Grain-Free Pumpkin Coconut Dog Treats
I swore up and down before I became a parent that I'd never be one of "those" people who has a baby and stops giving attention to their pets. My older siblings all warned me. They told me you just don't have as much "dog patience" when you're dealing with a screaming baby or tantrum-ing toddler. I scoffed. I'd be different! I'd still dote on my dogs and take them for long walks every single day and never, ever get frustrated with them!
Except...nope. Spoiler alert: the list of things I swore I'd never do before having a child and now do could fill a book. And this one would be on the first page. The truth is: I just don't have nearly as much margin in my life to give my animals (particularly my dogs) the attention that I once did. Don't get me wrong, they are nowhere near neglected with their premium dog food, regular vet visits, frequent snuggles, and fenced-in yard. They still lead lovely, happy, healthy lives-just with a little less of me in it.
I try not to feel too guilty about it (after all, I'm working hard to raise a kind, compassionate, empowered human here!), but there are times throughout the year that I feel like I need to give the puppers a little more love to make up for my absence. And this is one of those times.
This is one of the busiest times of year for me both personally and professionally, which means my already small amount of one-on-one time with the dogs has shrunk. The cure for my guilt? Regularly scheduled long walks with the dogs (it's literally in my planner) and a totally over-the-top gift basket complete with all kinds of goodies!
The idea for this started when I was browsing the aisles of Meijer killing time before I had to pick up my daughter from school one day. I stumbled into their massive Pets section, and I found a particular toy and thought, "Hey, I bet Ivy would like this!" and it ended up in my cart. And then, because I'm all about fairness, I went to pick up something for our other dog, Rory. And the shopping spree continued until my cart was jam-packed with toys and treats for the girls, and an idea to surprise them with an "I'm sorry I spend so much time playing Legos and so little time taking you on hikes" gift basket.
I also needed to pick up a few cans of pumpkin puree (because hello: it's fall), so I popped over to the baking aisle and knew immediately that I had to bake the puppers some homemade pumpkin dog biscuits to go in their basket.
I have a homemade dog treat recipe already on Wholefully, but it uses wheat flour. I created that recipe before our vet recommended both our dogs go on a grain-free diet. It was time to get back in the kitchen and start working on new, grain-free dog treats! I snagged a few more ingredients from the Meijer baking section (including a cute bone-shaped cookie cutter!) and headed home to get started.
What I ended up creating was a treat that not only made the puppies excited but also added a bit of a nutritional boost to their diet! The treats are packed with ingredients that can really help nourish your canine friends like:
- Eggs: an amazing simple source of protein, especially for pups who may have adverse reactions to other proteins. If you get high-quality eggs, you also are giving your dogs a nice dose of Omega-3s, which can help keep your puppy's coat and skin healthy.
- Pumpkin: it's full of fiber, which can help keep your dog's gut balanced, and has beta-carotene, which is a powerful antioxidant.
- Coconut oil: helps get much-needed healthy fats to your puppy, and contains compounds that may help prevent cancer.
- Turmeric and cinnamon: both are natural anti-inflammatories, which is great for all dogs (and humans!), but in particular is a good nutritional supplement if your dog has joint issues like our dog Rory does.
A caveat here: there are tons of (many times conflicting) reports about what and what not to feed your dog. As with all decisions regarding the health of your loved ones, it's probably best to check with a trained health care professional when introducing any kinds of new foods. A vet can give you a definitive "yes" or "no" on what should end up in your pup's bowl.
That being said, the ingredients below avoid any products that are well-known doggie no-nos (like, say, chocolate!) and focus on ingredients that are generally accepted as good for doggie-dom. Just like with human food, it depends on the individual. So keep a close eye on your puppy any time you give them a new food or treat. Even though these grain-free dog treats are formulated to be as gentle on their systems and give them as many added nutritional benefits as possible, they still might not agree with some pooches.
In the recipe below, I include how to make the (adorable!) peanut butter glaze for on top of the treats, but it's absolutely not necessary. I can tell you from experience that the dogs couldn't care less if there is a cute drizzle on top of their treats or not. They scarfed both versions equally.
The dogs were very pumped about their gift basket. They ate a few of these homemade treats each, and then each of them grabbed one of the rawhide retriever rolls (their favorite) and happily chomped on them for a few hours. I don't think they're feeling so overlooked anymore. I hope your dogs enjoy these treats as much as mine did!
