Fork it Over: Dog Biscuits

The one goal I had this Christmas was to bake dog biscuits for the pups to enjoy on Christmas Eve whilst the rest of us got to open one gift (our Christmas Eve tradition to stave off the greedy hurricane of unwrapping that always occurs the next morning.) Of course, with family coming over for crab dinner on Christmas Eve night, there was a flurry of activity taking over our kitchen just to prepare the human food. Dog biscuits were pushed to the back burner and made on Christmas Day - don't tell Sophie and Spike I said this, but I don't think they noticed the difference.Here's how you make them:

Mix two jars of baby food (any flavor you like - I made Big-T get pureed beef because I thought that would be most appetizing, but maybe next time I'll try sweet potato or spinach. Healthy pooches are happy pooches!) with two cups of whole wheat or all-purpose flour.You might have to add some water, as we did, to get the flour to thoroughly mix in. That's fine!

Then, shape the cookies into any design you like. Mom and I were lazy (hey, it was Christmas Day! We had things to do.) and formed little paw print cookies with our hands. Some other time I may take the time to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters, or even better, use a knife to cut out patterns like fire hydrants and cats for them to nibble on.

(I'm definitely going to become the crazy dog biscuit lady, aren't I?)Bake at 350 degrees. The recipe I used called for 20-25 minutes in the oven, but I think I may have released some heat when I left the door open to take pics, so I left these puppies (the biscuits! I'm talking about the biscuits!) in the oven for about 27 minutes. They were already yellow toned, so they didn't brown much, but they became stiffer and were clearly baked through.Store in a paper bag, not an air-tight container, so the moisture can escape and the cookies will stay firm longer.

Tell your dogs I said, you're welcome!