Milan Kundera, author of The Unbearable Lightness of Being, is quoted as saying “Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace”. From that lovely prose to our local hero cartoonist Charles Schulz - “Happiness is a warm puppy” -expressions of our love for dogs abound.
One way of expressing dog love is to bake them tasty (and heart-healthy) treats like the recipe for Olive Oil Dog Biscuits below. Nice to be able to share all the benefits of extra virgin olive oil with our best buds.
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 300F.
Line a sheet pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Combine all dry ingredients: flour, oats, wheat germ, sunflower seeds and cinnamon.
Combine all wet ingredients: peanut butter, olive oil and eggs.
Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Add water or stock as needed to form a thick dough that holds together but is not sticky.
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead together. Pat into a flat round or rectangle and roll approximately ¼ “ thick.
Cut into desired shapes and place on the parchment lined sheet pan.
Gather scraps together, roll and cut again. (I have it on good authority that our little pals are just fine with the odd scraps as well as the perfectly cut shapes).
Bake 40 to 60 minutes.
The biscuits will not color but you can touch-test them to see if they are firm. They will be nice and crunchy if they are firm to the touch when you pull them out of the oven.
Cool and share. Tails will be wagging!
