Homemade Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits
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I am a huge lover of dogs and a lover of huge dogs (just ask my 120-lb German Shepherd, Jack). When Jack is being extra good, I like to reward him with treats, and my favorite way to do that is with all-natural, homemade dog biscuits. Peanut butter is definitely his favorite flavor, so I started there with my recipe. Besides being good for him, these dog biscuits are so easy and fun to make that you may never be without them again!
Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits Recipe
- 2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 cup natural peanut butter *
- 1 cup skim milk
- 1 tbsp baking powder
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the flour and baking powder in a bowl. Mix the peanut butter and milk in another bowl until smooth, then add to the dry ingredients. Mix well, then knead into a firm dough with your hands. Roll out to 1/4" thick and cut into cookie shapes. Place 1/2" apart on cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until thoroughly dried. Makes about 7 dozen 2" biscuits.
* The use of natural peanut butter here is important. There are lots of varieties out there, so read the label carefully and be sure that you choose one that’s made from nothing but peanuts and salt. This will be better for your dog than the regular stuff, which is loaded with added sugar.
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Combine the flour and baking powder in one bowl, and the peanut butter and milk in another. Then add the wet mixture to the dry and mix well.
Use your hands to knead into a firm dough.
Roll out to 1/4" thick and use a dog bone shaped cookie cutter to cut into cute shapes (or just use a knife to cut into small squares).
Place cut shapes onto a cookie sheet, about 1/2" apart. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, or until thoroughly dried.
Then they are ready to share with your dog!
These biscuits also make thoughtful gifts for dog lovers, especially when decorated with a cute tag. You can download our free "Bone Appetit" dog biscuit printable to cut out and add to your treats, too!
I like to make these biscuits at Christmas time for all the canine members of my family. I package them in plastic bags and tie on the tag. So cute!
One final note about storage... The biscuits should dry out properly and be safe stored at room temperature for a week or two, but if you are planning to store them longer than that, you might want to put them in the fridge, to be safe.
47 comments so far:
This recipe rocks! i made them to raise money for my local animal shelter, and my official taste tester puppy Nala just loved them! I let her lick the spoon too and she stayed with me in the kitchen while they baked. thanks! :-)
I'm glad you and Nala liked the recipe and so happy that you were able to use the treats to raise money for the shelter!
My son is learning to cook and loves his dog and this will be perfect for him to try.
Thanks for sharing this with us!
Kathryn, what a great idea for the budding cook! This is definitely an easy recipe, and dogs are much more willing to eat foods that might not come out exactly right :)
I wonder if I can halve or third the recipe? I have two toy poodles. the recipe looks so good!
Penny, I've doubled and quadrupled the recipe before, and I'm sure it can be reduced easily as well. A third sounds good for two tiny dogs, and you would use 2/3 cup whole wheat flour, 1/3 cup natural peanut butter, 1/3 cup skim milk, and 1 tsp baking powder. Let us know how they like it!
I make dog treats every year at Christmas time every year for my friends who own dogs. If you know that the dog won't like peanut butter, you can always substitute beef or chicken bouillon paste. My dog is allergic to wheat so I make her special meatball treats or home-made jerky! She also loves dried yams so much! They are so easy to make. :)
Lauren, thanks for the great tips. Dried yams? That's a new one to me! How do you make them?
I usually just cut them thin and then bake them in an oven kinda like how you'd make "sun" dried tomatoes. I also know someone who has a dehydrator and I've used that a couple of times and works great.
Thanks for the easy recipe! I made these treats for a poodle & a pug as Chritmas gifts. I only made half of the recipe and I used a teeny circle cookie cutter. They only took 5 min. to bake. I did let them cool in the oven to dry them out.
this is a great recipe! my dog was asking me for a snack the other day and when i grabbed the box of store bought biscuits from the cupboard he turned away from me! i've never known jake to say no to any food, period. i guess he just knows what he wants. it was ridiculous!
new favourite!
Kristi, that's so funny! I'll be making a big batch of these biscuits soon. I'm sure my dog will be going crazy, too :)
I have five big dogs and I pray these spoiled pups will enjoy!!!I will let you know as i am trying on Sunday..
i was wondering if instead of skim milk, can you use other types of milk, like soy milk, or 1% milk?
Krista, I have not tried to cook with soy milk, so I'm not sure if it would work or not. I imagine 1% would be fine. The main goal is to avoid putting too much fat in the cookie, and also to keep the milk solids down so that the cookies last longer. If you try other milks, please let us know how it goes!
I am pretty sure it won't really matter because they will probably be eaten right away, but does anyone have an estimate shelf life for the treats? I just want to know how many days approx. until they go stale, etc. if I make a big batch. Thanks!
Amelia, because there are natural ingredients like milk in the biscuits, they will only stay fresh on the shelf for a week or two. You can double that time by storing them in the fridge.
I only used one cup of flour by mistake. They still came out really good. Do you think they will be ok for doggies to eat?
Michelle, I don't think that leaving out some flour won't make the biscuits unsafe for the dogs to eat. Give them one and see if they like it :)
Thanks so much for posting this recipe! I just made some with my 9 year old son for our dogs. It was simple & made the whole house smell delicious. Our dogs loved licking the batter/spoons, and really liked the baked treats, too. It was fun for all.
