A wonderful treat for your well-behaving dog! Everyone loves peanut butter and bananas…..and so do our four-legged best friends! These Tasty Treat Dog Biscuits are sure to be a hit and an appropriate reward whenever the occasion arises. (For more pet treats, herbal remedies, recipes and preparations for both family and pets, check the ‘Categories’ section of betweenclosefriends.com)
This recipe is very versatile with variations listed at the end of the basic directions, including notes on additional health benefits. Depending on the choice and size that you make your Tasty Treat Dog Biscuits, you will be able to yield between 20 and 24 medium-sized healthy treats. Bone Appetite!
Ingredients: 1 c mashed banana
2/3 c peanut butter
2 lightly beaten eggs
2 T honey
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c wheat germ
1 lightly beaten egg white (or ¼ c milk), for the glaze and to help prevent burning
- Preheat your oven to 300 degrees F. Either use a non-stick cookie sheet, or prepare a regular baking sheet by lightly greasing it.
- In a medium-sized bowl add the whole banana, peanut butter, eggs and honey. Stir to combine, blending thoroughly.
- Combine the flour and wheat germ in a separate bowl.
- Add this to the wet ingredients, mixing all together well.
- Turn the resulting dough out onto a floured board and roll to ¼“ thick. (Alternately, you can simply drop dollops of batter onto the cookie sheet, and flatten each biscuit with either your floured thumb or the back of a floured fork)
- Cut the dough into any desired shape with a cookie cutter (either bones, rounds, or rectangles), and place the Tasty Treat Dog Biscuits on the prepared baking sheet.
- Lightly brush the top of each biscuit with either egg white or the milk wash.
- Then bake them for approximately 30 minutes in your preheated oven, or until the biscuits are dry and golden brown.
- Remove your Tasty Treat Dog Biscuits from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
- These biscuits store well in a lidded container, if they can last that long!
Variations: The wheat germ can be successfully replaced by: 1. regular oatmeal for added roughage. 2. wheat bran (eliminate the honey, because the wheat bran is naturally ‘sweeter’) 3. flaxseed meal (To ensure freshness, grind your own flaxseeds in a spice grinder. You may require a little more flour in your dough when using the flaxseed meal because it is not as absorbent as the wheat germ.)
Health notes: Bran, ground Flaxseed and bananas are good sources of lubrication, soluble fiber and roughage for our pets thereby helping to avoid constipation. The linoleic acid found in flaxseed oil may also be beneficial for easing arthritis pain because it alters how the body breaks down prostaglandins, the chemicals involved in inflammation.
For long-haired dogs who are sometimes prone to hairballs and subsequent vomiting, substituting the bran and/or flaxseed meal for the wheat germ in the above recipe for Tasty Treat Dog Biscuits will help eliminate this undesirable attribute.
Bananas, which are high in potassium and a moderate source of vitamin C, are now believed to aid in reducing high blood pressure in both our pets and their masters.
Eggs in your dog’s diet help ensure a healthy and shiny coat.
Wheat germ is a good source of the B vitamins, Vitamin E and protein.