Pineapple Upside Down Pupcakes

Preheat oven to 350

3 whole cherries, pitted, cut in half
1 8 oz can pineapple tidbits (drained with the juice reserved)
Coconut oil for brushing pan
Dollop of honey in each of 6 cupcake/muffin tins

Prepare cupcake/muffin pan by brushing about 1tsp coconut oil into each of 6 cups-be sure to brush the sides, but most of it will drip down into the cup. Put small squeeze of honey in the bottom of each cup... just like a nickel size and place the cherry cut side up on the honey drizzle. Sprinkle the pineapple around the cherry and set the pan aside while you prepare the batter.

1 tbs ground flax seeds
3 tbs reserved pineapple juice, water or low sodium chicken stock

Mix together and set aside for about 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so

1 medium ripe banana mashed
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 can salmon in water drained and rinsed
1/2 cup low sodium chicken stock or water
1 tbs ground flax seeds
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup white flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

Mash banana well and mix with coconut oil and remaining dry flax seed. The mix in flax seed pineapple juice mixture until well combined. Add in salmon and chicken stock and mix well. Add in flours and baking powder and soda and mix until just incorporated.

Drop by spoonfuls into prepared baking cups until just to top of cups. I had some extra which I made into mini muffins without the pineapple.

Put in the pre-heated oven and bake until a toothpick comes out clean about 17-18 minutes for the full sized cupcakes. About 12 minutes for the mini cupcakes.

Most of the ingredients in these pupcakes should be familiar to you if you’ve read my other posts. In moderation, pineapple is a wonderful fruit for your four-legged friend to enjoy; and while fresh is always best (FYI; the fibrous core makes a fairly healthy chew “bone” that your dog will probably love), we can be real for a moment and acknowledge how much of a pain it can be to chop up a pineapple—just buy a can of pineapple packed in water or 100% juice and drain it, I can’t judge you since that’s what I did. Also, you’ll want to remember how sweet pineapple is and that your dogs will think it’s at least 100% sweeter than you; so use it sparingly when decorating the tops of your pupcakes.

When giving cherries or any other stone fruit to your pets, it’s important to acknowledge that the reason they’re generally not recommended for dogs is that the pits are the problem. Be sure to pit your cherries prior to feeding them to your pets and before using them in this recipe; and while I was “lenient” on the pineapple front, you should use fresh or frozen cherries in this recipe not the red-dye soaked ones you find packed in syrup and use on your banana splits.

Cherries are good for you, and there’s something somewhat satisfying about spitting the pits if you eat them yourself. FYI: if you don’t own a cherry pitter, you’ll want to visit your local Chinese-food restaurant and pick up a pair of chopsticks—you can poke the cherry with it (yes, I’m guessing that will be a mess), but I’ve read it will extract the pit (yes, I own a cherry pitter that I purchased from Bed, Bath, and Beyond in my early days of dating Rob in an attempt to wow him with a homemade cherry pie—and ummm…it is kind of impressive just to say).

As with all of my recipes, this one is somewhat flexible. If you don’t have or want to get ground flaxseeds, just an egg or add another banana or substitute applesauce. If you don’t have a banana, use an egg or applesauce. If you have no eggs, bananas, applesauce, or flaxseeds, don’t make this recipe—I’m only half serious…umm…let me think…mayonnaise can be used in place of eggs—but I used the flax seeds instead of the eggs to lower the cholesterol and fat content which mayo doesn’t do…buy a couple bananas—they’re good for a lot of dog treats.

If you don’t have stock, you can use the drained pineapple juice or water—I’d lean toward the water as the pineapple juice will add a lot of sugar; but they’re your dogs, make them hyper if you want. In the case of flours, all whole wheat or all white flour can be used—if you go the all whole wheat route, you’ll want to increase the leavening and maybe add a few tablespoons more water—whole wheat flour tends to suck up moisture. And if you’re trying to be gluten free, you can sub your gf all purpose flour blend; but remember, xantham gum, a common ingredient in most off the shelf gluten free flour blends, is probably worse for your dog than the gluten.

