Peanut Butter Biscuits for the Birthday Girl

This is Hadley, affectionately known to my blog readers as the furry sous chef. At various times, Brian and I also refer to her as doggie, puppy, mutsky, her royal muttness and the tail-wagger. Today she is also known as the birthday girl!

Brian surprised her with a new squeaky toy and I thought it would be a nice birthday treat to bake her some homemade biscuits. She doesn't usually get much peanut butter because, if there was a jar of it in the house, one of us would end up standing at the kitchen counter at midnight with that jar and a large spoon. Whatta you mean, which one?!

But seeing as it's a special occasion and a jar of peanut butter accidentally fell into my shopping cart at the grocery store and the store manager insisted that I had to take it home, I looked for a way to use it before the dreaded midnight snack hour. Hadley did let me lick the spoon.

Ingredients
1 Cup whole wheat flour plus extra for rolling out dough
3/4 Cup peanut butter
1/4 Cup milk (I used low fat)
1 Egg

Work the peanut butter into the flour with your fingers or a fork the way you would incorporate butter. Add the milk and egg and combine to form a dough ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for approximately one hour.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to approximately 1/4" thickness and cut out desired shapes. This dough is not very sticky and cuts nicely. Place the biscuit shapes on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 25 minutes. (Hadley spent that time lying in front of the oven, waiting.) When done, allow to cool and become crisp and crunchy. Dogs like crunchy!

A note about doggie nutrition and food allergens: I am very careful about not feeding Hadley any foods that are dangerous for dogs or that I know will irritate her tummy. Although some dogs cannot tolerate milk after they're weaned, Hadley has no trouble with small doses and there's only a miniscule amount in each biscuit. However, if you know your pooch is ultra sensitive to it, you may substitute water or even chicken or beef stock.

And, just as with humans, all things in moderation. I made a few large 3" biscuits but because Hadley is a small dog (just under 20 lbs.) I made most of them with a 2" bone shaped cutter. This recipe yielded 60 small biscuits (plenty to share with doggie friends) at about 25 calories each.

Oh, if you're wondering how I staged the photo so that she'd be in it, you'd do better to ask how I get her out of photos the rest of the time. Out of any given series of food pictures taken at my house, at least half will contain a doggie nose. :)