Grain-Free Pumpkin Coconut Dog Treats
Equipment
- Cookie cutter
Materials
- 1 15- ounce can pumpkin puree
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ½ cup coconut oil melted
- 4 eggs
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 ⅔ cups coconut flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, peanut butter, coconut oil, and eggs until smooth.
- Add in the turmeric, cinnamon, and coconut flour. Mix until well combined. Let rest for about 5-10 minutes to thicken. Coconut flour NEEDS this time to absorb the moisture. If your dough is too moist, let it sit longer.
- Layout a piece of parchment paper and place the dough on top. Then place another piece of parchment on top of that. Roll the dough between the parchment sandwich until the dough is about ¼" thick.
- Remove the top layer of parchment paper, and then cut using cooking cutters. Remove the dough scraps (but leave the cutouts behind), and transfer the parchment sheet with the cutouts directly to a large baking sheet.
- Combine the scraps, place between two sheets of new parchment, and roll, cut, and place on a baking sheet.
- Bake in preheated oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the cookies are dry and hard. Let cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container for up to a month.
Notes
- This is a very soft dough to work with!
- For an optional (cute!) glaze, mix together ¼ cup peanut butter with 2 tablespoons of melted coconut oil. Place in a ziptop bag, snip off the corner, and drizzle on. The glaze will harden in the fridge, but might be a bit soft at room temperature. Keep the biscuits unglazed if planning on packaging.
Nutrition
This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of Meijer. The opinions and text are all mine.
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This recipe will NEVER work like the photo, never. The moist to dry ratio is WAY off. The baking instructions are wrong too. 1 can of pumpkin, 4 eggs, melted coconut oil and PNB to 1 2/3 cup coconut flour? Never. I'm a baker so I new I would have to add more GF flour, let them chill for 2-3 hours before forming, and I absolutely had to bake at 225 degrees for about 2 hours to dry them out. Complete fail recipe.
Elli,
How I wish I saw your response before we wasted hours of time & ingredients!!!
This recipe: Letting it sit for 10 minutes made zero impact. The dough was so soft, complete mush & impossible to work with. After refrigating it for hours, we could make a few cutouts, however the dough softens within minutes and back to square one. The first batched burned at 40 minutes, 45-55 would have been charcoal. The second batch tasted alright but not worth the hours of effort and broken cookies. Save your time & find a different recipe!
🙁
Can unused dough be frozen for future use?
Hi, Chelsea! We've always made the full batch, but we don't see why it would't work to freeze what you have left for another time. If you try it, please let us know how it turns out for you!
Nice recipe except peanut butter is very toxic and cancer causing to dogs. The aflatoxins in peanut butter is very bad for dogs. Please do your deep research.
Thank you so much for your concern. We're always careful when making treats for our pups! We want them to live happy and healthy, long lives! We've consulted with our vets and done our own research, as well. The general recommendations regarding peanut butter for dogs is that as long as it doesn't contain xylitol (which is INCREDIBLY toxic and dangerous for dogs) or chocolate, and is given in moderation (any treats given to your pup should make up less than 10% of your dog's total caloric intake), then peanut butter is safe for dogs. According to the American Kennel Club, "Most peanut butter is safe for dogs to eat, and in moderation peanut butter can be an excellent source of protein and healthy fats, vitamins B and E, and niacin." (Source)
If you don't feel comfortable giving your dog peanut butter, then please adjust this recipe to suit your preferences!
Since first being identified more than 50 years ago, agricultural scientists and the US peanut industry have devoted considerable resources to ensure that aflatoxin is kept below agreed limits. Rigorous cleaning, shelling, sorting and blanching (removal of peanut skins) are key steps in identifying and eliminating damaged peanuts which may have developed aflatoxin from getting into the food supply. For products such as peanut butter, the FDA conducts random checks and removes products from sale that fail food safety standards. We are not aware of any instance of this involving peanut products made from US-grown peanuts. Aflatoxin does not form in peanut butter once it is packed in containers, so if the production process is safe then the final product will be too when it reaches the consumer. By Dr. Andrew Craig, American Peanut Council.