 

Christmas “Cookie” Dog Treats

Okay, I know this is late…and just so you know, I’m not a bad doggy dad—I’m just a bad blogger. I made these the week before Christmas; but with the holidays I couldn’t get them posted. Then after Christmas, I had to get prepped for New Year’s which we spent with Rob’s family in Bonne Terre—like last year…and then I had to take the Christmas decorations down, etc…again, I’m a bad blogger.

These three treat recipes were all fun to make, and there’s enough to share/exchange with your fellow doggy parents. The Red-quinoa and green pepitas muffins were meant to imitate the colors of Christmas; however, the turmeric turned these gluten-free treats orange. Then we have the traditional gingerbread cutout cookies which will let you get as fun and festive as you want when you chose your cookie cutters. Lastly, we have red and green Carob-chip treats which get into the Christmas spirit as you divide the dough to color red and green with beet root and spirulina powders.

FYI: spirulina powder makes me sneeze. Like after I added it to the half I was turning green, I went on a 15 minute sneezing fit which included going outside and blowing my nose. It was a fun part of the baking experience. And the powders are optional—omit them if you don’t want a festive treat.

Caution: Turmeric can stain white dishes, sinks, or cookware. Use caution unless you want everything you own to gain an orangeish tinge.

Also, I’ve called for a new ingredient (or at least one I’ve never used before) in the muffin recipe below—Brewer’s Yeast. Brewer’s Yeast is a byproduct of beer making and smells faintly of beer but not the same as
Nutritional Yeast which is generally used by vegans to add a cheese flavor to different dishes. From what I’ve read, Brewer’s Yeast has several health benefits and my dogs were greatly intrigued by the smell (I opened the jar and let them sniff).

Overall, all of these treats were well received by my boys; but the gingerbread was the clear favorite amongst those treats we shared with the Red & Green Quinoa Muffins being favored by the boys at home and amongst a few of our other dog friends. All of these treats freeze wonderfully but will definitely yield enough of each to share.

2016 Christmas Picture

Red & Green (but really orange) Muffins

½ cup raw red quinoa (prepared according to package directions)

240 grams gluten-free baking mix

1 tsp baking soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

¼ cup brewer’s yeast

1 tablespoon turmeric

1 tsp agar agar

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup water

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare mini-muffin pan by spraying with non-stick spray (I recommend coconut oil spray).

Prepare and cool your red quinoa according to the package directions.

Combine the dry ingredients and whisk together in a separate small bowl.

Beat the eggs and applesauce before adding rest of the ingredients and mixing until well combined. Add cooled quinoa and fold into other ingredients. Once quinoa is incorporated, add dry ingredients and mix until well combined.

Dish into prepared mini-muffin pan until cups are ¾ full and bake for 15-20 minutes (a tooth pick inserted should come out clean). Yields 43 mini-muffin treats.

Gingerbread Dog Treats

1 egg

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup molasses (black strap preferred)

½ cup coconut oil, melted and slightly cooled

2 ½ tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon

1/3 cup ground flaxseeds

1 ½ cup whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare cookie sheet by spraying lightly with cooking spray or by covering with parchment or silpat.

Beat egg, applesauce, and molasses. Add melted coconut oil, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon and mix until well combined. Add flaxseeds, whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and baking powder and mix until a still dough forms and you can no longer see any dry flour.

Chill dough for 10 to 30 minutes before flouring rolling surface and rolling out to ¼ to ½ inch thickness. Flour cookie cutters and cut shapes rerolling as needed. Place on cookie sheet leaving only a nominal amount of space between treats and bake for 10-15 minutes depending on how firm you’d like your treats.

Yield depends on size and shape of treat you choose to make.

Red & Green Carob-Chip Cookies

2 ripe, medium-sized bananas

1 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 ½ tsp vanilla

¾ cup quick-cooking rolled oats

1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour

½ cup carob chips

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

To color;

2 tsp spirulina powder

2 tsp Beet Root powder

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit, prepare baking sheets by spraying with cooking spray or by covering in parchment or silpats.

Mash bananas until barely any lumps remain. Continue to mash lumps with the back of a spoon or spatula as you add the remaining ingredients (except coloring powders) one at a time until everything is mixed.

Once dough is formed, divide between two bowls. In one bowl, add spirulina and mix until the green powder colors the mixture. In the other bowl, repeat process using the beat root powder.

