Grain-free Dog Treats with Pumpkin, Peanut Butter and Bacon - Large Batch

We have two dogs, a miniature long-hair Dachshund mix and a Border Collie/Bernese Mountain Dog mix, neither of which can have wheat.  The smaller of the two can't even handle rice.  Anyone with similar issues knows how expensive grain-free dog treats are. To top it off they don't like many of the expensive store-bought treats - and the only way to find out is the hard way.  All this prompted me to come up with a recipe I can make myself.  They love this combo of ingredients.  The Border Collie begins to drool when he smells them baking, and they both watch my every move until they're done.

Way better than store bought

Yields about 10 ½ dozen small treats

Ingredients:

3-3 ½ cups garbanzo flour

½ cup peanut butter

3 eggs - well beaten

3 strips of bacon minced and rendered – reserve fat (optional ingredient)

1 cup pumpkin puree

Additional garbanzo flour as needed to prevent sticking

Directions:  Preheat oven to 350F degrees

1. Mix all ingredients well in a medium sized bowl.  Dough will be sticky.  Allow to rest for about 1 hour.
2. Generously flour your work surface and hands (and/or rolling pin).   
3. Divide dough in half to make it easier to work with.  Scrape the first half of dough out onto work surface with a rubber spatula.  Sprinkle top generously with more flour.  Roll or pat dough evenly to a little thinner than ¼”.  I like to pat it down most of the way and then use my rolling pin to even it out.  
4. Cut into desired shapes and transfer to a parchment lined, lightly greased baking sheet.  I like to use a small metal spatula coated with the flour to scrape up any that might want to stick to your work surface.  Gather the scraps in a pile and roll them out and cut again, until all the dough is used.
5. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the treats are hard and beginning to brown.
6. Cool thoroughly before serving.

I like to keep a mound of gf flour on my work surface to dip the cutter into

Be sure to keep a generous amount of gf flour on everything that will touch the dough

A small metal spatula coated in gf flour is great to loosen any cookies that want to stick

Of course if you use a larger cutter, you will get less treats.  The cutter I usually use is from an antique set of bridge cookie cutters from back in the day that women got together and played bridge as a pastime.  The diamond shape allows for more yield on the first roll out.  I might use the heart around Valentines day.

I'll freeze and vacuum seal some of them.  I prefer to do bigger batches and put them back so I don't have to worry about making them again for a while.  You could always do a half-batch if you don't mind doing them more often.

Enjoying time in the woods

Who wouldn't want to give him cookies?

Watching the girls.  One of his favorite pastimes.