Carrot Cake Dog Treats — Recipe

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I usually like to make small dog treats and lean toward savory rather than sweet–but with the holiday weekend just around the corner, I found myself looking at Easter cookie recipes and wondering if one could be modified for dogs. Since carrot cakes are a family favorite, I cam up with Carrot Cake Dog Treats, an easy way to make a special holiday treat at home.

Like many recipes, you can modify Easter cookie recipes for dogs by taking out the forbidden foods–raisins and chocolate appear in many Easter recipes are are definite NO-NO foods for dogs.

I took it a step further, though, and cut the sugars way, way back, sweetening the cookies just a little with molasses and, for a few extra special cookies, adding a layer of a dog favorite: cream cheese.

The list of ingredients is a little bit longer than for some dog biscuits and treats but not too complicated!

Start by combining your dry ingredients:

While you’re getting your ingredients together, go ahead and sit a stick of butter out so it will thaw to room temperature. (Or, if you’re like me and you don’t think far enough ahead, just zap it in the microwave for about 20 seconds to soften.)

You can grate carrots, buy grated carrots or just chop them finely, depending on your time restrictions:

Typically human Easter cookies are sweetened with sugar or brown sugar; molasses is an alternative and sweetens in amounts measured in tablespoons (not cups).

Mix all the ingredients in a big bowl and work the dough so all dry ingredients are worked into the dough.

I added a 1/2 cup of water but then had to add another teaspoon or so; add just a little bit at a time so your dough doesn’t become too sticky. (If it’s sticky, just add a little more flour.)

Roll your dough out to about a 1/4-inch thickness, then it’s time to cut the dough.

You can use an inverted glass as a cookie cutter or get in the holiday spirit with a bunny or egg-shaped cookie cutter:

These cookies don’t expand too much so you don’t need to leave a lot of extra room on your greased cookie sheet.

Pop them in the oven until they’re nice and browned then take them out and let them cool completely.

After the cookies are cooled, you can make some of them extra-special by turning them into a sandwich, with a layer of softened cream cheese between two cookies.

Refrigerate the treats with the cream cheese filling (and the others, too, if you won’t be serving them for a few days). Treats can be refrigerated for up to four days.

With both the plain and filled version, you’ll be making your four-legged friend very happy with these hoppy treats!

Cooks: Don’t miss our My Dog Says I’m a Great Cook™ cookbook with over 100 dog treat recipes from the publishers, readers and fans of DogTipper! This paperback book is available in our PawZaar gift store!

This post was first published in 2010.