We love making these easy treats for our four-legged baby, Maggie. The best thing about this recipe is that it is so forgiving. You can mess it up in every way and it will still work out, making it perfect for young kids to help with. Also, my children love how excited our pooch gets from the yummy smells in the kitchen and the final payoff of showering her with edible love.   

Here is the “recipe” we use, substitutions or eliminations welcome!

4-5 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cup of powdered milk

1/4 cup wheat germ

1 T garlic powder

1 egg

1t beef base

1 cup cold water

6-8 T bacon drippings

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment. In a mixer, combine all dry ingredients. Add the egg and the bacon drippings and mix on low. Dissolve the beef base in the cold water as best you can and add. Mix it all until it forms a thick, not crumbly dough. Add more flour or water if the mixture is too dry or wet.   

Divide the dough and press into a flat circle, .25-.5 inch thick. Use cookie cutters to cut out the dog treats and transfer to the baking sheet. Our dog is Medium sized and we like making her bigger treats but we’ve made hearts for smaller dogs and here we made some kibble-sized bites for our cousins’ new Yorkie puppy. You can put them right next to each other because the treats won’t spread out when baked.   

Bake for 25 minutes, turning halfway through. The kibble sized pieces I took out after 15 minutes.

Usually, Maggie gets to have a treat as soon as Mom deems them cooled and then we give most of them away to friends and neighbors. These treats should be consumed within four or five days, or freeze half for later.