From delicious cakes to yummy biscuits, homemade goodies always go down a treat in households across the UK. With the cost of living continuing to put families under more and more pressure, baking your own treats from scratch is a great way to keep the costs down – but it is important not to forget about your four-legged family members!
The vets at the UK’s largest veterinary charity PDSA have revealed the paw-fect pet-friendly recipe for easy-to-make pumpkin cookies so dig out your mixer, pop on your apron and get your bake on.
Haru with food (4)
Ingredients:
This recipe will make 20 cookies.
55g grated carrots
60g applesauce (must not contain the sweetener Xylitol/birch sugar as this is toxic to dogs)
145g canned pumpkin (or pure pumpkin puree)
160g rice flour
25g oats
20g plain flour for rolling
Method:
Before you prepare your ingredients, heat your oven up to 150°C (Gas mark 2).
Then, blend your carrots, applesauce and pumpkin all together. You can use a processor, blender or a whisk to do this – blend until the texture is smooth.
After this, mix the rice flour and oats in a bowl. Add in the carrots, applesauce and pumpkin mixture to begin forming the dough.
Scatter plain flour on a cutting board or a smooth surface. Then, place the dough on the surface and begin rolling it until it’s about ¼ inch thick. You can use a rolling pin or a smooth bottle to roll out the dough.
Cut out cookies into 20 equal shapes using your favourite cookie cutter. Alternatively, you can free hand your cookie shapes or use small household items, such as a bottle lid, to cut out the shape.
Finally, bake for 12 minutes on a baking tray using greaseproof paper or non-stick cooking foil, turning just after the halfway point.
Once cooked, wait until fully cooled to serve.
PDSA Vet Catherine Burke said: “We’re sure your cat or dog will enjoy this special treat this Halloween but remember not to give them too many.
“We recommend that treats should make up no more than 10% of your pet’s daily food intake. Cats can have half a biscuit daily, dogs under 15kg can have one biscuit daily, and dogs over 15kg can have two biscuits daily, and you’ll need to reduce their normal food by 10% to account for their pumpkin cookies – you don’t want them to pile on the pounds.
“This recipe does make quite a few, so if you’re planning to make these just for your pooch or puss, we’d recommend reducing the ingredients by half. Or freeze the leftover mixture so it doesn’t go to waste!
“As always, if your pet has a sensitive tummy or is on a special diet for medical reasons, we would recommend not introducing anything new into their diet and sticking to foods that they are used to.”
