Mother’s Day is around the corner and I expect to get breakfast in bed or a long relaxing brunch out. How does that relate to my dog who is a neutered male, you might ask? It’s very simple – even though he will never be a mother, it’s Mother’s Day and I am full of love and motherly feelings, and this is why I baked him some amazing homemade organic treats to enjoy on that day. If May 9th is special to me and to the entire family, why should he be left out?

That being said, he is never left out. In fact, I think he might be the most spoiled pooch ever: he gets a ton of toys and treats from Chewy and customized stuff from Personalization Mall all the time. Chewy also provides subscription boxes we love from time to time, while Personalization Mall treats me to kitchen tools with my name on them. So we are both happy!

When it comes to treats, I try to bake them at home as often as I can. The various fancy ones from Chewy are fine and can be delivered in one day, but they still have more ingredients than I feel my dog needs.

I usually make treats and cookies with either pumpkin puree or peanut butter, but this time I added both and also strawberries, because it’s Mother’s Day. It’s always amazing how Marlo doesn’t like pumpkin with his food, but drools all over cookies made with it. Pumpkin is super healthy, so I feel very good about using it for him.

Before we go on any further, let’s take a look at this super easy and fast recipe:

Ingredients:

• 2 organic eggs
• 2 ½ cups of whole wheat flour (I use King Arthur)
• ½ cup of organic pumpkin puree
• 2 big tablespoons of organic peanut butter
• A pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon of cinnamon
• 5-6 cut up fresh or frozen strawberries

Preheat the oven to 365 degrees while you’re getting the cookie mixture ready. Also prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Then take a medium size bowl and combine all the ingredients – eggs, flour, pumpkin, peanut butter, salt, cinnamon, and strawberries.

I used fresh strawberries, so they were a little harder to grind with a mixer than frozen ones would’ve been.

I used hand held mixer and it was a bit tough. The dough is thick and lumpy.

If you find it hard to work with, add a little bit of water and continue mixing until it’s smooth and fully combined. It’ll still be thick, but you’ll be able to work  it if you flour the surface and your hands pretty well.

Once you are done with the dough, break away a medium size ball and roll it out.

I used a heart shaped cookie cutter, but now I think that putting the dough into silicone molds might’ve been easier, especially the cute bone shaped ones I have from Chewy.com.

The cookies don’t expand at all while baking, so you can place them all pretty close to each other on the baking sheet. I made mine thin and baked them for 30 minutes for some serious crunch. If you want them softer, you can bake for 15 minutes.

They came out very good and made Marlo drool all over the place. My kids tried them too and decided that they would be great if only I have put some sugar in them. I am considering making two batches next time – for the dog without and for the kids with some sugar.

Let your dog enjoy those scrumptious treats on Mother’s Day and beyond! Just make sure you use them up in about 3 days or freeze them.