dog cookies

Dog cookies oven temperature 350

1 can condensed broth (chicken or beef)
1/2 cup oil (I use canola)
1 cup of mixed grains (oatmeal, cornmeal, oat bran, bran, 12 grain cereal-any one or combination of- just adds some texture)
2-3 cups flour - whole wheat, white or both to make a workable dough.

mix oil, broth & grains, then add flour until the dough is no longer sticky (you made need more than 3 cups) and you can easily knead by hand. Knead dough for a minute or two and then at this point cut the ball of dough in half and wrap one half up in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge. Keeps really well.

Roll out remaining dough on a floured surface, into a big rectangle until dough is between 1/4 and 1/8 thick, dust top with flour. Use a large knife to cut into squares approx 1" x 1". In the beginning I used shaped cookie cutters , little bone shapes, tiny gingerbread men or hearts but I find I go through a batch of cookies so quickly that now I just make squares – it's easy and very fast to do. Place on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 10 mins or so. Take the sheets out of oven and with your fingers or spatula flip all cookies (this helps ensure nice crisp cookies). bake another 10 mins or so keeping an eye on them and even turning the oven down to 250 or so they will continue to bake/dry out. the secret is to make sure they are not soft in the middle. Hard & crunchy is the goal. Half the dough should make 2 cookie sheets full of cookies.

Variations

Peanut Butter
use water instead of broth & soften 1/3 cup of peanut butter in microwave and reduce oil to 1/4 cup, then add grains & flour as in main recipe.

Beef 'n Bacon
bacon drippings to equal 1/2 cup (or 1/4 cup with 1/4 cup oil)
I save my bacon drippings in a container in the fridge until I have enough, melt in microwave. These cookies smell delicious and are quite a hit. Broth, grains & flour as in main recipe.

Chicken 'n Spinach
blend cooked spinach (or any vegetable carrots, squash, sweet potato...) in a blender with chicken broth then add oil, grains & flour as in main recipe.

Pumpkin Cinnamon
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup oil
1 cup of pumpkin puree
good dash of cinnamon
grains & flour as per main recipe.

I can almost guarantee you'll never buy dog cookies again