Peanut Butter & Banana Pupcakes

 

A little remiss and overdue in sharing Finn's birthday treat this year, dang it!  This year I thought I'd try something a smidge bit different but not too far out of his comfort (and allergy) zone:  Peanut Butter & Banana Pupcakes.

Mostly because Mike had some bananas on the brink, so, gotta use 'em, right?!

Sure, it's a theme, I make pupcakes for him, heh.  Goes back to my feeling of a birthday isn't complete without cake, I suppose.  I will branch out and make something different, keep him on his paw toes, despite being a very "routine" oriented big boy.  And keep you interested too.

Gosh he's eight now.  How did that happen?  He just got here.  He was just a year and a half old, I swear.  Goodness, time, you are a bitch.

If you've followed along the Finn Saga, he's an issue-laden boy.  And it seemed his food-related issues were getting more complicated as time progressed.

Part of it was my fault, inadvertently and fully unintentional of course.  He had been ok with beef and rice, or so I thought, until I found out he wasn't and made his red tummy sores worse.

Boy did I feel terrible.  OOh my gosh, like Worst Mom Ever.  We had to take him to the vet which is all kinds of traumatic for a dog that hates people and all other animals. 

She didn't give us any answers but was instead irritated with us for not bringing him in more often. 

As he's drugged up on Rescue Remedy* and Trazodone, wrapped in a Thundershirt,* wearing a muzzle yet shivering on the floor, having an internal, near pass-out meltdown as none of the aforementioned calming devices work on him in such a scenario.  Yeah.  Good times.  Not.

So we left with no course of action. 

Don't get me wrong here but I looked into his issues online on my own.  I know.  It is not advisable.  I'm not a vet, I am not an anything-trained in the ways of dogs, I am not expert and I will never propound to state I know more by researching online.

There is helpful information available online from real, actual, professional, trusted sources.  It must be vetted (ahhh ha, vetted, close to vet, pun). 

So yeast.  I suspected it was a haywire yeast issue.   How did I fix it?  Raw food for a couple weeks. 

It was icky (IMO, don't @ me), expensive, and gross but it worked.  He is and has been completely sore-free for nearly a year now.  Knock on wood.

Though I did recently read that in Europe, every single raw dog food tested came back positive for antibiotic-resistant bacteria.  No more raw food for Finny, sorry big boy.

And now I'm seeing peas....Not that I wanted to feed him peas, I didn't; I just cannot win with food for Finn.  Ugh, sigh, collapse.

Key now though is making sure that the things that do go in his mouth are low carb, low sugar to prevent yeast from taking off so I need to be even more diligent about the foods and treats he eats.

So exhausting.  How many food and treat labels can one read, omg?!  All of them though.  All of them.

These Peanut Butter & Banana Pupcakes therefore are very much a small and brief treat for him.  I wasn't even sure he'd like banana as he refuses it when I slip him a straight up small nibble.  Walks right away, pffff Mommy, no, blehh.

An artsy fartsy shot for you.

He didn't seem to like the finished baked good either, heh ugh, but later after breaking the pupcakes into itty pieces, he gobbled them up and wanted more.  Whew.

This recipe makes a bunch so hopefully your pooch is friendly with other dogs and you can have a birthday party, say.  Or, toss them in the freezer as I did.

Real simple one bowl baking here, my friends.

In a large bowl, whisk up that lone egg then toss in the rest of the wet ingredients sans the banana.

Seriously loving my new eight cup measuring cup* bowl thing.

Once that's mixed up nicely, toss in those mushed bananas and whisk* around until you've pretty well eliminated the 'nana clumps.

Drop in those bananas.

Throw in the flour, throw in the baking soda, stir stir stir nicely and gently until just barely mixed and voila, Peanut Butter & Banana Pupcakes batter.

Lightly grease up either a mini muffin pan* or eight wells of a regular size muffin pan* (or toss in liners* but you'll have to peel for your pooch considering they're uh, sans thumbs).  Fill the minis about three quarters of the way full or the eight wells about two thirds.

Pop that pan in the oven, do a little happy birthday dance for your watchful furry friend and in about twenty, it is party time.

Tada!

You can frost these.  The original recipe from Southern Parm includes a recipe but I personally skip it.  Yeahhhh, 'hundred pound bulldozer around frosting?  Holy mess.  Yeahhhh, no thanks.

And there ya go, super nummy Peanut Butter & Banana Pupcakes! 

❮ ❯

These are moist suckers so you'll get a day or two lightly covered on the counter but after that, be sure to refrigerate or freeze.

hahaha, yeah, I went a little extra here on the candles.

Happy Dog days!

Peanut Butter & Banana Pupcakes

Yield

24 pupcakes

Prep time

25 Min

Cook time

20 Min

Total time

45 Min

These Peanut Butter and Banana Pupcakes are a simple, easy, healthy, and fun way to celebrate your favorite four-legged best friend!

Ingredients

Pupcakes

• 1 egg large
• 1/4 cup (68 g) peanut butter**
• 1/3 cup (79 ml) honey
• 1/4 cup (57 g) coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon (5 g) vanilla extract
• 1 cup (113 g) whole wheat flour
• 1 cup bananas, mashed (about 2 bananas)
• 1 teaspoon (6 g) baking soda

Frosting (optional)

• 1/2 cup (114 g) plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 cup (68 g) peanut butter**

Instructions

1. Begin preheating the oven to 350° F (176° C) and with cooking or baking spray, lightly spray a 24 well mini muffin tin or 8 out of 12 wells in a regular muffin tin.
2. Add the egg to a large mixing bowl and beat lightly with a whisk or fork.  To the egg, add the wet ingredients, the peanut butter, honey, coconut oil, and vanilla (except for the banana) and beat together until well combined.
3. Stir in the mashed bananas, trying to eliminate as many clumps as possible.
4. Add the flour and baking soda to the bowl and stir lightly or fold with a spatula until the ingredients are just barely combined.
5. Fill each well of the mini muffin tin with the batter about 3/4 of the way full or divide evenly between the 8 regular size muffin wells.
6. Bake the mini muffins for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Bake the larger sized muffins for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
7. Turn the pupcakes out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
8. To frost (optional):  stir together the yogurt and peanut butter until creamy smooth then frost the pupcakes as desired.
9. Store lightly covered on the counter for 1-2 days after which refrigerate or freeze.

Notes:

**Peanut butter note: please make sure there is no xylitol in your peanut butter ingredient list. It is toxic to dogs.

Adapted from Southern Parm.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

104.62

Fat (grams)

5.33

Sat. Fat (grams)

2.50

Carbs (grams)

11.23

Fiber (grams)

1.05

Net carbs

10.18

Sugar (grams)

5.80

Protein (grams)

4.12

Sodium (milligrams)

35.72

Cholesterol (grams)

8.69

Nutritional data supplied is for the mini pupcake size and in people calories.

Please see the "info" section for nutrition details and information about gram weights.

peanut butter, banana, pupcake, dog treat

recipes

Pooch

*The Rescue Remedy for pets, Thundershirt, 8 cup bowl, whisks, mini muffin pans, regular muffin tins, and cupcake liners are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.