Dog Biscuits

"I'll be frank, those biscuits were goooood"

I mentioned in my last post that we now had a Dachshund living with us; well if this little guy were human he would be the equivalent of my nephew. "Notorious Dee Oh Gee" or "OH-gee" (as my little girl calls him) hails from Texas and belongs to my brother and sister-in-law. Oh-gee has been with us since July and will be staying until sometime in April while my brother and sister-in-law get their freak on make exciting changes in their lives. Since arriving at our house he has chewed through 2 pairs of shoes, destroyed every single one of his toys, run off about 6,000 times and messed on the carpet waaaay too many times for his own good. I have tripped over and stepped on him so many times I'm embarrassed to put a number to it, I have threatened to send him back to Texas at least once a day and he has been given "time-outs" for barking while the girl naps about 1700 times since July. He has made friends with the neighborhood dogs, (including a little terrier who comes over almost every morning and afternoon) and took it upon himself to go over and introduce himself to a neighbor whom we hadn’t even met yet. Oh-gee and the little girl have become quite close and the two of them are constantly trying to find ways to get me out of the kitchen so they can raid the pantry for cookies and biscuits. He’s really a good little pup and for all my moaning and groaning he has made our lives so much richer, when the time comes it’s going to be hard to send him home.

These biscuits were a big hit in so many ways. They were easy to make and my toddler really enjoyed the different tastes and textures of the grains as they went into the bowl. Actually it was a very good project to do with her. We picked the mint and parsley (with permission) from a neighbors garden and talked about the taste and smell of the herbs while we were snipping away. The different grains and ingredients made interesting contrasts in color and texture and the dough was gritty feeling and satisfying to play with. The mint (we added extra) made the biscuits smell wonderful and they baked to a satisfying golden brown color that made them look they had been made with rich beef stock (hmm, maybe next time actually use beef stock!). They also tasted pretty good too, there was nothing in them that humans can't eat so the little girl and I sat down with the dog and had “tea” and biscuits, Oh-gee loved them. The recipe makes quite a few dozen (depending on the size of the cookie cutter), so we packaged some up in cellophane bags, made labels, tied them off with bows and shared them with some of the neighborhood dogs.

From Epicurious

Dog Biscuits

Neither overtly salty nor sweet, and with a pleasantly grainy texture, these biscuits won a loyal following among staff dogs — as well as humans.

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/4 cups cornmeal
• 1 1/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves
• 1 large egg

Special equipment: a pastry or bench scraper; a dog-biscuit cookie cutter*

Pulse flours, cornmeal, oats, wheat germ, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with pea-size butter lumps. Add 1 cup water and pulse until a coarse, dense dough forms.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead in parsley and mint until well distributed. Gather, then halve dough with scraper. Form into 2 balls and flatten each into a 6-inch disk.

Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Grease 2 large baking sheets.

Roll out 1 disk of dough into a round (1/3 inch thick) on a well-floured surface with a well-floured rolling pin. (If dough becomes too soft to roll out, wrap in plastic and chill until firm.) Cut out as many biscuits as possible and arrange about 1/4 inch apart on 1 baking sheet.

Gather scraps and reroll, then cut out more biscuits. Repeat with remaining dough, using other baking sheet.

Whisk together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush biscuits with egg wash and bake, switching position of sheets halfway through, until tops are golden brown, about 35 minutes total. Turn off oven and dry biscuits in oven overnight.

Cooks' note: Biscuits keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 month.

*Available at sweetc.com.

Gourmet

December 2005

Written by Deb on October 24, 2006 12:01 AM