What a treat!

Letitia Mason of Johannesburg writes I love spoiling my dogs with biscuits, but I prefer homemade cookies to store-bought ones. Do you have a simple recipe that doesn’t contain any preservatives?

Ilze Fourie of Rogue’s Pawsome Bakery

replies I often spoil my Staffordshire Bull Terriers Rogue and Drago with dog biscuits and treats. However, Drago recently developed an allergic reaction to certain foods – he started itching and wasn’t a happy dog anymore.

At dog training, Drago is rewarded with treats as part of the positive reinforcement process and when his allergies began to impact his training, I decided to start testing out recipes.

Finding a combination that’s delicious and safe to eat was a bit of a challenge. After a number of attempts, a combination of peanut butter and coconut oil came out tops. Coconut oil is good for your pets’ fur and skin, so adding a bit extra really helps to prevent Drago from itching.

This is Drago and Rogue’s favourite combination – the biscuits can be kept in the fridge or the freezer.

Ingredients

• 500g wholewheat flour • 100g oats • 2 eggs • ½ cup crunchy peanut butter (make sure it doesn’t contain Xylitol which is toxic for pets) • 2 tablespoons coconut oil (unflavoured)

Method

1 Mix the flour, oats, egg and peanut butter. 2 Dissolve the coconut oil in hot water. 3 Stir into the flour and peanut butter mix. 4 Add cold water to the mix until it forms a firm dough. 5 Roll out the dough and cut into shapes. 6 Bake in a preheated oven at 180˚C for ± 25 minutes or until crunchy.

CONTACT roguespawsomebakery.co.za