almond butter, other nut butters instead .Also peanuts are hard on dog kidneys as the animals get older . Best to avoid. Pumkin is great for them it keeps regular and if they have diarrhea is helps that issue too
I make these for my small dogs only I transfer the whole rolled out sheet onto the cookie sheet and then use a pizza cutter to make tiny squares. Since my dogs are so small, these fit in there mouths better and don’t add too many calories. I make a huge batch then freeze them in ziplock bags. I keep the bag I’m using in the fridge it seems safer since there are no preservatives in them.
Hey Deana,
What a GREAT idea!! I’m going to do that next time. I did notice that they get spoiled really quickly when I leave them out for a couple days. I’m going to take your advice next time and freeze most of them and keep one bag in the fridge! Thanks so much for the tip!
Michelle
Thank you for posting these pumpkin treats. My little girl is fussy but seems to like soft pumpkin treats. Will try they over the weekend.
My dogs love them. I’ve been rolling the dough out in a cookie sheet, then using a pizza cutter to cut the dough into small squares, then cook. That’s my lazy way of making them. Then I put most of the cooked treats in the freezer and only keep out a small baggie full. These spoil quickly. When the bag gets low of treats, I fill a new baggie with the frozen treats in the morning and they are thawed out for our evening treat fest during tv time. Awesome treats that my dogs love!