Just made these, even after reading the comments lol. Have my granddog for the week and she's had an update tummy plus some hives that I think are a result of the treats she's been getting. A couple of tips:
1. You really should have baking experience before attempting to make any gluten-free treats for humans OR animals. There are many intricacies to it and you need a certain amount of intuition to help you tweak it as needed
2. This dough is absolutely PERFECT for use with a cookie press. And my PC cookie press even had a bone shape so it made quick work of the dough and I got about 4 dozen treats as a result
3. I like crunchier biscuits for me canine friends so I lowered the temp to 300°, increased the cooking time and used the convection option on my oven. The result was perfectly crunchy, and tasty biscuit
4. For those who say these are bland... Remember dog treats have no salt, sugar or leavening to add that enhanced flavor and they never should! And besides THESE ARE FOR DOGS 😂 I mean come on.... if they get the chance they eat trash, cat poop and dead animals.
5. Seriously... THESE ARE FOR DOGS. They don't care if they're misshapen or a little dark or a little light. On the first batch before I had the (if I do say so myself) brilliant idea of the cookie press, I just rolled it into parchment, then scored the dough into squares with a pizza cutter. After about an hour I was able to break them apart easily and add a second cookie sheet to the batch and bake for another half an hour. Unless you're giving them as a gift or trying to make a business of these (and if you are I hope you give credit where credit is due) it's literally No. Big. Deal. what they look like!
Thanks for the recipe?!
Thank you for sharing the tip about the cookie press and your great tips for making the biscuits crunchier! We're so glad the recipe worked out for you—and we appreciate you taking the time to help others be successful, too!
Let's be honest, you had to rework the recipe too. This recipe is a fail and I do not recommend anyone make it, experienced or not, because the liquid to starch ratio is never going to produce a roll out dough without adding a LOT more coconut flour or other GF flour. Just retest the recipe and update it. You have more than enough comments to encourage you to do that.
So sorry these didn’t turn out for you! We haven’t been able to replicate any of these problems in our own kitchens, but we’ll definitely keep trying to try to fix the problems that folks are having. We understand how frustrating it can be when you follow a recipe and it doesn't work!
In an effort to always be honest with our readers, we've included this headnote above the recipe letting folks know that it's giving lots of people trouble: "IMPORTANT NOTE: Many people have had problems with this recipe. We have tested it in multiple kitchens and had great results. We continue to retest this recipe to replicate the problems (and fix them!), but in the meantime please read through the comments before embarking on this recipe. Thanks!"
We hope this note helps people better navigate making the recipe, while also ensuring that the people who have had success can still find the recipe when they want to make it again. Thanks so much for your patience and understanding while we continue retesting!
I cut half of the coconut oil out and added some back in as needed. I ended up using a touch less than the recipe called for. Otherwise, the dough turned out fine following the recipe . Rolled out beautifully.
You're not using jumbo eggs or something, are you?
I do not believe you have to be a seasoned baker to work with gluten free products. I am fairly new to baking with them and I have made incredible sugar free desserts and other dishes. I do believe that the measurements are off on this recipe. Had to add more coconut flour and refrigerate the dough for a long while. It should not be this complicated or so expensive. Maybe start with a half batch to those that have not made it. I might even go smaller. Make sure that your dog likes them before wasting such expensive ingredients.
Well, I’m p!ssed to say the least. I wasted an entire bag of very expensive flour over nothing. It was like runny batter even AFTER I added endless cups of flour and let it sit out on the counter forever. I even put it in the fridge for awhile to try to harden it and when I tried to use my cookie cutter it was just a limp mess. Ugh.
So sorry they didn't turn out for you! We haven't been able to replicate any of these problems in our own kitchens, but we'll keep trying to try to fix the problems that folks are having.
Unfortunately Our dogs sniffed and walked away. A waste of ingredients, time and energy. Dogs truly are carnivorous and prefer meat and don't care for tasteless treats even if they are healthy. Took a tiny piece to taste and so bland, no flavor. Don't blame them from walkig away.
Can I substitute omega 3s for the coconut oil? and if so do you have a recommendation, I am looking to make something that may help add fiber to my dog's diet to also help with his gland discharge issues... thanks
We never have, but I don't see why it wouldn't work!
Very sticky to work with but it is 90 F in my house right now.
Buy at least 2.5 cups of coconut flour so you can roll and get to a non sticky consistency. I'm sure my dogs will be happy though!
