Barky Bucks

 

It's time again for another dog treat!  This time they're crunchy!  This is a Becky original (!!) borrowing a framework from another recipe so I've been renaming them in my head a zillion times.  Barky Bucks is what we're going with. 

What are Barky Bucks?  Healthy cookies, crunchy nummers, super delicious (according to Finn) high value dog treats that are simple to make, baked with buckwheat, buttermilk and flavored with blueberries and peanut butter.

Right?!

How do I know these are super delicious, according to Finn?  Captain Picky Eater?  Note this is the dog that when we adopted him, he didn't know what peanut butter was nor did he like it for years.

He went right for it during his taste test.

Finn picked these homemade Barky Bucks treats to eat first instead of his beloved nightly store bought cookies that he demands from Mike after dinner every night.

Ah HA, picked my treats first!  Yaassss!

Why am I rooting?  He's not always sold on baked goods Mommy makes for him.

But wait Becky, can dogs eat buckwheat?  Why yes, they can.  In fact, it's a protein-packed gluten-free flour so it's a solid alternative to wheats.

Well hang on though, can they have buttermilk?  You're weird, Becky.  Yes, they can have buttermilk too even though it's a dairy product.  It's the friendly bacteria and lower lactose that makes this possible.  I personally wouldn't pour it in a bowl for Finn to lap up but some is fine and baked is a-okay.

If you don't have or don't want to use buttermilk for this recipe, no big whoop.  Use water, salt-free broth, or other dog-safe liquid.

As a refresher by the way, here is one of many helpful lists of people-foods dogs should not eat.  If you have any questions about what to feed or not feed your dog, absolutely check with your veterinarian.

So we were headed back to southwest Michigan for a nice relaxing vacation after what a taxing year this has been and I, being the pupper mom that I am, I like to treat my big giant weirdo extra right.  He deserves it.

While we never in a million years expected he'd be a travel dog, plus also have a good time, he has thoroughly surprised us.  At the same time, the ride out of town makes him nervous and shaky.  In the end, we think he'd still prefer to be curled up in his favorite couch spot at home.

He really seems to enjoy the beach and exploratory nature walks though so we're quite happy to take him.

Finn enjoying the waves (from a safe distance of course, no wet feeties for this boy).

Anywhooo....Barky Bucks!

I opted to bake him some irresistible treaters, something big time bonus so he'd feel special and equate away time with exceptional.

Working off of the dog treat recipe from Comfort of Cooking, I wanted to leave out the bacon (salt bad) and oats this time (don't want to re-encourage Finn's yeast issues) plus work with/use up what I had to create these all new Barky Bucks.

Picked up a bag of buckwheat flour* and I was off to the races.

Ok, quick re-check of the peanut butter ingredient label, no xylitol, let's do this.  Xylitol, also known as birch sugar too, is toxic to dogs.  Please read that xylitol link if you have a dog as it is hiding in many things.

You can use either fresh, frozen, dried or freeze dried blueberries* here.  If you go for the latter, make sure they're unsweetened.

Not a stitch of a sweat here, folks.  Mix, shape, bake.

In a large bowl, whisk* up the wet ingredients together.  Simple.

Add the flours and gently stir that in.  No problem.

Adding the flours.

With a nonstick spatula,* carefully fold in the blueberries so they don't pop everywhere.  Easy breezy.

Folding in the berries.  I used frozen here; add them in frozen, totally fine.

Once the dough starts to come together in the bowl, flour your work surface and dump out the goods.  Knead a little bit, form a ball, and just for ease of working, slice the dough in half.

Here's the whole ball.

Roll* out one half of the dough to about a quarter inch thick then stamp out your shapes.  My dog bone cookie cutter* is 3 1/2" long or wide or whatever but you can get any shape or size* you and your fluffernutter prefer.

The berries will definitely get all over your rolling pin, heh.

With a tear off of parchment paper,* line a baking sheet* and set the cut out treats atop.  You can get pretty close to each other as the cookies don't rise nor spread much.  Scoop up the scraps, re-roll, and keep going to use up as much dough as possible.

FYI, I recently read this from Stella Parks about silicone baking mats* and reduced crispiness. 

Ok, she kinda really destroys the mats so while parchment isn't an environmentally friendly choice IMO, it may allow crispier cookies.  I can see where she's coming from.

Mats and parchment have their places.  I very very rarely parchment and barely ever mat under cookies, so I personally haven't run into her mat issues.  Or, maybe I'm one of the people she pooh-pooh's, liking the mat results, who knows. 

All right.  Bake, set them out to cool, and happy dog happy dog!  Yay!

It's hard to tell when they're done but they'll look puffed, like a dried out cookie and a more golden brown.

I found these stayed crunchy and edible in a zip top bag* until they were gone, about two and a half weeks for us, but you can freeze them or pop them in the fridge if you'd like.  Neither instance of chilling ruins the crunch.

Woof!

So there we have it, a Becky original dog treat:  Barky Bucks!

Barky Bucks

Yield

about 28 treats

Prep time

15 Min

Cook time

25 Min

Total time

40 Min

Super delicious, Barky Bucks are a hit -- healthy, crunchy dog treats made with buckwheat, buttermilk, blueberries, and peanut butter.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (135 g) peanut butter (unsalted preferably; see crucial note below)
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) honey
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk (or water or other dog-safe liquid)
• 1 cup (113 g) whole wheat flour
• 1 cup (120 g) buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup (80 g) fresh or frozen (or dried [78 g]) blueberries

Instructions

1. Begin preheating the oven to 350° F (176° C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or set out a nonstick baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, combine the peanut butter, honey, egg, and buttermilk (or other dog-safe liquid) with a whisk until well combined.
3. Add the flours and stir gently until a dough begins to form. Add the blueberries and fold the ingredients together until the dough becomes more cohesive.
4. Lightly flour a work surface and dump the dough onto it. Gently knead the dough into a ball shape then split in half.
5. Roll out one half of the dough to about 1/4" thick and cut out shapes with a 3 1/2" wide dog bone shaped cookie cutter or cutter as desired. Place the cutouts on the baking sheet; they can be quite close together.
6. Repeat with the other dough half then gather scraps and re-roll as necessary to cut out as many cookies as possible.
7. Bake for 28-30 minutes, until they look dried and a more golden brown, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
8. Store in a lightly sealed container for about 2 weeks then store in the freezer.

Notes:

**Make sure there is no xylitol in the peanut butter as it is toxic to dogs.**

Inspired by Comfort of Cooking.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

64.02

Fat (grams)

2.75

Sat. Fat (grams)

0.57

Carbs (grams)

8.39

Fiber (grams)

1.23

Net carbs

7.17

Sugar (grams)

1.50

Protein (grams)

2.50

Sodium (milligrams)

33.39

Cholesterol (grams)

6.82

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

The nutritional information provided is in people-food calories.

© The Bake Dept

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*The buckwheat flour, dried and freeze dried blueberries, whisks, nonstick spatulas, rolling pins, dog bone cookie cutters, parchment paper, baking sheets, silicone baking mats, and reusable zip top bags are Amazon affiliate links.  Happy baking, thanks!  Please see the "info" tab for more, well, info.