2 Comments / Dog Food, Recipes / By Carine / February 24, 2023 / 7 minutes of reading
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5 from 5 votes
This Soft Dog Treats recipe is an easy 4-ingredient dog treat recipe packed with natural ingredients and perfect for senior dogs or dogs.
Plus, this dog treat recipe is easy to adapt to create a range of flavors for your loved one.
Table of Contents hide
- How To Make Soft Dog Treats
- Serving
- Storage Instructions
- Texture
- Flavor Options
- Add-Ons
- Allergy Swaps
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Dog Recipes
- Soft Dog Treat Recipe
I shared plenty of homemade dog treat recipes lately. However, both, my Christmas dog treat and 3 ingredients dog treat are crunchy treats.
If your dog gets older, he may have sensitive teeth and required softer treats.
Therefore, this sweet potato cookies are perfect for your furry lover.
How To Make Soft Dog Treats
These homemade peanut butter sweet potato treatsare perfect for senior dogs.
Plus, they are ridiculously easy to make.
Ingredients
All you need to make the peanut butter dog treats are:
- Natural Peanut Butter – Pick a jar with no added salt and no added oil. This adds healthy fats to your dog cookies.
- Quick Oats – It has a smaller texture than rolled oats and makes the cookies easier to chew.
- Mashed Sweet Potato Puree or pumpkin puree.
- All-Purpose Flour – This helps make the dough less sticky and easier to work with. However, don’t add too much flour, or the cookies will get harder.
Preparation
These homemade treats can be made with or without a cookie cutter. They are soft treats meaning the dough will be moist and sticky and, therefore, a little bit more challenging to cut out.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper lightly oiled with olive oil. Set aside.
Making The Dough
You have two options for making the cookie dough. You can use a food processor to pulse the oats into a thinner texture or stir all the ingredients together in a bowl.
In a large bowl, add quick oats, homemade sweet potato puree, wheat flour, and peanut butter.
Stir to bringthe ingredients together into a sticky, moist cookie dough. If too moist, this will happen with pumpkin puree that contains more moisture than orange sweet potatoes.
Then, add more wheat flour, up to 2 extra tablespoons. Don’t add too much flour, or the treats will harden in the oven.
Use a tablespoon to scoop some batter, roll between oiled hands, and place on the baking sheet.
Slightly press the top to flatten. Repeat until all the cookie dough has been shaped into cookies.
Otherwise, grease two pieces of parchment paper and roll the dough between the pieces of paper. Then, use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
Baking The Treats
Bake in the center rack of the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. The longer you bake the cookies, the dryer and tougher they become on the edges.
Cool down on a wire rack immediately to prevent the dog cookies from baking longer on the baking sheet. This will make the bottom more crispy.
Serving
These are healthy dog treats but still treats. Peanut butter is high in fats and calories, so you should give these as a reward for good dog behavior. This is not a dog meal.
Feel free to adapt serving size based on dog age, activity size, and breed.
Storage Instructions
Store the treats in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Or freeze treats and thaw them in the refrigerator the day before.
Texture
They are small, soft, moist cookies packed with vegetables, proteins, and fibers from oats, and healthy fats from peanut butter.
Flavor Options
You can use this recipe to create different flavors of treats for your loved one.
The best way to alter flavor is to replace the sweet potato puree with same amount of:
- Pumpkin Puree – Peanut butter pumpkin treats is the most classic flavor for dogs.
- Mashed Potatoes
- Mashed Banana – This adds sugar to the treats, so the best is to use 1/3 cup of mashed banana and 1/3 cup of vegetable puree to keep the sugar low.
You can also flavor the treats with a pinch of cinnamon.
Add-Ons
To boost the nutritional profile of these dog treats, you can stir in some grated vegetables like 1/3cup:
- Shredded Carrots
- Shredded Zucchini – make sure you squeeze out the water from them or the cookies get very moist and hard to shape.
Allergy Swaps
- Gluten-Free – Most of the time, dogs don’t show an allergy to wheat. However, if your dog does, try buckwheat flour. It’s a high-fiber, high-protein flour with no gluten and is safe for dogs. If you suspect a gluten allergy, use a gluten-free certified oat brand.
- Peanut-Free – You can use almond butter instead, but don’t use raw cashew butter – this is not safe for them.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are my answers to your most common questions about this dog recipe.
Can I Double The Recipe?
You can double up the recipe and store leftover treats in zip-lock bags in the freezer.
Thaw the day before in the fridge before offering to your furry friend.
How Can I Make The Treats Less Soft?
You can bake the treats for longer to evaporate more moisture and harden the treats a little.
Another option is to add more wheat flour in the dough and flatten the treats into a thin disc.
The thinner, the crispier the edges will be.
Do I Need A Cookie Cutter?
No, the great thing about this soft, moist dog treat dough is that you can simply shape it into balls.
Then, flatten them with the back of a fork or slightly grease hands. You don’t need to roll and cut out as seen on the pictures.
More Dog Recipes
Below I listed some more easy dog treat recipes for you to try next time:
Pumpkin Dog Cake
3-Ingredient Dog Treats Recipe
3-Ingredient Dog Cake
Meatballs For Dogs
Carrot Cake For Dogs
Christmas Dog Treats Recipe
Have you baked a batch of these soft dog treats? Share a comment or review below.
