Peanut Butter & Banana Dog Treats

Your dogs will love these! They won't even know or care that they're healthy. And your kids will love making them, too.

Healthy dog treats

Ingredients

2 cups oat flour
4 tbsp ground flax seed
1 banana
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup almond milk
Cookie cutter
Parchment paper

Peanut butter & banana

Step 1 - Shopping

Go to the Bulk Barn for ground flax and oat flour. Just so you know, the scoops in the flour bins there hold exactly two cups, so get a bit more than that because you'll need extra for rolling the dough.

Bulk Barn also has a lot of great cookie cutters, including a number of dog-themed ones of all sizes.

Cookie cutters

Go to any grocery store for a banana and some almond milk. Of course there are the 2L sizes of almond milk in the coolers, but I think you can buy smaller amounts (un-refrigerated and in boxes or cans) in the natural  food section. Just make sure you get unsweetened, not vanilla or sweetened because they make all kinds. Almond milk is healthier for dogs than cows' milk. And, you probably have peanut butter in your pantry. Also, make sure your peanut butter doesn't contain xyletol...very toxic to dogs.

The parchment paper is optional. We use it because our cookie sheet burns everything. If you skip it, just use the dry baking sheet, don't grease it.

Step 2 - Mixing

Measure the flour and flax into a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, mash the banana. Mix in the almond milk and peanut butter.

Combine the dry and wet ingredients until a dough is formed. If it is too dry and crumbly, add more of the wet ingredients and if it is too runny, add more flour, but those amounts should work.

Mixing the dough

Step 3 - Rolling & Cutting

Sprinkle some oat flour on a pie mat or clean work surface and begin rolling the dough into an even thickness, about 1/4" thick.

Using a cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place on a parchment paper-line baking sheet.

Cutting the dough

Step 4 - Baking

Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.

Let cool before serving.

Ready to bake

These should store for a couple of weeks. Remember, there are no preservatives so they won't last as long as store-bought ones, so use them up! One batch made about 100 small cookies as shown above. We give our dogs three or four per day; they both weigh less than 25 lbs, so a larger dog could probably have more.