Drop colored dough using a teaspoon or small cookie scoop onto baking sheets leaving approximately two fingers width between to prevent spreading. Then bake for approximately 10 minutes. Treat will be lightly golden around the edges and feel somewhat set. 

Pup-kin Oatmeal Muffin Treats

Yields 40 mini-muffin treats

Ingredients:

1 scant cup canned pumpkin

1 whole large egg

¾ cup unsweetened applesauce

¼ cup olive oil

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

¾ cup quick cooking rolled oats

½ cup whole wheat flour

¼ cup all purpose flour

1 tsp aluminum-free baking powder

½ tsp baking soda (most likely will be aluminum-free already)

Topping ingredients:

½ cup quick cooking rolled oats

2 tbs molasses

½ tsp cinnamon

Dash of ginger

Dash of cloves

Pepitas for sprinkling

Instructions:

Spray a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray (coconut oil spray recommend). Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk oats, flours, baking powder and soda and set aside. Then in a separate bowl, thoroughly mix pumpkin, egg, applesauce, oil, vanilla and other spices. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and fold until combined and nothing is dry. Set mixture aside.

If using toping, mix oats with spices then add molasses until oats are covered.

Scoop the pumpkin mixture into the prepared mini-muffin cups until approximately ¾ full. Then sprinkle with a few pepitas and crumble the oat/molasses topping. Bake in the 350 oven for approximately 12 minutes. Muffins should be springy and a tooth pick inserted should come out clean. Let treats cool slightly before using an offset spatula to remove from the pan.

Cool treats completely and give them to your dogs or place in an air-tight container or zip-top storage bag and freeze until ready to use.

For more tips/substitutions/instructions please see theAbout the Recipe section.

Sweet Potato Pie Dog Treats

 

Yields: 36 Mini-Pies

Ingredients:

Pie Crust:

¼ cup peanut butter

2 Tbs coconut oil

1 large whole egg + 1 egg yolk

½ tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

¾ cup all-purpose white flour

¾ cup whole-wheat flour

3-5 tbs cold water

Sweet Potato Filling:

1 lb sweet potato (cooked and cooled)

2 ripe medium-sized bananas

1 Tbs honey

1 egg white

1 tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

¼ tsp ground allspice

¾ cup coconut milk

3 Tbs tapioca starch

Cream topping:

4 oz fat free cream cheese

1/3 cup tapioca starch

2 Tbs coconut milk

Instructions:

Pie crust:

In a small mixing bowl, lightly whisk flours and spices. Mix in egg & yolk. Then add peanut butter and coconut oil and cut in using a fork or pastry cutter until mixture resembles a course meal—the flour should have pea-sized lumps of peanut butter and coconut oil in it. Then add cold water by the tablespoon until the mixture starts to come together as a dough when pressed (when you squeeze it with your hands, it should stick together and no longer be crumbly).

Place approximately 3 tsp of the crumbly dough into a non-stick mini-muffin and press down along the bottom and sides of the cups. There should be enough dough for 36 mini-muffin cups. Once your dough is into the pan, place the pan in the refrigerator while you mix your filling.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Filling:

Wash and dry your sweet potato, then prick with a fork all over and place in a microwave and cook in 2 minute intervals until fork tender (a fork will poke through easily once cooked). You can also cube and boil or roast in the oven. Set aside until cool enough to handle easily.

Mash 2 bananas until slimy (or no big lumps of banana can be seen). Add cooled sweet potato and honey and continue mashing until the mixture looks fairly uniform. Add egg white and spices and coconut mix and continue to mix until well combined. Then add tapioca starch and mix until no more white can be seen.

Remove chilled mini-muffin with crust pressed into cups and add filling by the tablespoon to fill each cavity completely. And bake for 10 minutes until the filling is completely set.

Allow to cool in pan for at least 10 minutes or completely. Then remove and allow to cool further on a wire rack.

Cream topping:

Using room temperature cream cheese, mix in tapioca starch until uniform. Then add coconut milk and mix until incorporated and very spreadable.

Once treats are cool, top with cream topping.

For further instructions, tips, and tricks, please read the About the Recipe section!