Christmas Food for Dogs: Ideas for Fun, Easy, Hassle-free Doggie Christmas Treats
By: Team Pawsitive
Tags: Christmas, Dog Treats, Dog Food, Christmas Cookies, Dogs

Wow! Christmas is right around the corner, which means that we’re almost through with 2020! Can you believe that there are less than two weeks until 2020 is over?! This year’s Christmas may not be like others due to our current situation, but that doesn’t mean you, your family, and your doggo cannot enjoy a nice at-home Christmas celebration with delicious Christmas treats. You can even get creative and have some fun making Christmas dog treats that should not take long, at all. You and your doggo will both be smiling from ear to ear from these Christmas treat ideas.

Here are 2 easy Christmas treats to make for your dog!

Hard or Soft gingerbread cookies

Run run run, as fast as you can, to get started making these staple, easy Christmas cookies for your doggo. Gingerbread cookies are a staple at every Christmas gathering, and anyone can make them!

What you’ll need:

1 cup of molasses

4 tablespoons of honey

1 cup of water

½ cup of vegetable oil

6 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground cloves

2 tablespoons of fresh, chopped ginger (you can opt to use 1 teaspoon of dried powder ginger instead, if you’d like)

Steps:

-Preheat oven to 350°F.

-Take two bowls(one medium, and one large) and mix the molasses, honey, water, and oil in the medium bowl. Use the large bowl for the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ground cloves, and ginger.

-Slowly add the dry ingredients(whatever’s in the large bowl) into the medium bowl with the wet ingredients. Make sure to mix well.

-If you’ve mixed thoroughly, you should end up with a dough like mixture. You will take that mixture and divide it into 4 balls. Then you will take those balls, wrap them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 3–5 hours or freeze for 1–2 hours.

-When the dough is cold enough, go ahead and roll the dough out. Note: the thicker you make the dough, the longer it will take to cook.

-After rolling the dough, you now get to have fun and cut it into gingerbread men(or women) shapes.

-You can now bake the cookies for 20–25 minutes, until they turn brown. You can test one cookie to gauge how crunchy it is. If you prefer soft gingerbread cookies, you can take them out of the oven, but if you prefer them more crunchy, then bake them longer.

And…the cookies are done! As the gingerbread man would say, “You can’t catch me, I made the cut for one of the best Christmas cookies on the Internet!”

Candy cane cookies

You may not be able to give your actual candy to your dog, but that doesn’t mean you can’t make fun, candy cane shaped dog biscuits for him! This is another easy Christmas treat recipe, and it’ll make your dog think “real candy canes who?” for sure!

What you’ll need:

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 beaten egg

1/2 cup of warm water

1 vegetable bouillon cube

1 teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of salt

½ teaspoon of peppermint extract

Beet juice

Steps:

-Preheat the oven to 350°F.

-Dissolve the bouillon cube into the warm water.

-Mix all ingredients into a mixing bowl until the result is a soft dough. Then, you separate the dough into two separate, but equal pieces.

-Pour the beet juice and ½ a cup of flour over one of the pieces and knead until all color is worked in. Add additional flour if the dough is still sticky.

-Then, take the dough and cut it into smaller pieces and shape them into “strings” like you would see on a typical candy cane.

-Twist one string of each color together and shape it into a candy cane.

-Bake for 15 minutes, or until it turns golden brown.

-Let it cool. Once cooled, store them in an airtight container until giving them to your doggo and putting a smile on his face!

Disclaimer: As much as we want our doggos to enjoy these Christmas treats, health comes first! If your dog has health issues or if you have any concerns about your dog’s nutrition, consult with the veterinarian or dog nutritionist for appropriate portion sizes before feeding these treats.

Want to learn more about dog training, dog behavior and dog nutrition?

Check out Pawsitive app to actually put theory into practice and start applying all this knowledge. The Pawsitive app helps dog parents raise happy, healthy dogs by providing community and professional support. We connect you to other dog parents and professionals. We are building a supportive dog parent community and we are better than dog social media! Stay accountable for completing wellness milestones with your dog and other dog parents, dog moms, and dog dads.