Heather, that's great to hear. I need to make a batch of these soon for my dog. Thanks for the reminder!
These are SO GOOD! That is, if my four dogs and my three friends' dogs opinions count. Thank you for putting this out there. It is simple and doesn't have any additional ingredients that would make them less healthy. I'm making them today for the third time in three weeks. Four pairs of eyes watching my every move...
Amanda, it sounds like you had quite the audience!
i was just wondering if anyone had a recipe for a topping to place on top, just to make them pretty, cause my dog loves them
Thanks for the recipe. Thought you might like to know that the peanut butter that you have a link to in the recipe has other ingredients (sugar, palm oil and salt). I just came from purchasing the things I needed to make these and checked out all the different brands. There is one, the brand is Teddi, that just has peanuts and salt.
Lilli, thanks for pointing that out. I didn't realize that some brands were being so tricky with the actual ingredients and labels. I've modified the link and added a note to encourage people to check labels.
Just finished making them and they look great! My dog loved them too. Thanks!
These are in my oven right now, as my taste tester patiently waits for a sample!! I am making a few batches as Christmas gifts for all our doggie friends near and far. First batch is being shipped from Connecticut to North Carolina tomorrow! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe! :)
What a great idea, Susan. I wonder if I have time to do that too? My doggie friends would love me forever!
it's official: this recipe is AWESOME!! My dog loved them, and the cat is jealous. Thank you again.
I'm trying to find recipes for my two dogs Sophie and Harley. I hope they like this! Merry Christmas!
I made these treats for a bake sale to benefit the animals at our local animal shelter today. My dogs had to sample them first, of course, since they watched me make them. They loved them and were very unhappy when the treats disappeared out the door. They (the treats) sold quickly at the sale and I would love to make them again if only it would not take me so long to roll them out. - Whenever I started to roll, the dough would just separate and I would have to add flour to the top and re-knead. - Where did I go wrong? - I used natural peanut butter that had quite a bit of oil on top before I mixed it.
Astrid, I'm delighted to hear that you had so much luck with these biscuits at the bake sale! I'm not sure what happened to cause your dough to fall apart, though. Since more flour fixed the issue, I suspect the dough was just too wet. Perhaps next time you should pour off the oil in the peanut butter and not mix it in before measuring?
Thanks, Chica. My dogs really do LOVE these treats. I will try pouring off the oil next time. I was wondering if anyone else has run into a similar problem.
I happened to be looking for something tasty for my dog, and she LOVES peanut butter.She'll love these!
There is a store near me in Powell Tx that cracks and sell pecans and other nuts! I went one day and saw where they were making homemade peanut butter and they took a bag of peanuts without the shell, of course, and put it through a machine and put a jar under it and pulled the handle and out came the peanut butter! All ready and in the jar! Nothing else was added to it! Cost me around $ 3.00 more or less a jar and they used their own bag of peanuts! It was so fresh and I buy them often! I also like to buy them for my grandkids as extra little gifts for Christmas or whenever! I just wanted to share this! Thanks.
Juanita, freshly made peanut butter sounds wonderful. Now we're all jealous of you :)
my dog and I loved them! Great in sandwiches for both canine and human! Don't tell the wife though, supposed to be on a diet. Dog biscuits don't count right?! hahaha off to eat some more.
Hi there ty for sharing the recipe I have a pug which is very in love with peanut butter and I made those bones she was just in heaven less mess she makes with then then the peanut butter in the kong!:)
I made these for my oh-so spoiled Lab mix. She stayed by my side the whole time mixing, rolling, baking.... I didn't have a cookie cutter (at all). So I used a shot glass to cut out small circles. They looked like miniature peanut butter cookies, so I had to do a criss-cross pattern on them with a fork. :) Anyway, she loves them! I have to admit though that I did try them myself. They taste like lightly flavored peanut butter crackers. I froze half though since we only have one dog. Will make again!
Brittni, you're so resourceful with the shot glass! I also like the idea of freezing half of the dough. When you bake the frozen batch down the road, please let us know how they come out. You might have to taste one again to see if the quality is as good, because I don't think your Lab will care one way or the other :)
I was very surprised how easy this rolled out and looked great. Recipe is definitely a keeper. My dog loved them.
My dog loves these cookies! She was jumping around the treat like a maniac. I have made the recipe a few times and I used 2% milk and they turned out fine. I also have frozen some of the dough and it worked out ok too. The dough seemed a little elasticky which I think was from the freeze and thaw of the milk. But the dogs did not seem to mind.
Astrid, I have found that sometimes if my dough is not formed into a perfect circle/ball before I start rolling, then it will start cracking and wont stay together.
Has anyone tried making this with coconut flour? I feed grain free, and would like to make grain free treats as well.
I'm trying to make some money and these work great! My mom is a vet so she buys them from me. Some advice is that if you are making frosted ones, DON'T use the ones with cornstarch and water!!! It's SUPER bad! I'm going to try making them with sunflower butter because of allergies. Has anyone done that?
Pom Lover, we haven't tried adding frosting, but it's good to know that the cornstarch approach is bad. Thanks for sharing!
I finally found a frosting that works!!! I just use a pupcake frosting recipe. Greek yogurt and sunbutter is perfect! I added some pink food coloring and it looks great