Soft Dog Treat Recipe
This Soft Dog Treats recipe is an easy 4-ingredient dog treat recipe packed with natural ingredients and perfect for senior dogs or dogs. Plus, this dog treat recipe is easy to adapt to create a range of flavors for your loved one.
5 from 5 votes
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Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time20 minutes mins
Total Time30 minutes mins
Yield: 15 dog treats
Calories: 60kcal
Author: Carine
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup Mashed Sweet Potato Puree
- 1 cup Quick Oats scooped, swept
- ¼ cup Peanut Butter
- 2-3 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
US – Metric
This recipe may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Lightly oil the paper with coconut oil. Set aside.
Peel, trim the sweet potatoes and cut them into small 1-inch cubes.
Bring 1 liter of water to a boil in a large saucepan. Add the cubes of sweet potatoes, cover, reduce to medium heat, and cook for 10-15 minutes or until fork-tender.
Drain in a sieve over the sink and steam out at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Mash the cooked sweet potato cubes in a puree. It doesn't have to be super smooth, and measure 2/3 cup packing the puree in measuring cups.
In a food processor or mixing bowl, add sweet potato puree, quick oats, peanut butter, and two tablespoons of flour. Stir or blend on medium speed, scraping the sides of the bowl a few times until the dough comes together into a moist cookie dough ball.
The batter should be a bit sticky and thick to keep the dog treat soft and moist. If really too wet, add more quick oats.
Scoop one tablespoon of batter, lightly grease your hands with vegetable oil and roll into a ball. See note above for rolling and cut-out technique.
Place the dough ball onto the prepared baking sheet.
Flatten with your hands and repeat until there is no more dough left. Leave half a thumb of space between each cookie – they won't expand in the oven.
Bake for 8- 12 minutes or until golden brown on the sides and top. The treats should stay moist and soft in the center and not crispy.
Cool on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack.
Storage
Store up to 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container or freeze in zip-lock bags and thaw at room temperature the day before.
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Soft Dog Treat Recipe
Serving Size
1 dog treat
Amount per Serving
Calories
60
% Daily Value*
Fat
3
g
5
%
Saturated Fat
0.5
g
3
%
Polyunsaturated Fat
1
g
Monounsaturated Fat
1
g
Sodium
23
mg
1
%
Potassium
104
mg
3
%
Carbohydrates
8
g
3
%
Fiber
1
g
4
%
Sugar
1
g
1
%
Protein
2
g
4
%
Vitamin A
2392
IU
48
%
Vitamin C
2
mg
2
%
Calcium
9
mg
1
%
Iron
0.5
mg
3
%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
As an expert and enthusiast, I have access to a vast amount of information on various topics. While I don't have personal experiences or emotions like a human, I can provide you with accurate and reliable information based on the data I have been trained on. I can understand and analyze text, answer questions, and engage in discussions on a wide range of subjects.
Now, let's dive into the information related to the concepts used in this article.
Soft Dog Treats Recipe
This article is about a recipe for soft dog treats. It provides instructions on how to make these treats, as well as tips for serving, storage, and variations in flavor. The recipe uses four main ingredients: natural peanut butter, quick oats, mashed sweet potato puree (or pumpkin puree), and all-purpose flour. The dough is formed by mixing these ingredients together, and the treats are then baked in the oven [[1]].
Texture
The soft dog treats described in the article are small, soft, and moist cookies. They are packed with vegetables, proteins, and fibers from oats, as well as healthy fats from peanut butter [[1]].
Flavor Options
The recipe offers several options for varying the flavor of the treats. The main ingredient, sweet potato puree, can be replaced with an equal amount of pumpkin puree, mashed potatoes, or mashed banana. Adding a pinch of cinnamon is another way to enhance the flavor. Additionally, grated vegetables like shredded carrots or shredded zucchini can be stirred into the dough to boost the nutritional profile of the treats [[1]].
Add-Ons
To further enhance the nutritional value of the treats, the article suggests adding grated vegetables such as shredded carrots or shredded zucchini to the dough. However, it's important to squeeze out the water from the vegetables to prevent the cookies from becoming too moist and hard to shape [[1]].
Allergy Swaps
For dogs with specific dietary needs or allergies, the recipe provides some alternatives. If your dog has a gluten allergy, you can try using buckwheat flour instead of all-purpose flour. Buckwheat flour is gluten-free and safe for dogs. If your dog is allergic to peanuts, you can use almond butter as a substitute. However, it's important to note that raw cashew butter is not safe for dogs [[1]].
Frequently Asked Questions
The article also addresses some common questions related to the recipe. It mentions that the recipe can be doubled, and leftover treats can be stored in zip-lock bags in the freezer. To make the treats less soft, you can bake them for a longer time to evaporate more moisture and make them slightly harder. If you prefer a thinner and crispier texture, you can add more wheat flour to the dough and flatten the treats into thin discs. The recipe does not require a cookie cutter; the dough can be shaped into balls and flattened with the back of a fork or greased hands [[1]].
I hope this information helps you understand the concepts used in the article about soft dog treats. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!
