Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Grain-Free Bacon Biscuits!

Waiting for the flash to go off...
Max has been having some eye issues lately and so yesterday we went and saw the vet (henceforth known as Dr. Awesome).  Thankfully he didn't have any abrasions to his eye but boy was his eye mad! His lower lid was swollen, the eye was cloudy and the skin around the eye had been scratched at. Max was very good for Dr. Awesome's exam, eye stain, and as she gave him his first dose of eye ointment. It does help that she passes out freeze dried chicken treats like candy at Halloween and he's no fool.


Since Max was so good for Dr. Awesome (and the all the clinic staff are great with him) I thought I'd try some cookies for Max. Max is explicitly grain free so cookies can sometimes pose a challenge but I was looking around last week and ran across Garbanzo bean flour which was perfect since Garbanzo beans are a legume, not a grain. I ran by the local health market this evening and grabbed a bag. I also hit my regular grocery store on the way home for bacon and I was set to make treats. What I like about this recipe is that these treats could be customized just about any way you want with whatever flavors work for your dog.

Here's what you'll need:


The Recipe:
Fat from 4 strips of bacon or about 1 liquid ounce
1 egg (you could substitute almond or soy milk if your dog has egg issues)
1 tbsp. honey
3 oz. grated Parmesan cheese (or any other cheese you like)
7/8 c. garbanzo bean flour


The first thing to do is render the bacon fat, which means cook the bacon and save the fat. I cut the bacon into smaller pieces so it would cook faster and ended up with about a liquid ounce of bacon fat. Save this for the dough. You can crumble up the bacon and add it in if you want or save it for later. 



 Create a dough using the egg, grated cheese, honey, flour and bacon fat. Mix until you end up with a dough that holds together and resembles slightly dry play-dough. Mine came together and was about the size of a softball.  Place the ball between two sheets of waxed paper and roll for cutting. I wanted mine fairly thin and used a small cutter so I could have small pieces to train with Max, but roll and cut to your liking.





Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a baking mat. Mine baked for about 7-9 minutes at 350 degrees but adjust your time for the thickness of your biscuits. Let cool on the sheet. The longer these sit the crunchier they become.












Sweetie declared these were pretty tasty but next time I think I'll add the bacon pieces back in for a bigger hit of flavor. Max thinks these are fine just they way they are!











Update: Pitlandia used this recipe with a great substitute for the egg using flax seed! Check out their version here.

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