Peanut Butter Dog Treats

I've been meaning to put this recipe on here for forever. These pictures are actually from a few months ago, life has been a little hectic.

Anyway, this is the recipe that I've been using for the last year or so to make the treats that I bring with me to adoption events. I love this recipe because there are only four ingredients in it and they don't seem to bother the dog's stomach as much as some other treats.  I've also doubled the recipe from the site that I originally used because it didn't make nearly enough for my taste. Okay, enough with the rambling, here's the recipe:

First thing you want to do is mix together the dry ingredients, i.e. the flour and baking powder.

Next, mix together the peanut butter and hot water. You don't really need to use a mixer for this, but it's way easier and you don't have to worry about spilling hot water everywhere... or is that just me that does dumb things like that?

The kitchen usually starts to smell like a peanut butter dream at this point. Just a heads up, family members and roommates will follow this smell and expect there to be peanut butter cookies for them to eat. They will be disappointed.

Break out whatever cookie cutters you'll be using. It was still fall when I made these so I used my leaf, pumpkin, and heart cookie cutters. In retrospect, I probably should have only used the pumpkin for pumpkin flavored treats. People were very confused.

Make sure you put flour down and roll the dough thinner than you would think you should. It will rise a little bit and if it's too thick, they won't dry out as well as you want to get that nice crunch that dogs like. Also, the drier you get them, the longer you can store them without having to worry about them going bad.

If you want to make smaller treats, or use the treats for training, you probably don't want to use big cookie cutters. What I usually do (which I'll try to get a picture of eventually) is roll the dough out and then use a pizza cutter to cut thin vertical lines in the dough and then make horizontal cuts so you get little squares. I like that method because you can make them any size you want. I like to make tiny ones so you don't have to worry about breaking them up when you are training. I make them just a little larger than the size of kibble. Just make sure you keep an eye on them while they're in the oven, they go from perfect to super crispy in no time.

Once they're light brown and firm to the touch, take them out, let them cool for a bit on the pan and then transfer them to a cooling rack. This lets them dry out even further. Make sure you cool them completely before you put them in any kind of container or the steam they give off will make them mushy.

Good luck making them!

Recipe:

2 cups flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup hot water

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. Mix together the flour and baking powder.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the peanut butter and hot water until smooth.

4. Gradually add in the dry mixture. If too wet, add a little more flour.

5. Turn dough out onto a flat, pre-floured surface.  Roll until a little less than 1/4 inch thick. Roll thicker if you want flakier, biscuit-like treats. Roll thinner if you want easier to break up treats to be used for training.

6. Cut into your desired shape and size treat then transfer to a cookie sheet.

7. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly brown and firm to the touch. Let cool completely and store in an air tight container.

Original recipe from: elephantineblog.com

Peanut Butter Bread

I admit it, I have a problem. Everyone I know is aware of it, some of them disagree strongly with it. It's an addiction that can't be stopped.

My name's Isabel and I'm addicted to peanut butter.

Peanut butter, peanuts, peanut butter flavored things, Reese's, all of it.

And I don't care.

So when I found a recipe for peanut butter bread you bet your butt I was scribbling it down and running to the kitchen immediately.  I think I had it in the oven less than half an hour after stumbling upon the recipe.

I don't even care that I told my dad I wouldn't make anymore recipes that I found online. It's peanut butter bread! He will understand.

Other than my peanut butter addiction, there's another thing you might not know about me.

This girl bakes in a cardigan.

A black one at that.

I dare flour to try to touch me:

I do wear my personally altered apron though. Aprons never ever fit me right. The neck strap is always huge and the strings are always way to long, and with cats in the kitchen , that's not an option.  So I went to my trusty sewing machine ages ago and shortened the neck strap and added some ribbon accents.  This is my clean apron, I have another one with brown ribbon with polka dots that's my chocolate apron and pretty much never gets washed.

Anyway, back to this magical recipe.

It was super simple, I'm really glad that I had everything I needed in the apartment or there would have been an emergency Wegmans run.  This recipe is basically a peanut butter cookie recipe by the looks of it, just way wetter, which is alright by me.  

According to the recipe, before you add the milk, the batter will be super dry. It was, but don't worry, it improved with the addition of the milk.  Before the milk it sort of looked like my dough for dog biscuits looks like, that's how dry it was:

Once I added the milk it pretty much instantly became more liquid. It was actually squelching in the mixer, which was kind of gross but it smelled like peanut butter so who cares.  The most promising part of making this recipe was that the dough/ batter looked and smelled almost exactly like peanut butter. I guess that's what happens when almost a third of the mix is made up of peanut butter.