I am so glad I didn’t read the reviews first! Just made these, yes the dough is moist but just a sprinkle of coconut flour took care of that. Followed the recipe exactly (brands differed) except I didn’t have turmeric. I might have made mine a bit thick so I’m leaving them in the oven overnight to completely dry out! But Shadow loved them and I’ll be taking some to The Sanctuary at Haafsville where I volunteer with the dogs as a treat for them. Funny that the first review I ever left was on a dog treat recipe 🙂 Thank you!
Terrible recipe. Too much pumpkin. Should have known ....most recipes similar to this use approx. 1/4 cup of pumpkin and less egg. Had to use about 3 1/2 cups of flour. Needs baking sofa and baking powder to alleviate trees falling apart.
I didn't have pumpkin on hand, but I had a bag of frozen sliced carrots. So I cooked those, pureed them and used those instead. My pitbull loved her treats! My dough was sticky, but baked up just fine. I did different variations of thickness to figure out what would work best. The thicker ones were softer and the thin ones got a lil burnt but crispy. But the dog did not care.
Tried the recipe and it came out just fine. Yes the dough was very moist, just as was stated in the recipe, key seems to really be in the moistness of the pumpkin. I steamed mine so maybe less moist than if you cooked in water. For me, I would either just add more coconut flour, or decrease the moistness of the pumpkin by baking it or something. never the less, the biscuits came out fine, and after the basking process, they were more like a soft cookie than a crunchy one. I also wanted to have a crunchier treat for my dog, so I threw them in my dehydrator for a couple of hours and they then became quite crunchy.
Great recipe, but I think that you shoukd add xanthum gum into your gluten free recipes. I just baked the coconut/peanutbutter/pumpkin dog treats, and from having my own personal experience with gluten free pastry type baking, any gluten free flour that isn't one for one does not have what it takes to hold the pastry together. But Xanthum gum does.
I just made this recipe for our dog and it was a huge hit! It worked out perfectly. Although i will say that I’ve been baking with gluten free flours for many years, And there are a couple of key steps that were omitted. First: after combining all ingredients, you HAVE to let them set undisturbed on the counter for 10-15 minutes. This is essential for the coconut flour to adsorb the excess moisture from the dough. Do NOT skip this! Second: when you roll out your dough make sure there is a big sheet of parchment paper on both above and under the dough. Gluten free doughs are notoriously sticky. Third: slide the rolled out dough on a cookie sheet (it’s still on that piece of parchment) and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes. This will solidify the coconut oil giving you a firm dough that is easy to cut, and place the biscuits on a parchment (a new clean piece) covered baking sheet. My oven has a hot spot on the left side (causing everything on the top left side to burn) so i rotated the pan 180 degrees at the 30 minute mark. I also poked three holes down the center of each biscuit so they would dry out more evenly when baking. Yes gluten free ingredients are insanely expensive, so i hope this clarifies and helps everyone be successful! Have a great day and God bless!
Thank you for your comment 🙏🏼 I just tried another recipe yesterday and it was my first time working with gluten free. Not quite disaster but I just checked the rest of the dough in the trash about an hour ago. Then I read your post, all sounds familiar! 😂 Now I think I will try this recipe with your helpful tips. 😊 have a fabulous day!
The pumpkin coconut dog biscuit recipe was terrible to say the very least. I ended up using 3 cups of extra flower to even make it workable. And had to cook it for 4 1/2 hours at 2:50 to get them even not soft. I don’t know how you made this recipe or maybe you never even made it you just imagined it. But honestly the worst recipe ever and the ingredients are so expensive. Not good
Hi Cassie
So I tried your coconut flour recipe. I'm sorry to say, it was just awful! The dough was way too moist (yes I added flour--but coconut flour is not cheap)! Do you think 4 eggs is too much for the ratio of flour? Well it was a mess! Instead of using a large cookie cutter I resorted to a smaller one and hand pressed the dough! That increased the overall labor time. Then storing them in a container made them soft even after I baked them extra time.
What can I say...my dog likes them and they are tasty but my main reason for making these was to give her something hard to chew on as I also make her own food. Next time I will find a recipe using W.W. flour!
P.S. I don't know how yours came out so good. Sorry to be so negative, but I spent time and money and the finished project was a disappointment.
The best to you...
Awful. Absolutely awful. I wish I'd read the reviews before trying this out- a bunch of expensive ingredients and a waste of time. The dough is way too wet to roll. I used a smaller cookie cutter, checked them at 20 minutes and they were absolutely burnt. I waited for them to cool before throwing them out and they were somehow still squishy, even though they burnt. Dont waste your time with this.
