Most dogs love cheese and this week's treat recipe smelled so yummy while cooking that I had to try a bite! I kind of liked 'em and Ringo thought they were "eye-poppin' good"!
Easy Cheesies is a recipe from the book Feed Your Best Friend Better by Rick Woodford, which contains lots of great recipes for healthy treats and full meals for your dog. You can find more information about the book by clicking on the link above.
The recipe below is actually an adaption of Rick's version from the book. The main reason I adapted was pure and simple - I was too lazy to go to the grocery store! I used similar ingredients that I already had on hand and it worked out great. The recipe calls for 1" square treats cut from a 10x10 square. I made my version in a 9x13 pan and cut them into approximately 1 1/2" squares. You could go as low as "training treat size", as described in the Pumpkin Treat blog entry or roll out the dough and use cookie cutters for fun-shaped treats as well.
Easy Cheesies
2 cups white whole wheat flour (book recipe = rice flour)
1 1/2 cups grated Parmesan cheese (book recipe = Cheddar)
1 T dried oregano
2 large eggs
1/2 cup chicken stock (or beef or fish)
3 T olive oil (book recipe = canola oil)
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease & flour a small baking sheet.
In a large bowl, toss the flour, cheese and oregano together until blended. (I also chopped up the Parmesan into a finer mixture than what came out of the package)
Add the eggs, stock and oil to the flour mixture and blend with a fork. Once blended, knead briefly to gather into a ball and transfer directly to the baking sheet. Flatten the ball and roll out to reach the sides.
Cut into the desired size squares.
Bake for 30-35 minutes for a soft cookie or up to 50 minutes for a drier, crunchier cookie.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool before breaking apart at the cut lines. Store in a closed container in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Yield: 48 squares (1 1/2")
Calories / batch: 2,000
Calories / treat: 42
