Vegan Food Rocks: Carrot Biscuits for Dogs!

Over the holidays my family and I did a Yankee Swap and I scored the Sur La Table gift card. I was stoked to go get some stuff that I wouldn't normally buy for myself, like really good quality vanilla or other flavored extracts. I had never been to a Sur La Table but I did know that one had recently opened in my local mall. I went in a few days after Christmas ready to spend the whole gift card and probably more on all the things I've lusted after but that didn't happen. The store is pretty well organized but everything is very close together and there is just so much to take in, I started getting a little claustrophobic. I did a quick walk through of the store and noticed the swivel rack filled with cookie cutters so of course I started digging through all the different shapes and sizes. As soon as I saw the picture for the dog bone cookie cutter I had to have it. Of course it was nowhere to be found so I settled for the fire hydrant, the dog house and a paw(which doesn't really look like a paw. See last photo). I also got some other ones for people cookies but I was more focused on the dogs. I went back about a week and a half ago and went through the rack again and there it was, the dog bone!

I've been wanting to make biscuits and all kinds of treats for Gizmo and the other dogs for awhile and now I finally had more reason except I couldn't really find any vegan recipes that really caught my eye. A ppk friend mentioned an all vegan dog cookbook that was for sale on Etsy. I immediately logged on and bought it. If you have a vegan dog or even an omni dog and like to cook healthy, yummy treats for them, I highly suggest you get your butt over to It's a Vegan Dog's Life and shell out the $3 for the PDF version. Word is that the PDF and book aren't going to be available forever. The book contains 75 recipes, 56 of them being mini muffin recipes all with the variations to make them into biscuits, cookies or bagels. There are even some special treats like a gravy, sweet potato chews and carob brownies!

I made my first recipe from the book yesterday. The original recipe is for Carrot Mini Muffins but I used the variation for biscuits so I could use my adorable new cutters! The recipe calls for 1 cup of carrot baby food but since there are no children in my house and it was way too freezing outside to leave the house for baby food, I decided to make my own. I peeled and roughly chopped a few carrots and put them in the steamer basket. I steamed them for about 15 minutes, until they were really tender. Once they were soft enough I threw them into the VitaMix with a few tablespoons of water and pureed the hell out of them. I am sure this could easily be substituted with steamed pureed pumpkin, sweet potato, apples or anything else that your dog loves. I made the dough and as the biscuit directions said, I added 1/4 cup of flour until the dough was able to be rolled without sticking to the rolling pin. I had to add a considerable amount of flour to get this to happen. I also used VegeYeast in place of the nutritional yeast. Once the dough was all set though it was a breeze from there. I wish I could get pie or pasta dough to roll out that easy for me
.

One they were all cooked up and cooled enough I let Dain try a few, he was the only dog home this weekend to test them. He is extremely fussy when it comes to what he will and will not eat and he was gobbling these up like there was no tomorrow so they must be good!

Carrot Muffins

2 cups flour

½ cup nutritional yeast

½ cup wheat germ or additional water

1 Tbsp. ground flax

1 Tbsp. hulled hemp seeds (optional)

½ tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. blackstrap molasses or agave nectar

1 cup carrot baby food (about two small jars)

½ cup shredded carrot

¼ cup water (leave out if the batter is runny)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray mini muffin pans with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, combine flour, nutritional yeast, wheat germ, flax, hemp seeds and
baking soda.

Add carrots, baby food, molasses or agave nectar and water, mixing well.

Scoop batter into the muffin pans and bake for 30 minutes.
Remove and let cool completely before serving. Store in the fridge.

Makes approximately two dozen mini muffins.

Variations:
Biscuits- Eliminate baking soda. Knead into a stiff dough, adding ¼ cup of flour at a time
until it can be rolled out without sticking to the rolling pin (add a bit of water if it gets too
dry). Roll out onto a floured surface to ¼ inch thickness. Cut with cookie cutters or knife
and bake on a greased cookie sheet until crispy.
Cookies- Add ¼ cup of flour at a time until dough is firm enough to form into balls. Place
dough balls on a greased cookie sheet and press flat with your hand or a fork. Bake until
crispy.
Bagels- Make the same as the cookies except do not press them flat. Dip your finger in
water and poke a hole in the middle of the dough ball. Flatten slightly to form a bagel
shape. Bake until crispy.