Making a Favourite Dog Treat Recipe into a Special Valentine

It's almost Valentine's Day, furfriends! We have lots of recipe ideas in our blog archives, but if you have a tried-and-true recipe or want to make your dog's favourite treat into a special Valentine, two VERY simple ideas are to just play with the shape and/or colour of your go-to treat recipe.  Here are some tips and inspiration:

{RECIPE} Beetroot and Carob Gelatin Gummy Dog Treats

These yummy gummies use a dash of yummy carob to take the natural translucent red of a beetroot gummy to a richer more opaque deep red treat. Plus carob tastes/smells delish! 

{RECIPE} Naturally Pink Strawberry Cheesecake Dog Treats

We're back from our holiday blogging break and hopping straight into the goodies with our Valentine's Day post line up, and it's a berry-based treat for my berry-loving boys. May we all be as lucky to find a Valentine who looks at us with as much love and desire as Oli eyeing up a strawberry (or strawberry treat)! Haha! Look at this face:

{RECIPE} Strawberry Carob Christmas Spice Dog Treats

{RECIPE} Berry Bacon Barkmas Bone Dog Treats

 

Berry bacon barkmas bones...say that 10 times fast! :) These treats combine yummy strawberry (a dog favourite around here) with the irresistible scent/taste of bacon. Strawberries are in season during our Christmas holidays; however, frozen berries are fine for baking treats any time of year.  Any treat that gets crazy googly eyes from our beloved old Oli makes all the baking effort worthwhile! 

{RECIPE} Merry Fishmas! Naturally Green Sardine Dog Treats

It's beginning to smell a lot like Fishmas, everywhere you go... Oh my!  Super stinky and delicious, fishy treats are particularly irresistible to our boys. These are delicious and nutritious, with an all-natural green tint for an extra festive touch.  Pawfect for very good boys (or girls)! Woofs!

{RECIPE} Cranberry Chicken Christmas Cookie Dog Treats

Mmmm...the holidays are so close we can almost taste them! It's one month until Christmas, and here's the first of our barkmas-themed posts for this year. Woofs! As blog dogs, our boys taste test holiday and special occasion treats well before the calendar (they never complain!) and if you are currently swimming in leftover turkey, dry turkey meat would make a great substitute for the cooked chicken in this recipe. You can bake and freeze your treats or (like often do, and as was used in these treats) freeze some small batches of cooked meat for future use. Winner winner, chicken dinner! 

{RECIPE} Spiced Apple Gummy Dog Treats

Yummy, healthy, and easy to make! These spiced apple gummy dog treats are quick and delicious. Like most gummy treats, they're low guilt at our place where the dogs absolutely love their gummy treats and we love that they are getting the health benefits of quality gelatin (I typically use Great Lakes beef gelatin) in sneaky "treat" form. 

{RECIPE} Pumpkin Pie Gelatin Gummy Dog Treats

These treats smelled soooo good! Ridiculously good. I almost convinced hubby to taste one. :) I probably would have myself to be honest, but being vegetarian I'm not into eating gelatin.  I liked working with pumpkin in gelatin for our Pumpkin Spice Latte Gummies, and decided to play around with a fancy variation to create a special pumpkin pie inspired gummy.  The results? Doggone droolworthy!

Frankenbone Homemade Halloween Dog Treat Decorations

Halloween isn't really a done thing down here in New Zealand, but we'll take any excuse for a treat of two! Last year's mummy bones were one of my favourite treats to create and decorate (definitely something I would do again). These Frankenbones simplify the monster treat decorating for a faster way to make a fun batch of treats and it's easy enough for the kids to help with making some special Howl-oween dog treats for their furry friends.

{RECIPE} Marinated Blackstrap Beef Jerky Dog Treats

Jerky is doggone irresistible to our boys, no matter what the flavour.  It's also one of the very few homemade goodies that our cranky old senior cat, Tiger, is interested in sampling. The dogs will very grudgingly share...hehehe.  Homemade dog jerky is very easy to make it is a great healthy treat option. There is absolutely no need to marinate at all - straight up plain jerky is our go-to meaty treat - but as we noted in last week's jerky post, by reader request we've created two quick and easy marinade ideas. Last week we shared our rosemary and ginger marinade and now here are the delicious details on our barbecue inspired blackstrap marinade.

