Treat your dog to homemade biscuits

The day before Los Angeles was ordered to stay home in 2020, I drove downtown and adopted a dog. If I was going to be sheltering in place alone for the foreseeable future — my kids, sent home from their colleges, were quarantined at their dad’s house — I wanted a therapy dog.

I wasn’t the only one. Last year, people were adopting and fostering pets in record numbers. If you’re looking for a reason to bake or a way to use ingredients from your stocked-up pantry, it’s time to bake something for your dog.

My new roommate, a longhaired German shepherd who looks like my previous dog

dressed up in a bear suit, came to me lonely, exhausted and underweight. To bulk her up, I polled a few local pastry chefs for recipes.

Sherry Yard, Spago’s longtime pastry chef, provided her terrific dog biscuit recipe a few years ago. Lincoln Carson, whose downtown LA restaurant Bon Temps was one of the highlights of last year, sent me the recipe for the dog biscuits he once sold at the same counter as his stunning French pastries. Cecilia Leung, former chef at Lincoln and Little Flower in Pasadena, California, riffed on Yard’s classic recipe for a recipe she tailored for her own dog.

All three recipes have peanut butter as a primary ingredient, which should surprise no one with a dog. This is also useful for those of us doing deep dives into our pantries to use up jars of peanut butter, oatmeal, powdered milk, odd bits of flours and grains and more.

Once the batter is made, roll out the dough as you would a batch of Christmas cookies and cut them out with cutters. I used a dog bone shape for one recipe, which is easy to do with a knife if you don’t have a cutter. Leung cut hers — which, she points out, are gluten-free — in the shape of rabbits; I cut some in the shape of cats. Because I have an entire box filled with cookie cutters from when the kids were little, and, well, I don’t like cats either.

My kitchen soon filled with the aroma of peanut butter cookies and my dog sat on the kitchen floor and stared eagerly at the oven. Baking for your dog is a great way to destress as well as to reward your loyal four-legged friend for their companionship during the pandemic.

‘‘ All three recipes have peanut butter as a primary ingredient, which should surprise no one with a dog.

Bon Temps Dog Biscuits

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

¾ cup old-fashioned rolled oats

31⁄3 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup powdered milk 1 teaspoon kosher salt

5-6 tablespoons roughly chopped flat-leaf parsley 2¼ cups creamy peanut butter

4 large eggs

1. Heat the oven to 250 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, then add the parsley, egg and peanut butter and mix until blended.

3. With the mixer on low speed, pour in 240 grams room temperature water in a steady stream and mix until well-combined.

4. Transfer the dough to a work surface, shape into a ball, then wrap the dough in plastic. Chill until firm, about 1 hour.

5. On a floured work surface, roll out the chilled dough until -inch thick. Using 4-inch cutters, cut out the dough into desired shapes and arrange 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.

6. Bake for 1 hour, then flip the biscuits over and bake until hard and golden brown, about 30 minutes more. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let cool completely.

Sherry Yard’s Dog Biscuits

Makes about 3 dozen 3-inch cookies

4 eggs, divided

2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1 tablespoon honey

1 cup chicken broth

2 cups (10 ounces) whole wheat flour

1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (5 ounces) all-purpose flour

About cup plus 2 tablespoons (3 ounces) cornmeal

1 cup peanut butter 1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together two eggs, the oil and honey. Whisk in the chicken broth.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour and cornmeal. With the mixer on medium speed, slowly pour in the chicken broth mixture, then add the peanut butter. Mix until the dough comes together, about 1 minute.

3. Divide the dough in half. Roll out each ball of dough approximately -inch thick. Cut into desired shapes using small (3- to 4-inch) cookie cutters. Place on baking sheets sprayed with cooking oil.

4. Whisk the remaining two eggs and brush the egg wash lightly over the cookies. Allow to dry for 10 minutes and brush with the egg wash a second time (the second wash is optional but gives the cookies a darker brown color). Bake until firm and a rich golden brown, about 30 minutes, rotating halfway for even baking.

Adapted from a recipe by Sherry Yard.

Cecilia Leung’s Gluten-Free Dog Biscuits

Makes about 3 dozen biscuits

1 cup chicken stock 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon honey

2 large eggs

2 cups oat flour cup brown rice flour cup buckwheat flour cup ground flaxseed cup finely chopped spinach cup thinly sliced nori 1 tablespoon chia seeds bunch flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped cup creamy peanut butter

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the chicken stock, olive oil, honey and eggs until smooth.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, combine the oat flour, brown rice flour, buckwheat flour, ground flaxseed, spinach, nori, chia seeds and parsley. Add the chicken stock mixture and beat on low speed to combine, scraping the bowl well afterward to make sure everything is evenly mixed.

4. Add the peanut butter and mix to combine, again stirring down the sides of the bowl.

5. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of parchment paper, then cover with a second sheet. Roll out the dough to a 1/2-inch thickness. Remove the top sheet of parchment and cut out the dough using 3-inch cutters and arrange them on the prepared baking sheet.

6. Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate the pan and continue baking until the biscuits are brown around the edges, about 10 minutes more. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let cool completely.