The recipe also had a tip to use wax paper in the pan to help get the bread out easier when its done. I've never done this before but I figured why not, might as well try it right? Well, I was a little obsessive compulsive about my folds but this is what I came up with:

The batter was surprisingly thick when I went to pour it in. It may have looked liquid, but it was way less viscous than I was expecting, which was a pleasant surprise.  Overly liquid doughs always make me paranoid that I've done something wrong.

I got it in the pan, smoothed it out, and popped it in the oven: 

I waited impatiently for it to be done.  I may or may not have snacked on straight peanut butter while I was waiting:

When it finally came out....

Yep, that's burnt on the sides. Damn you college oven.  I would have taken it out earlier but the center was no where near ready.

Not. Pleased.
Although I will say that the parchment paper was a godsend. I will definitely be doing this from now on.
Now, me being me, I didn't let this burnt crap bother me.
I just grabbed my bread knife (thanks dad!) once it had cooled and cut/ scraped off the burnt edges.  The rest of the bread was fine. And my apartment smelled amazing.

Problem solved!

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

1tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup creamy peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl and set aside.

In a mixer, cream together the butter and both sugars.

Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and mix well.

Slowly add in the flour mixture.

Slowly pour in the milk and mix well. Be sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl as the thicker, drier dough will stick and not be incorporated if you don't.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick poked into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Recipe from: A Pretty Life In The Suburbs

Krusteaz One Step Blueberry Muffins

A couple of weeks ago my dad sent me an absolutely fantastic care package.

One of the things that I was excited to try was the One Step Blueberry Muffins from Krusteaz.

I made their crumb cake box mix all the time so I was interested to see what one of their other products was like.  Although I did feel like I was completely cheating by making something so oversimplified with only water as an added ingredient.  I went ahead and tried it anyway.

Here's what the mix itself looks like:

The only thing you had to do to prepare it for pouring into the pans was to add water and shake it.  

So I shook and shook and shook:

One thing I will note about it is that there should probably be some sort of warning that shaking it too hard or too long creates pressure in the bottle.  It surprised the crap out of me when I opened it to pour it.

It looked pretty much how I expected it to when I opened it. Although I was a little surprised at how cylindrical the "blueberries" were. I'll never get used to the look or taste of fake blueberries:

The mix was supposed to make six muffins but apparently the muffin pan I have is ridiculously oversized because I barely got four out of them. Oh well, into the oven they went:

They didn't end up rising all that much, or getting much of a muffin-y top. But even though they looked more like biscuits, they tasted like muffins:

So overall, they weren't the best muffins I've ever made or eaten, but they were certainly the easiest by far. 

French Onion Soup

 This recipe is one of the many reasons that I always trust Julia.  Whenever I'm looking for a recipe, if I see one by Julia, I know it will be good.  It might not always be the easiest version of what I want to make, but it will definitely turn out fabulous.  Luckily, this recipe couldn't be any easier.

Ever since going to France, I've been craving Onion Soup.  Going to France really opened my eyes up to why French cooking is the heart of so many techniques and recipes.  They really know what they're doing when it comes to food.  I never used to think that Onion Soup was anything to jump up and down about, but for such a simple soup, its fantastic. 

This soup is so easy that I was able to make enchiladas to freeze for the week at the same time.  And it makes enough for multiple meals.  Being a poor college student, I didn't make it with white wine, vermouth, or cognac.  I also used mozzarella for my cheese on top as well as an Italian bread from Wegmans. 

Gorgeous Onion Soup that I had at the Angelina restaurant in Versailles:

First just melt your butter and oil together. Add all your onions and sweat them out while covered.

At this point they should look translucent and smell delicious:

  

I uncovered it at this point and cranked up the heat to get some color on my onions.  There was a lot of liquid from sweating the onions out, don't worry though, you'll cook it off.

Don't get wimpy with your coloring. My first instinct when I start to see color on something is to either yank it off the stove in a panic or turn the heat down a ton.  Don't do this.  You want brown, caramelized onions for this soup, trust me, it will taste delicious.  So you want to pass this point:

  

And get to at least this:

I actually browned mine a little bit more to get some more color. I had to stop it before I really wanted to because I was afraid of setting off the fire alarm (the joys of living in a college dorm).