{RECIPE} Marinated Rosemary Ginger Beef Jerky Dog Treats

Mmm....jerky!  It's so doggone irresistible to our boys, yet homemade dog jerky treats are super simple to make and are a healthy treat option. Perfect! It also happens to be one of the few homemade treats that our very picky senior cat is keen to share with his dog brothers.  For simple DIY dog jerky treats there is absolutely no need to marinate at all - straight up plain jerky is our go-to meaty treat - but by special reader request we're often asked about ideas for marinating so we've created two quick and easy lightly flavoured dog-friendly marinades to help get your kitchen creativity flowing. Here are the delicious details on the first marinade.

{RECIPE} Peanut Butter Gummy Dog Treats

Mmm...peanut butter!  That smell is so doggone irresistible!  When I first tried to use peanut butter in a gummy treat, it didn't work out quite as smoothly as I had hoped.  Peanut butter can be tricky to melt uniformly into a water-based gelatin mixture. Peanut butter is already an emulsion, and the usual emulsifier melting points are warmer than the ideal heating point for gelatin gummy making (overheating reduces the setting strength). So I put my human cooking knowledge and nerdy skills to use on a revised method. These treats split the prepwork, making it easy to create a nice uniform peanut butter gelatin mix that sets beautifully.  Yay!  Here's how they're made:

{RECIPE} Pumpkin and Herb Puppy Paw Print Dog Treats

These pawesome paw print dog treats combine the yummy tastes of pumpkin with healthy herbs and irresistible cheese.  The dough works well for roll-and-cut treats, but you can also make simple flattened balls or use our shortcut for making "cut" treats en masse. Easy peasy!

{RECIPE} Pumpkin Spice Latte Gummy Dog Treats

It is springtime here in New Zealand, but every September our social media feeds still fill up with the tempting allure of pumpkin spice everything. Kiwis love cooking with pumpkin pretty much all year round and our dogs LOVE pumpkin, so I thought, why not create a PSL inspired gummy? 

Multi-Coloured/Flavoured Small Batch Gummy Dog Treats

Whether you're creating a rainbow of treats like we did for Humphrey's barkday pawty (not that the dogs see the rainbow quite like we do, but they will smell/taste it!) or are interested in experimenting with different flavours without the commitment of a full batch, this treat tips and tricks post shows you how to easily create multiple varieties of yummy gummy treats from a small batch base.

Humphrey's 4th Birthday + Layered Lambcake Recipe

Woohoo!  Handsome Humphrey is four and all grown up. Where does the time go?  Did you see the impatient posers in my latest "milestone mugshot" snap?  Oh those rascals!  Sigh. Our Facebook furfriends and Instagram pawpals got a sneak peak at Humphrey's 4th barkday in last week's posts as we we took a month offline here on the blog to focus on recovery following Oli's health scare. And now, we're back. And we have CAKE!

{RECIPE} Super Simple DIY Dog Treats Using Coconut Oil

If you're into supplementing your dogs with coconut oil, here are two of the doggone easiest ways to turn that supplement into treats.  Like my love of gelatin gummies, coconut oil based treats are low-guilt treat in our house, turning dietary supplements into occasional small treats. Win win! I find making simple refrigerated coconut oil treats particularly handy in summer time when coconut oil has a tendency to be liquid at cupboard temperature in many homes (our place included).

{RECIPE} Carob and Pumpkin Stamped Dog Treats

{RECIPE} Puppermint Patty Frozen Yogurt Dog Treats

Happy official first week of summer to our northern furfriends!  It's winter here (brrr...) but this is one of our very special prep-prepped and schedule posts for during the current moving chaos.  Puppermint patty frozen yogurt treats were one of the many frozen snacks made and eaten during our sizzling summer past. Yummy yogurt pops, happy dogs, and minty fresh(er) breath. Yes, please!