AN EASY AND HEALTHY DROOLING HALLOWEEN DOG TREAT

Trick or treat, smell my feet, give the dog something to eat.

October ends with Halloween. It’s also the month to stock up on some pumpkins and apples.

One way to make sure your dog enjoys Halloween and Fall season just as much as you and the kids is to include them in the activities.

If you live in Montreal, you can go pumpkin picking with your dog at Centre d’Interpretation de la Courge in Saint-Joseph-du Lac.

If you’re looking for a nutritious and fun way to celebrate Halloween, consider preparing some homemade dog treats. This can be a fun activity for the whole family to get involved in.

Some of the best halloween dog treats include things like pumpkin or apple sauce. They are both healthy and full of flavour for your pet. Not only will your pet love them, but you’ll be helping to ensure that they get the nutrients they need to have a happy and healthy scare.

Many dog treats exist. To create a Halloween dog-friendly one, you’ll have to put a few together to get the full effect.

Here are recipes to create an easy and healthy Halloween dog treat that your pet is sure to love.

Appropriate food for a dog treat

There are many foods that are safe and healthy for your dog to eat, such as:

• Pumpkin
• Apples
• Bananas
• Peanut butter (free of artificial sweeteners like xylitol)
• Non fat Greek yogurt
• Blueberries
• Carrots
• Sweet potatoes
• Strawberries
• Cheese
• Eggs

Many dog treat recipes include flour. It can be an allergen for dogs. Stick to whole-grain flours to prevent reactions.

Moreover, popcorn can also be used as a dog treat. It can’t be just any popcorn. Interested in the recipe? Read our History of Popcorn and snacks.

Before trying anything new, especially if your dog has a sensitive stomach, talk to your veterinarian. Dog treats are not meant to replace your dog’s regular meal.

Halloween muffin dog treat

To start off your Halloween dog treat, you’ll need to start with a base. In this case, it will be a muffin.

Ingredients needed:

• 1 2/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 1 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 cup water

Fresh and canned pumpkin are good sources of nutrients and fiber.

Canned pumpkin has a higher concentration of fiber but sometimes can contain added salt, spices or other additives. This sometimes can irritate a dog’s stomach.

On the other hand, fresh pumpkin has higher water content than canned pumpkin.

Canned pumpkin pie should never be used in a recipe for dogs as it contains xylitol, which is toxic.

How to prepare fresh pumpkin

If you want to use fresh pumpkin, you are going to need to give yourself some extra time.

My husband brought home a super sized pumpkin, I could have a done with one a whole lot smaller.

To cut it, I had to google it. I found a precise video by Green Healthy Cooking that shows you just how, along with some recipe ideas.

Once you have cut your pumpkin into quarters, place them on a baking sheet for 45 minutes into the oven at 350 degrees F.

Then, remove the skin. It’s easier to remove it when it is still warm than cold.

Once it’s done, cut the pumpkin quarters into small pieces. Place in blender and puree them. The smaller the pieces the easiest and fastest it will be to mash.

Freeze whatever you don’t need.

Muffin Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray three mini-muffin tins or line with parchment papers.
• In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and molasses.
• Add pumpkin puree, oil, and lightly beaten eggs. Finish by adding the water so that it looks like a puree.
• Fill muffin cups with the mixture.
• Bake for 20 minutes.
• Let it cool off.

Sweet potato bat wings

Take 1 sweet potatoe. You can use more if you want to make extra treats.

Cut it in reasonably thick slices. If they are too thin, they will curl up in the oven.

Dry them out before placing them on a baking sheet.

Sweet potatoes are low in fat and rich in vitamins A, B6, C, calcium, potassium, and iron. Sweet potatoes provide an excellent source of dietary fiber, which helps the digestive system function more effectively. Eating fiber on a regular basis lowers the risk of heart disease and certain types of cancers.

AMERICAN KENNEL CLUB

• Preheat your oven to 250F (130C).
• Lay your sweet potatoe slices on parchment paper lined baking sheet or on a silicon mat (for the oven ) in a single layer.
• Cook for about 2 ½ to 3 hours. Half way through, flip them.
• Let it cool.

They can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Once they are cooled off, you can cut them to make them look like bat wings or which ever creative idea you had in mind.

Dog-friendly homemade icing

Now is time for the icing on the cake or in our case, a muffin.

Dog-friendly ingredients:

• ¼ cup cornstarch
• ¼ cup water
• 2 tsp honey
• Natural Food colouring

Cornstarch is a thickener that helps things harden.

• Place the cornstarch in a small bowl.
• Slowly add half of the water.
• Stir in the honey.
• Add the rest of the water.

The mixture will look thin but it is supposed to harden. It didn’t work too well in my case, but I probably used too much water. If you want to use different colours, divide your mixture into different bowls.

Apply to your muffin or cookie or bat wings. Refrigerate for best results.

For our “colours”, we used strawberries and blueberries. Read Natural Food Coloring Ingredients by Food52 for more ideas.

Leftover strawberries and Blueberries frozen treat

You can use strawberries and blueberries for decoration. If you have some leftover from using for the food colouring, you can make a frozen treat out of it.

• 1 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 third cup plain greek nonfat yogurt
• 2 pints strawberries or blueberries.

Mix all the ingredients together and place in an ice cube tray into the freezer.

We used some of that mixture on top of our muffins.

Peanut Butter and Pumpkin Dog Treat

Recipe from dogtipper.com

What to do with all that extra pumpkin puree? How about some dog cookies?

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups of whole wheat flour
• ½ cup pumpkin purée
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ cup water

The steps

• Mix all your ingredients except the water. If your peanut butter is oily you might need to use the entire 1/2 cup of water or not. That’s why you add the water last.

The dough should be sticky but not stick to your fingers. If it feels dry, add a little more water. If it’s too sticky, add a little more flour.

• Preheat oven at 350 degree F.

• Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface.

• Use cookie cutters to create the desired shape.

• Place on a silicon mat for the oven or cookie sheet and bake for 20 minutes.

Let it cool off completely before treating your dog or placing in fridge.

They can be stored 1 week in fridge or freeze them.

Frozen Apple Dog Treat

While we didn’t use any apple in this Halloween themed muffin dog treat, we did find this simple recipe by Pop Sugar:

Ingredients:

2 Apples

1 Cup Greek Nonfat Plain Yogurt

Water

Steps

• Remove the seeds and the core of the apples.
• Slice them in to small pieces.
• Mix the apple slices, yogurt, and a splash of water in your blender. Blend until you get a liquid consistency.
• Pour the mixture into an ice cube tray and freeze.

Only feed your dog one cube a day.

Try these recipes and let me know if your dog liked his treat. Share your pictures and tag us @carlotasweb so that we can share your creations as well.