After you get them nicely caramelized and brown (can't stress it enough), add some flour to get some roux action going.  Cook for a few minutes then add the stock and simmer for a bit longer.

My bowl was way too big so I didn't get the classic "French Onion Soup" look that I loved in France:   

I saw this Corningware Soup Mug at Wegmans that would have been the perfect size but didn't want to waste the money on it:

One day I'll have a set of these:

Onion Soup [Soupe à l’Oignon]

Adapted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking

1 1/2 pounds (680 grams or 24 ounces or about 5 cups) thinly sliced yellow onions

3 tablespoons (42 grams or 1 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter

1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

1 teaspoon (5 grams) table salt, plus additional to taste

1/4 teaspoon (1 gram) granulated sugar (helps the onions to brown)

3 tablespoons (24 grams or 7/8 ounce) all-purpose flour

2 quarts (8 cups or 1.9 liters) beef or other brown stock*

1/2 cup (118 ml) dry white wine or dry white vermouth

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons (45 ml) cognac or brandy (optional)

To finish [Gratinée] (Optional)

1 tablespoon grated raw onion

1 to 2 cups (to taste) grated Swiss (I often use Gruyere) or a mixture of Swiss and Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon butter, melted

12 to 16 1-inch thick rounds French bread, toasted until hard

Melt the butter and oil together in the bottom of a 4- to 5-quart saucepan or Dutch oven over moderately low heat. Add the onions, toss to coat them in oil and cover the pot. Reduce the heat to real low and let them slowly steep for 15 minutes. They don’t need your attention; you can even go check your email.

After 15 minutes, uncover the pot, raise the heat slightly and stir in the salt and sugar. Cook onions, stirring frequently, for 30 to 40 minutes until they have turned an even, deep golden brown. Don’t skimp on this step, as it will build the complex and intense flavor base that will carry the rest of the soup. Plus, from here on out, it will be a cinch.

After the onions are fully caramelized, sprinkle them with flour and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes. Add the wine in full, then stock, a little at a time, stirring between additions. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer and simmer partially covered for 30 to 40 more minutes, skimming if needed. Correct seasonings if needed but go easy on the salt as the cheese will add a bit more saltiness and I often accidentally overdo it. Stir in the cognac, if using. I think you should.

Set aside until needed. I find that homemade onion soup is so deeply fragrant and flavor-rich that it can stand alone, but that doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy the graitinéed top once in a while. Here’s how to pull it off:

Preheat oven to 325. Arrange six ovenproof soup bowls or crocks on a large, foil-lined baking sheet. Bring the soup back to a boil and divide among six bowls. To each bowl, add 1/2 teaspoon grated raw onion and a tablespoon of grated cheese. Stir to combine. Dab your croutons with a tiny bit of butter and float a few on top of your soup bowls, attempting to cover it. Mound grated cheese on top of it; how much you use will be up to you. 

Bake soups on tray for 20 minutes, then preheat broiler. Finish for a minute or two under the broiler to brown the top lightly. Grab pot holders, and serve immediately.

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are my default cookie.  Don't know what to make for a party or get together? Make snickerdoodles.  Everyone seems to love them. Every type of cookie seems to have people that don't like them, except for snickerdoodles.  Chocolate chip: don't like chocolate. Oatmeal raisin: don't like raisins. Sugar cookies: too boring/ hard/ sweet. Snickerdoodles: perfect.  The only problem I've ever encountered with snickerdoodles is having someone not recognize the name. They're essentially just sugar cookies rolled in a mixture of cinnamon sugar:

I always make mine kind of small, so instead of getting 4 dozen out of them, I usually get five or six dozen by the time I'm done.  The dough chills and freezes fine though, so you could always make half and save the other half, just don't roll them in the cinnamon sugar first.

Feel free to play around with the cinnamon sugar mixture, I never measure, just put more cinnamon in until it "looks right."  I do recommend using a silicone mat like I used or double panning these though if your oven can be unpredictable, cause there's nothing more disappointing than a burnt batch of Snickerdoodles!

Recipe from: Baking Bites

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, soft

1/2 cup shortening (nonhydrogenated), soft

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together butter and shortening, gradually adding the sugar until mixture is fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Gradually mix in the flour at low speed until a dough is formed.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon. Roll 1-inch balls of dough in the mixture and place on baking sheet. Cookies will spread, so leave about 2-inches between cookies.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set.

Remove to a wire cooling rack immediately.

Store in an airtight container when cool.

Makes about 4-dozen.