Carob Muffins for Gizmo

If you know me in any way, you probably know that I love Gizmo more than I love most people. If you met her you would understand why. She was a stray so I can only guess as to what mix of breeds she is, how old she is or what her life before me was like before me but what I do know is that is an amazing dog with the greatest personality and a crazzzzzzy underbite. Seriously, her underbite cracks me up every time.Sometimes it is just half of her teeth, sometimes its the whole bottom row. Either way, both are magnificent!

Gizmo came into my life last spring and has had me talking in cheezy baby voices, buying dog clothes and making homemade dog food ever since! She is a spoiled little brat but she is also the best thing that has ever happened to me. A girl I used to work with found her roaming around a park and couldn't find her parents. She asked everyone at and around the park if they knew the dog, nobody did. She also checked the pounds, no micro-chip and nobody looking for her. The girl decided to hold on to the little mystery dog until she could hopefully find her parents. Time passed and the girl was getting ready to move to college, a place she obviously couldn't take an animal, and the dog already living in her parents house didn't like Gizmo so much so she couldn't stay there. Gizmo was headed for the pound. I was volunteering at a no-kill shelter at the time and when I heard the story I immediately told the girl that if I couldn't keep the dog than we could talk to the people at the shelter to see if they could make room for her.

As soon as I met Gizmo I fell in love, but I was trying not to get too excited about taking her because at the time I was still with Jeremy, we lived with his dad and 2 other dogs. I thought they would both say no. I told Jeremy all about Gizmo and what her fate looked like if we didn't adopt her, he is just as much a sucker for an animal, especially a dog, in need as I am so sight unseen he agreed to let me take her home. While Gizmo the mogwai is technically a male, the name is really fitting for our little girl. She looks like a cross between Yoda and a Mogwai and even though she is always wearing pink and purple clothing, people constantly mistake her for a boy. She isn't the most feminine creature. Weighing in at just over 7 lbs she is full of energy, the best cuddler and plays with the family hounds and my brothers pit bull as is she were the same size as them.

Because she is so precious to me I am very careful about what I feed her. She only gets the best and beause she is vegan so I have to make sure she is getting everything she needs nutritionally. Her favorite treats are dehydrated sweet potatoes and pineapple but I also like to make her, and my other dogs, homemade treats. On a recent trip to Whole Foods I found some Vegan Carob Powder and since it is a common ingredient for dog treats I figured I would pick some up. I finally got around to using it and decided to make Carob Muffins from It's A Vegan Dogs Life.

The recipe is really easy to follow but I was a little nervous I had screwed something up when the dough was super sticky. Then I remembered I was baking for dogs, even if I did screw something up, odds are they were still going to eat and love them. It made 24 mini muffins but there are also variations for biscuits, cookies and bagels. They puffed up a lot so even though they are mini muffins, they are still pretty big for Gizmo so I have been splitting them in half for her, but she has been gobbling them up!


Carob Muffins

Carob can burn easily, so check these more often than you normally would.

2 1/3 cups flour

1/3 cup carob powder

1/3 cup wheat germ or additional flour

¼ cup nutritional yeast

½ tsp. baking soda

1 Tbsp. ground flax

1 Tbsp. hulled hemp seed (optional)

1 ¼ cups water

2 Tbsp. natural applesauce

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

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

Add applesauce and water, mixing well.

Scoop batter into the muffin pans and bake for 20 minutes. Remove and let cool completely before serving.

Store in the fridge.

Makes approximately two dozen mini muffins.

Variations
Biscuits- Reduce water by ½ cup and 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.