Treat your canine friend to something special on Love Your Pet Day with this incredibly adorable and easy to make heart-shaped dog treat recipe. I had so much fun making this treat, and my dogs had an even better eating them. Seriously, my dogs can sense when I am making them treats. The anticipation of a delicious treat gets them excited, and they start acting like puppies again. It is great to watch, especially since they are getting up there in age.
The main base for these cookies are whole wheat flour and oatmeal, so they’re not hypoallergenic. There are some added veggies and fruits in there to give the cookies an extra flavor boost. The shredded apple gives the cookie the extra moisture it needs, so even though it looks like there isn’t much liquid in the recipe there is plenty.
The paw print is pressed into the cookie before cooking and will rise a bit in the oven. So, make sure you press down hard so that the shape is still there when you take it out.
To make the frosting I whipped together some Greek yogurt and peanut butter. The peanut butter thickened the yogurt just enough so that it isn’t runny. I used plain yogurt this time around, but you could also use vanilla or banana yogurt if you want to add some additional flavor. Considering my dogs could barely contain themselves while waiting, I think it’s safe to say there is plenty of flavor in these treats to make your dog happy. Read on for how to make this heart-shaped dog treat recipe, then print out the recipe card for later!
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix to the cookie ingredients in a large bowl until it forms a ball.
Roll out dough on a floured surface until ¼ inch thick. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out heart-shaped cookies.
Using your finger press down the shape of a paw print in the center of the cookie. Press firmly so that the shape is still there after cooking. Place the cookies on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling mix the yogurt and peanut butter to make the frosting. When the cookies are completely cooled fill the paw print shape with the frosting. A butter knife or your finger works well for filling the paw print.
Store flat in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week or until the expiration date on the yogurt, whichever is less.
Print this recipe for later:
Celebrate Love Your Pet Day with Yummy Heart-Shaped Dog Treats!
Ingredients
Cookie:
1 ¼ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 shredded carrot
½ peeled and shredded apple
¾ cup water
1 egg
Frosting:
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tbsp. peanut butter
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Mix to the cookie ingredients in a large bowl until it forms a ball.
Roll out dough on a floured surface until ¼ inch thick. Use a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut out heart-shaped cookies.
Using your finger press down the shape of a paw print in the center of the cookie. Press firmly so that the shape is still there after cooking. Place the cookies on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
While the cookies are cooling mix the yogurt and peanut butter to make the frosting. When the cookies are completely cooled fill the paw print shape with the frosting. A butter knife or your finger works well for filling the paw print.
Store flat in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week or until the expiration date on the yogurt, whichever is less.
Love Your Pet Day is on February 20th, so you have plenty of time to whip these up! Of course, every day is a great day to show your dog how much you appreciate him!
Are you making anything special for Love Your Pet day? Share below!
Nicole
Hi there! I'm Nicole, the editor-in-chief and one of the writers here at DogVills. I've been a dog owner for most of my adult life and a dog lover for much longer than that. I grew up with a wonderful German Shepherd named Jake, who I loved SO much that I named my son after him. When I'm not writing for DogVills or my own site, Pretty Opinionated, I love spending time with my teenager (when he actually lets me) and my Pharaoh Hound, Freya. I'm also an avid reader AND a total TV fanatic.
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Thoroughly whisk together eggs, pumpkin and peanut butter in a mixing bowl. Add mixture to flour in a separate bowl and knead into dough. Roll out dough with a roller until it's approximately 1/2 inch thick. Use a heart-shaped cookie cutter for special Valentine's Day themed treats to cut out shapes from the dough.
Treats made from real meat, such as chicken, beef, or turkey, are often highly appealing to dogs. They provide a savory flavor and a satisfying texture. Examples include jerky treats, meaty sticks, and dehydrated meat treats.
Treats should make up no more than about 10% of your dog's daily calories. For example, if your dog needs 400 calories per day (check out the resting rate calorie counter below), they should have no more than 40 calories from treats, with the other 360 coming from their normal food.
Roll out dough with a rolling pin and use a cookie cutter to cut out dog bone shapes, or just bake into little circles like cookies. Bake for 15 minutes. Whisk the bacon grease and peanut butter until very smooth. Drizzle over the treats and cool till glaze hardens (it does best in the fridge or freezer).
I started by cutting out a big mouth in one end of the box. Then I covered the whole box with the fake fur using hot glue to secure it to the box. Make a tail out of the fur and glue it to the dogs back side. Cut ears out of whatever fur you have left and hot glue pink felt to the non-furry side.
They won't harm your dog, but they don't provide much benefit either. Cheerios are made from mostly whole-grain oats, which provide no essential component of your pet's diet. As a result, mass-produced Cheerio treats function only as filler—they're just empty calories when dogs need a high-energy diet.
Dog treats should only be used as rewards for good behavior and make up no more than 10% of your dog's daily calories. So, for example, if you have a small dog that needs 400 calories a day, and the treats you give them are 20 calories each, then they can have two of them per day.
It's important not to overfeed treats, as it can easily be done. This is really important for fussy dogs too, as they may be less likely to eat their staple diet at meal time.
As a rule of thumb, you want to keep treats capped at 10% of your dog's daily caloric intake. Overdoing it could lead to tummy issues (and messy stools) in the short run, and weight gain in the long term. Because obesity in dogs can lead to serious health problems and is arguably the No.
In general, we recommend staying away from all purpose flour for your dog. It's not going to hurt them in small amounts, but it just doesn't have the nutritional value that you can get from other kinds of flour.
' The good news is that regular peanut butter is safe to give your dog as a treat. Just make sure to avoid peanut butter with Xylitol, a sugar substitute found in lower or sugar-free products. Xylitol is the only ingredient in peanut butter that's bad for dogs.
Whole wheat flour is packed with nutrients for your pup, like fiber, protein, and antioxidants. You can use all-purpose flour in a pinch, but it won't provide as many nutrients. Eggs are great for dogs and add protein, fatty acids, and vitamins to their diet.
You can offer them raw, but I prefer to boil them in plain unsalted water until tender and save the broth. Add some cooked hearts to your dogs regular kibble and drizzle a bit of the broth over the dry food.
Arrowroot is pretty effective, also if you're using "wet" ingredients, pre-cooking or squeezing them may help (I'm thinking about stuff like zucchini in particular). Also, probably not terribly popular, but dry milk powder, or if you're giving the treats sparingly - cheapo green can parmesan works nicely.
Bake these Homemade Dog Treats for your doggie best friend. These dog treats are filled with peanut butter, chicken broth, honey and oats. If you're looking for a grain-free option, make these Grain-Free Pumpkin Dog Treats.
Introduction: My name is The Hon. Margery Christiansen, I am a bright, adorable, precious, inexpensive, gorgeous, comfortable, happy person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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until it forms a ball.
to cut out heart-shaped cookies.
and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
