Your fur baby is always there waiting for you and thus deserves the best: play time, daily walks, good nutrition, and healthy treats to keep them healthy.
Christmas Cranberry Dog Treats are the best way to show your pet that you love them like family! These Homemade treats are safe, nutritious, and perfect for gifting to other pet parents as a stocking stuffer.
When we all gather around the Christmas tree and I give the kids and guests the green light to grab gifts, Jolie makes it to the tree before them. She looks as excited as the kids, sticks her nose in random gift bags and whacks a few bags on her way with her tail. Why is it so? could it be memory from past Christmas (I may be pushing it here!), the rustling of wrapping paper, or her sensing the excitement of us all? Whatever it is, our pet friends also get Christmas gifts! Our cat Calin get her catnips toys and squeezable pumpkin puree and our dog Jolie who never gets tired of squeaky toys would add a couple to her collection and gets fresh baked cookies
There is a lot that falls on us moms to get everything perfect for Christmas, so years when I would not manage to bake specifically Christmas cookies for Jolie, I would bake her simple peanut butter treats. This year was different as I was about to store away my big box containing some random Christmas decorations and supplies for Christmas cookies, I had a moment and paused. It just occurred to me that we adopted Jolie 11 years ago from a rescue shelter and I felt overwhelmed with emotions. She came to us with a scar above her eye, everything would startle her, and she would vacuum her food down, then vomit it all. She was definitely love deprived and yet had so much to give. It took her years to look at me in the eyes but all of us family members were patient and eventually gained her thrust: it was so worthwhile! Jolie is so loyal, loving, genuine, and keeps up with my crazy kids who can never get enough of messing around with her. She is also a picky eater with refined tastes and takes advantage that her human mama is a food coach. Well, healthy living plays an essential role in our family and our cats and dogs are family too!
Coming back to that box I was about to put away… I opened it and pulled out a few cookie cutter shapes, a natural red food dye with beet root powder, cellophane bags, and a few ribbons and Christmas ornaments that would be perfect to put together stocking stuffers to gift to friends and neighbors that cherish their dogs. In the fridge, I still had 1 bag of fresh cranberries, so I started my recipe from the berries and added a few basic ingredients to make the dough. Dogs will happily eat our human Christmas cookies, but they may be harmful to their health and even dangerous. You may consult your veterinary to make sure your dog does not have a food allergy such as wheat. In recipe provided, I omitted all known to me and obviously dangerous ingredients such as chocolate, baking soda, sugar, etc and opted for nutrient dense little treats. For those Christmas Cranberries Dog Treats, your pet friend will benefit from antioxidant from cranberries, omega 3 from flax seeds, probiotics from yogurt, and soluble fibers from oats.
The beet root powder is completely optional as the cookies will already look red because of the cranberries. I just wanted to make the red more vibrant so I added 1 and ½ teaspoon of that powder. Beetroot powder is actually good for your dog’s digestion and immune system as well as a healthy skin and coat.
Shape dough in a ball.
Roll the dough on a floured, nonstick surface.
Place cookie cutters on dough, cut your shapes, and place each treat on a greased baking sheet.
With our dog Jolie, it’s a process to introduce her to a new food, even more so with cranberries that are so tart so I had reservations my dog would actually like those treats. Once cookies cooled off, I offered her a bite: she would lick a bit of frosting, take a tiny bite of the cookie, spit, pick it up from the floor, swallow, and very slowly take a bigger bite when she reached thrust and acceptance cookie taste good enough for her. When that stage is reached, she gladly gobbles up the entire cookie in one go. After letting Jolie taste-test a cookie from the first batch to make sure she approved, she would not leave me alone, trotting behind me and managed to steal a few star shaped cookies as I snapped pictures for the post. Well… I take it as a stamp for approval.
CHRISTMAS CRANBERRIES DOG TREATS
Course: All Articles, Recipes15
servings10
minutes13
minutes23
minutesIngredients
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup of old-fashioned rolled oats
½ cup or ground flax seeds (or flax meal)
1 cup fresh cranberries
½ cup of whole milk yogurt
1 tbsp raw honey
3 tbsp olive oil
Optional: add 1 and ½ tsp of beetroot powder as a natural RED food colorant
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking sheet
- Take cream cheese out of fridge and keep room temperature
- Wash fresh cranberries and pulse them in a food processor. Add rolled oats and pulse them as well.
- In a large bowl, add pulsed cranberries and oats and add all other ingredients
- Mix well until you can form a ball. Dough should not crumble nor be too moist
- Place the dough on a floured and non-porous surface. Roll out the dough and if sticky, sprinkle a bit of flour at a time as more flour will mean harder cookies.
- Place your cookie shape over dough , and dispose all cookies onto baking sheet
- Bake for 13 minutes and let cool completely before offering to your furry friend
Notes
- Cream Cheese Frosting
- In a bowl, combine 2 oz. of cream cheese and 1 and ½ teaspoon raw honey with a spoon
- You can use a silicon brush and lightly brush mixture over the cookies or if you wish to gift them and make them pretty, place filling in a pipping bag and use that to decorate your treats
