Thanksgiving is just around the corner and you can bet I’ve been busting my ass in the kitchen to make plenty of Thanksgiving dog treats to share with your best friend this holiday. There are so many different types of dog treats you can make for the holiday, from Thanksgiving pupcakes, Thanksgiving pumpkin spice cake pop bites and even Thanksgiving Homemade pup pies. These delicious treats are no different. These treats are a bit on the messy side, but I believe that is what makes them amazing!
Thanksgiving Apple Spiced Dog Treats: Step-by-Step
When I began making these treats, I knew exactly what I was trying to go for. I wanted a treat that embellished everything that makes Thanksgiving what it is. I knew I wanted a dog treat that was packed with the flavors of Thanksgiving (apple in this case) and I wanted a colorful treat that showcased the wonderful colors of fall: orange, red, green and brown.
Originally, I wanted to drizzle grain free dog treat icing on homemade apple treats in a similar way to many other Thanksgiving cookies that you often see being sold. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen. However, the end result was much better in my opinion.
What Do You Need?
This is a pretty straightforward treat recipe. You don’t really need much in terms of ingredients and I guarantee you probably have most of the ingredients already sitting in your pantry. For this recipe, you will need:
- Rubber dog bone treat mold
- A baking sheet
- 2 cups of garbanzo flour
- ½ cup of coconut flour
- ½ cup of oat flour
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed
- ½ to ¾ cup of applesauce
- ½ cup of water
- ½ tsp. of ground cinnamon
- 3, ¼ cup of Pastries4 Pets grain free icing
- ¼ cup of Pastries4Pets carob icing
- ½ tsp. of dog safe food coloring: red, orange and green
The Process
Once you have all of your ingredients ready, its time to prepare the dog treats. This is a similar dog treat base similar to my Homemade Pumpkin dog treats, with a bit more ingredients added. It is a simple dog treat base that comes together easily. Use a bowl and add in the garbanzo flour, coconut flour, oat flour, egg, ground flaxseed, applesauce, water and ground cinnamon. Stir well until mixed. Keep in mind, this mixture is going to be incredibly moist. This is completely normal.
Spread the dough into a dog bone shaped rubber treat mold. As with other treats I have made using a rubber treat molds, spread the dough into each mold cup using a rubber spatula to make it easier. Transfer the rubber molds onto a baking sheet.
Place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes. Lower the temperature of the oven to 250 degrees and continue to bake for 20 minutes or until the treats are light brown. Keep in mind, depending on the size of the treat molds, they tend to brown quickly. During the second part of baking, be sure to pay close attention to the treats and remove them earlier if need be. For me, I removed my treats at around the 15 minute mark once I noticed they were beginning to turn brown around the edges. Remove the treats from the oven and allow to cool in the rubber molds completely. Once they are cooled, carefully remove the treats from the molds and place onto a wire rack.
Once the dog treats are cooled, it is time to prepare the icing. Now for this part, you don’t need much for the icing as you aren’t coating the treats completely. Instead your goal is to make enough to drizzle it onto the treats or like in my case, speckle it on. Divide the grain free icing and carob icing among 4 small bowls or cups. Add the red food coloring into one bowl, the green into another, the orange into the third and the brown coloring into the fourth. Stir well until bright in color. Add in the water or as much water as you wish to reach your desired consistency.
Now, this is the tricky part. As I have mentioned before, dog treat icing tends to act differently than traditional icings. Why? I am not sure. But during my time working at a Panera bread in my younger years, I learned to drizzle on icing to pastries using just my glove and shaking my hands gently over the treats with the icing dripping from my fingers. I tried the same tactic with these treats but of course, the icing didn’t react the same way. Instead it fell in droplets. If this happens to you, do as I did: flick your fingers towards the treats, creating the speckled effect you see in the images.
With the carob icing, I recommend transferring it into a pastry bag with a thin piping tip. Slowly drizzle the carob icing over the speckled dog treats. Don’t hesitate to get messy with these treats. That’s the fun part! Once the icing is applied, set the treats aside to rest for 1 hour or until the icing hardens.
Then you are ready to serve!
That’s it! Not only are the treats so much fun to make, but I guarantee every dog will gobble them up. If you try these treats for yourself, leave us a comment below and let us know what you did or if you added to the recipe. We would love to hear from you!
