It’s Christmas time! Snow has covered the grass and the houses are lit with hundreds of bright lights. It is a time to gather with friends and family. And at almost every holiday party one item will appear: Christmas cookies. Here at Pawsitively Intrepid we aim to include our four-legged companions in as many of life’s experiences as possible. So of course we had to make a few pet-friendly holiday cookies.
The three recipes listed below are all treats, not meal replacements. These recipes eliminate ingredients such as chocolate that are not appropriate for dogs and cats, but have not been reviewed for nutrient content. The recipes have been found on fellow pet-bloggers sites. As a result, we will list the ingredients required, but you will have to visit the original websites to find baking instructions. Read on to join us as we bake the three cookie recipes pictured below.
Gone to the Snow Dogs’ Christmas Cookie Trees for Dogs
The first recipe that we followed was this Christmas Cookie Tree Recipe. Ingredients required for this recipe include flour (original recipe calls for rice flour), eggs, coconut oil, honey, peppermint extract, a few drops of food coloring, and whatever decorating supplies you desire.
We loved the simplicity of this recipe. It was easy to follow and the peppermint smelled delicious while the cookies were baking. The treats ended up nice and crunchy. From a human perspective, these were perfect holiday dog treats. Read on to find Sasha’s and Glia’s reviews below.
Dog Mom Days’ DIY Christmas Cookies for Dogs
The second recipe we tried was this DIY Christmas Cookie for Dogs recipe. For this recipe you will need flour, pumpkin puree, peanut butter (make sure it does not contain xylitol), an egg, water, and vanilla greek yogurt.
Before you start baking, please note that some of the peanut butter and the vanilla greek yogurt are for the frosting. Don’t do what we did and skip reading all the preparation instructions. If you do, you may mix everything together and end up with no frosting and really sticky, wet dough. That dough may then require a LOT of flour to turn it into something you can roll out and turn into cookies.
We did not have more vanilla yogurt to make the frosting with, so we just went with it and made an alternate version of these cookies. But we recommend following the original recipe as the sticky dough we created made for a lot of work rolling it out and cleaning up afterwards. We cut out tree and bone shaped cookies from this recipe and added food coloring for some red and green cookies.
Daily Dog Tag’s Peanut Butter Dreams Dog Treats
Our third cookie recipe was these Peanut Butter Dreams Dog Treats. You will need coconut oil, peanut butter, flour, and unsweetened applesauce. We didn’t end up using the water, as our dough was moist enough without it.
This was another quick and easy recipe that resulted in a cute, soft cookie. The finished product looked good enough to eat myself. For the topper (what would be a chocolate kiss in a classic peanut butter blossom cookie), we used pieces of dark kibble. Not quite as cute as the original post’s gingerbread men, but cute enough.
So what did the dogs think?
For both dogs, the DIY Christmas Cookie is on the left of the video (dog’s right), Peanut Butter Dream in the middle, and Christmas Cookie Tree (in shape of a dog bone) is on the right side of the video (dog’s left).
As you can see, Sasha went straight for the Peanut Butter Dream and hesitated on the other two treats. But ultimately she was happy to consume all three of these Christmas Cookies.
Glia also went straight for the Peanut Butter Dream cookie. Then scarfed down the DIY Christmas Cookie cookie before finishing with the Christmas Cookie Tree cookie.
While these results are not controlled for the variable of placement of the cookies in front of each dog, we can tell you without doubt that both Sasha and Glia are willing to eat any of these fun cookies. So pick the recipe that intrigues you the most and get baking.
Looking for more recipes?
Check out these Peppermint Pinwheel Dog Treats. They look great, we were just short some roast carob powder.
Or maybe you have a cat at home that you want to bake for. Try Leaping Cat’s Cookie Recipe.
For some other ideas to enjoy with your pets during the Christmas season, read our post: 10 Christmas Traditions to Enjoy with your Pets
We hope you are all enjoying a wonderful holiday season with your pets. Merry Christmas!
