Homemade Dog-Friendly Gingerbread Cookies

Alexa, play it’s the most wonderful time of the year. One of my most favorite parts of the holiday season is all the wonderful holiday baking. I know I'm not alone when I say I have a weakness for holiday baked goods. The smells, the tastes … mmmm … need I say more?

With your dogs noses sniffing high in the air and begging right underfoot, it may be tempting to share some of your holiday treats with your furry friend. However, many of our baking staples (raisins, nutmeg, sugar, chocolate, etc.) are toxic to dogs and should be avoided.

Why should humans be the only ones to enjoy homemade goodies? I've said this before, but I absolutely love baking and I love that I've been able to share my passion with Navy. It really does bring me so much joy when I see her go nuts for the homemade treats that I bake her, rather than the ones we buy at the store.

So to celebrate this holiday season, I wanted to make Navy a little something special. We sourced the web for holiday treat recipes that we could make for Navy, and found a ton! We settled on an easy recipe for homemade gingerbread dog treats from Chewy.com. If you know anything about us, we like to make our recipes as simple as possible so we slightly adapted this recipe for simplicity of ingredients as well as the things we already had in our house...because who wants to go to the grocery store during the holidays?

But wait! Before we get started… gingerbread often get a bad rep around the holidays when it comes to pets. Ginger itself (in small amounts) can actually be healthy for your pup! However, some gingerbread spice mixes contain nutmeg which can be dangerous for dogs. Our recipe uses ground ginger and cinnamon. If you have any questions or concerns about other ingredients, please consult your vet! Also, when following any recipe online, be sure to cross check the ingredients to ensure they are in fact safe for your pup.

So without further ado, here is our take on dog-friendly gingerbread cookies. If you try this recipe out, be sure to let us know if your pup loves it!

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp molasses

• 1 egg

• 1/3 cup peanut butter

• 1 cup oat flour

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 2 tsp ginger
   

Optional Icing Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp cream cheese

• 2 tbsp plain yogurt

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F and line a non-stick baking sheet. We like to line ours with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk the oat flour, cinnamon, and ginger.

3. In a smaller bowl, mix the molasses, egg, and peanut butter. After ingredients are mixed, slowly add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture, stirring until well-mixed.

4. Roll out dough to ¼ inch thick on lightly floured surface. Using a cookie cutter (we got our gingerbread man cookie cutter from Michael's for $1), cut dough into gingerbread shapes. Place the gingerbread men 1 inch apart onto the baking sheet.

5. Bake for 15 minutes and allow cookies to fully cool before enjoying

6. OPTIONAL: If you want to decorate your cookies, mix a little cream cheese and plain yogurt to create a dog-friendly icing.

* Storage tip: We recommend keeping these treats in the refrigerator in an airtight container so they can be enjoyed longer.

Navy Approved! Though our pictures may not show it, I'm happy to report that Navy thoroughly enjoyed her gingerbread cookie treats. We are excited to take this treat home for the holidays to share with our family dogs.

Like this post? Then you will love our delicious fall inspired dog treat recipes.

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From the bottom of our hearts, we hope you all a very Merry Christmas!

With love,

Navy, Zach, & Alex