Snoopy’s Homemade Dog Treats

On the fifth day of Christmas the Lit Kitch gave to me..

Some homemade dog treats inspired by Snoopy! Generally I like to focus this blog on recreating the foods mentioned in books, but it’s fun to mix it up sometimes. So today instead of a book I would like to present you with our first ever Film Friday! And because it’s the Lit Kitch Twelve Days of Christmas, of course we are watching a Christmas movie!

But not just any Christmas movie. Today’s movie stands as a truly timeless Christmas classic. A Charlie Brown Christmas continues to be a must-watch for the holiday season. Charlie Brown’s quest for meaning in an increasingly commercialized Christmas still resonates–probably even more so today than during the film’s 1965 release. The catchy, jazzy soundtrack and Charles Schulz’s goofy but loveable characters round out the film to make it a movie I look forward to watching every Christmas. And of course one of those goofy, loveable characters is none other than Snoopy!

Snoopy and his dog treats

Charlie Brown’s mischievous beagle spends the movie decorating his dog house to win a contest. But when he isn’t busy hanging Christmas lights, Snoopy lounges on the roof of his dog house munching away at a pile of dog treats. So today I’m going to be making Snoopy’s homemade dog treats!

My dog Charlie is part beagle (and the rest of her is pug) so like Snoopy, she really loves her treats! After watching my husband and I cook so many dishes, she felt it was about time one of them was finally for her. In fact, after I told her I was baking treats for her, she stood by and oversaw the entire process.

Snoopy’s Homemade Dog Treats Recipe

This was my first time making homemade dog treats. I wanted to be absolutely sure I only used ingredients that are healthy for dogs, so I followed this recipe from the cooking blog Mom on Timeout. After looking at some other recipes, the main ingredients seem to be pretty consistent, with some minor variations in amounts.

The Ingredients

This recipe contains two of my dog’s favorite foods–eggs and peanut butter–so I knew she was going to love these treats! Make sure your peanut butter doesn’t contain Xylitol, as this can be dangerous for dogs! The recipe calls for whole wheat flour, but I used all-purpose flour as that was all I had on hand. For the next batch I will pick up a bag of whole wheat flour to make these treats even healthier for Charlie. The addition of pumpkin puree and a little bit of cinnamon made these treats smell oh-so-good while baking!

The Recipe

This recipe is so simple, I can’t believe I’ve never made homemade dog treats before! Start by mixing together all of the wet ingredients, then add in the dry ingredients until combined. Then roll out your dough, cut it into your desired shapes using cookie cutters, and bake. The baking time varies depending on how chewy or crunchy your dog likes his or her treats. To be honest, Charlie would eat them no matter what, but I followed the recommended time of 35 minutes.

The only issue I had was that the dough was really sticky. Which made it very difficult to roll out and cut into shapes. This might be because I used a different type of flour, or maybe it’s because I used no-salt-added peanut butter. I’m not sure. I also don’t think it helped that my cookie cutters were a last-minute purchase and not the best quality. Whatever it was, the appearance of my dog treats was nowhere near the professional looking ones pictured with the recipe. In the future I will experiment a little more to try to make these treats look better, but Charlie didn’t care what they looked like–she was a huge fan!

After watching me mix together some of her favorite ingredients (and having a little teaser taste of peanut butter), and sitting by the oven for AGES (35 minutes is a very long time for a dog) smelling her treats baking, Charlie was more than happy to taste test. And these treats are definitely Charlie approved!

Enjoy watching A Charlie Brown Christmas, and if you have doggies I’m sure they will appreciate you baking just for them! Since I’ve only made it to Day Five of the Twelve Days of Christmas, and Christmas is next week (how?!?), I am going to be posting more frequently over the next few weeks to finish out the remaining seven days. So check back in a few days for a new recipe, and in the meantime you can check out the first four days here!