Today has been a day of experimentation!
I have had fun in the land of dog biscuits. That's right, biscuits, but for dogs. Okay, I think we've spent enough time of the clarification of what I've been doing...
I love my dog and want to show her how much I love her with treats. Now any of you who know Toffee (that's my dog), know that she is treated like a queen. She wants for nothing, except everything, because she is a greedy little rat! I wanted to bake her something really special, cheesy and healthy.
I mean it, you can feel the health in these biscuits. With every squeeze, every roll and every cut, the health just oozes out. Well, health and a whole lot of cheese. Toffee loves cheese, she's cheesy for it. She could have cheese for breakfast, lunch, dinner and all those little snacks in between. She may as well have been a block of cheddar in her past life.
I'm pretty positive that in Toffee Town, (that is what I call the inside of Toff's head) she lives in a world of Cheddar, with Mozzarella trees, cheesy crackers for pavements and Gorgonzola seating. Feta clouds and Parmesan rain. There's a Fondue river, rolling down the center of Toffee Town, with crouton rocks, lining the creamy, luscious river. American cheese squares will be used as blankets and Brie as pillows. Wheels of cheese will be used for transportation and then blocks of cheese for the houses.
She would spend her days, using all her senses. She would wake up to the feel of cheese on her fur, all smooth, silky and sumptuous. She would then start the day off right, eating her cheese breakfast and tasting the salty and sweet flavours, rolling round in her gob. Looking out and seeing the cheesy surroundings glisten in the sunlight, would make Toff happy. She'd then smell the cheesy breads being baked in Toffee Town Bakeries, on her morning walk. The sensational touch of the crunching cheesy biscuits under her paws would put a spring in her step. Roaming, grazing and sniffing is how she would spend her days.
Don't really know how to get away from this tangent, so i'll stop here.
These biscuits are healthy, simple and delicious for dogs. They are quick and fun to make. I love trying out new recipes and techniques as it expands my baking adventures and allows me to widen my skill set. These were interesting as i've never used oats in a recipe before, so this was a new experience for me.
These biscuits only take around 40 minutes to make, from making the dough to baking and cooling these little treats.
Already, i'm going to say, next time, I think i'll add extra cheese as I want them to taste really strong. Of course this was by my standards. I'm a human. My dog is a dog. Therefore, naturally, we are going to enjoy different things. She enjoys smelling other dog's butts, I do not. I enjoy reading magazines, she enjoys scratching and chewing them. We are different beings. But I think we would agree on this, more cheese is good. In fact, the more cheese there is, the greater these biscuits get! I'm also pondering over the thought of also adding a dribble of honey to add the slightest bit on sweetness and therefore adding to the deliciousness of these treats!
This is a recipe from a Dog Magazine we get posted out to us. You never know where your next baking adventure inspiration will come from.
What you will need for these biscuits is pretty simple. You will need;
- A rolling pin
- A cookie cutter; whatever shape you think your dog will enjoy
- A mixer, with the beater paddle attached or a bowl and wooden spoon
- 2 baking trays, lined with baking paper
- A cooling rack
The ingredients you'll need are;
- 180g Strong, Stoneground Wholemeal Flour
- 150g Porridge Oats
- 80g Strong, Mature Cheddar Cheese; grated
(Next time, I think I'll add 180g of cheese as I want them really cheesy and maybe a dribble of honey for sweetness and enhanced flavour? This is the great thing about baking, you can tweak recipes to make them your own and unique to your likes and dislikes, well in this case, your dog's likes and dislikes.)
- 1 Egg, beaten together with a little water.
(I added around 20ml or so. Basically, what I did was dribble in the water with the mixer on slow, until the dough started to come together and look wet enough to mix together and form a stable dough, but not so wet, making the dough sticky and gloopy.)
The method for making these;
Preheat your oven to 180 C until the little red light beside the temperature dial goes bye bye.
Drop the flour, oats and cheese into a large bowl and mix on low until they are all combined.
Whisk the egg and plop this in with the dry ingredients and give it a mix.
Then with the mixer on low, dribble in some cool water. Enough to make the mixture come together to form a smooth-ish ball of dough. It isn't going to be super fine and smooth, like it would if it was pastry, due to all those oats and wholemeal flour.
Once the mixture forms large mounds of healthy mix, stop mixing and start kneading. Throw this onto a clean counter, without any flour (I didn't think it was needed, but if you do, use some) and use your hands, rolling it and folding it to bring it together.
Using a rolling pin, roll this dough out until it is the thickness of around 2, 1 pound coins. Then using your cutters, cut out little shapes and put them onto your baking trays.
This mixture will make around 15 biscuits. It would probably make like 17, but I didn't want to roll it more than twice, as the dough would get too tough. As I said, I love my dog, i'm not gonna let her munch on tough treats.
Once all the biscuits are cut out and on the trays, put them into the oven that is now at the correct heat and bake these for 20 minutes. The recipe said, if you or your pooch wanted a crispier treat, to turn them over after 20 minutes and bake for a further 10 minutes. I didn't do that as I felt they were pretty crispy after 20 minutes. Plus Toff isn't a big fan of crunchy, crunchy treats.
Leave them to cool on a cooling rack until they are completely cold. When they are, pop them into an air tight container and they will last for up to 2 weeks, that's if they last that long.
These are homemade, fresh, locally baked dog treats. They are something to try or even better, buy some from CVL Bakes and get them delivered to your house in a box, tied with twine. These will be the fanciest and most special dog treats your pooch has ever had, well in my opinion.
When is the last time your dog has had their treats delivered to them, in a box tied with twine and all for great value and quality!? Just go to my Facebook page; CVL Bakes and message me, say what you'd like; whether you want them super crunchy or slightly crunchy, with a little softness and i'll bake and deliver them to you.
That's all the biscuits done! I hope you've enjoyed this baking adventure blog post and try them or order them? It's always nice to try new things. Plus, you dog, like anyone, would probably like a change too? Eating the same thing, day in, day out, can get tedious and well, bland.
Anyway, have a lovely evening all and I hope you've enjoyed this blog post?
Until next time folks,
Ciara
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