one for the dogs
I made cookies for my dog yesterday. To some, this may qualify me as a crazy person. Living in a town like this, where seeing puppies sitting at the bar is a common occurrence and sharing a water bottle with your dog during a hike is the norm, cooking for my dog seems like a completely normal thing to do. Although writing this now, I am reminded of an episode of This American Life where Ira Glass talks about his allergy plagued pitbull and the lengths he goes to to cook meals for him. Ira thought this normal behavior as he told his story, while the rest of us listening couldn’t quite believe the efforts and energy put into this relationship. I guess my point is that we will go to great lengths for the ones we love. And to us those lengths are effortless. So I made cookies for my dog yesterday. And it was fun.
Izzy loved these cookies. I tried some too—they were a little dry and bland—but tasted and smelled way better than most dog treat options out there. They are filled with foods that are a great supplement to regular dog food too: almonds, apples, oats, and parsley. Parsley freshens breath (for humans and dogs alike) which is great for between butt licking sessions. Lets face it, most of our four-legged friends could use a little help in the fresh breath department.
ALMOND BUTTER APPLE DOGGY COOKIES (adapted from this Whole Foods recipe)
1 large apple, grated
1 cup oat flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup dried parsley
3 Tbsp. almond butter
1 egg
Grate apple into a large bowl. Add oat flour, rolled oats, parsley, almond butter, and egg. Mix together until combined. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Form dough into small balls and press down to form flat cookies, about two inches in diameter. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Makes 20 doggy cookies.