My pup unfortunately has an egg intolerance but I thought I would try the recipe anyway- I figured with so many of the ingredients already making great binders, it just might work without eggs! It totally worked!
In place of the eggs, I added a few tbs of chia seeds (for the omegas) mixed with 2T of water. I noticed the mixture became very workable with only a single cup of coconut flour, so I also omitted the extra 1/2c stated in the recipe. Very little extra flour was needed to help roll out.
Based on others reviews about burning I baked at 300. Baked for about 50 mins
Poor recipe - had to add half a bag more flour to the mix to even make it rollable. Not worth the time, effort or ingredients.
I'm sorry to hear they didn't work for you!
Yep same here. Not worth the time, ingredients, mess or frustrations!
I made these without reading the comments. I followed the recipe only substituting applesauce for the eggs to make the treats vegan (inspired by a vegan friend). I put the dough into bone & paw shaped silicone molds and baked as directed. The dough was easy to work with, not too sticky or wet. The treats did not get crisp but were otherwise fine and my dogs love them. In fairness, my dogs love everything, but my friend’s picky boxer loved them too! I was too lazy to cook up all of the dough the first day so tonight I am cooking the rest. Will try a slightly lower temp for longer to see if they get crisp. Either way my dogs will be happy! Thanks for the recipe!
Ok so I tried to make these and was very disappointed. They were so soft and kept breaking because they were so wet. I couldn't even pick them up with a spatula, so I thought I hadn't added enough coconut flour. I added in at least another cup and kneaded it into the dough. Same thing. I think this recipe should call for 3 cups of coconut flour, and then let it sit for half an hour in the fridge before rolling to firm up. Not pleased with this recipe at all
Is this supposed to be 250? I did mine at 350 and they started to burn at 20 minutes...
I just had this same problem. 🙁 I am making these for my client's dogs and this batch is toast!
I'll report back if I figure it out.
This recipe caught my eye when looking for a grain free treat to make my dog. In reading the comments regarding the too wet dough my first thought was “if they’re using canned pumpkin I’ll bet the can is larger than the 15 oz called for”. I’m in Canada and the can of organic pumpkin I purchased was 540 ml and that is equal to 18.26 oz. I weighed out just 15 oz to use in this recipe and followed the ingredient recipe exactly. I chilled the dough in the fridge for 1/2 hour. I baked them on convection at a low 275F degrees for 40-45 minutes. The cookies continued to crisp as they cooled off.
I rolled the first batch and found it too much work for the time I had so I used a 1” cookie scoop for the remainder and used a fork dipped in water to make peanut butter cookie hash marks and flatten them! They turned out great and my Doggo gave them 4 paws!
Thanks for the recipe!
Thank you for much for taking the time to come back and tell us what you did and how it worked out for you, Kathy! We're so glad they were a hit with you and your doggo! =)
We had no problems testing these at 350° with two different recipe testers in different kitchens, but if you're having issues, lowering it to 300° and baking longer will do the trick.
Fresh-ground peanut butter is better than anything in a jar, and I doubt that any dog cares whether his treats look like bones or have a glaze, so I just spoon a slightly softer dough and squoosh it with a spoon. Cooks up well, and a great dog treat. I hadn't considered using turmeric or cinnamon until you pointed out that they're great anti-infammatories. Thanks for the suggestion. My Sheltie is on a raw diet and only gets cooked treats when I'm agility training. Carrying around bits of raw meat is not fun.
Made these and they came out absolutely perfect! I did leave the flour to rest overnight in the fridge and in the morning I made these with silicone molds instead of spreading the dough and using cookie cutters. I also lowered the temp to 315 and about 35 minutes and they came out absolutely perfect!
The dogs love them and I was able to make 558 treats of different sizes.
I'll post link to my FB post so you can see the consistency and end result.
I will definitely say- use silicone molds for this recipe since the dough us very soft and buttery. ❤
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3253281294783890&id=100003061556526
You are mistaken. This is the worst recipe I've EVER tried. Let it sit for 30 minutes, still too . Moist like oatmeal! So, spread out on parchment ppaper on a cookie. Refrigerated for 45 minutes. NO CHANGE. WHAT A WASTE OF GOOD INGREDIENTS!