Show your pooch how much you love them with these Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dog Treats!

This post was originally published on April 6, 2020. It was updated with new photos, blog post information, and recipe refinements on April 22, 2021.

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Baked goodies are for more than just humans -- these Peanut Butter Pumpkin Dog Treats are a great way to spoil your doggos while having fun in the kitchen! These homemade dog treats are healthy for canines, only take a handful of pantry staples, and dogs drool for them!

Well, the baking has continued, folks! Chest freezers are still sold out for a 40-mile radius around here, though, and couldn't run enough marathons to make use of all my baking "fuel."

What's a girl to do?

A couple of days ago I went back to the baking drawing board-- brainstorming "who" I can bake for other than the two of us.

Then I look down to see Allie begging for my food at my feet. I had my answer.

After all, I have my peanut butter dog treat recipe but they're definitely a more relaxed, drop cookie style recipe. I've always wanted to play around with a cutout dog cookie recipe for Allie, but haven't had the time.

And time I now have and am actively looking to fill, so I began playing around with a recipe on Saturday.

Being that I mysteriously have 3 cans of pumpkin (🤔) and have a large jar of peanut butter remaining from a Costco haul -- from what seems like a lifetime ago -- I got to work creating a cookie with two of Allie's favorite foods.

With peanut butter, canned pumpkin, whole wheat flour, flaxseed meal, and egg, these cookies are full of dog-healthy ingredients and flavors they love. They're also made with pantry staple ingredients I almost always have on hand.

And now, every time I open the freezer to grab myself a treat, Allie jumps up to get her treat, too. And get a treat she does. After all, we're all trying to get through this together, huh?

Here at Mae's Menu, we have a variety of readers: those who are more experienced in the kitchen and want to zip straight through to the recipe and those who want to learn more about the dish, potential substitutions, and more.

To skip straight to the recipe, just click "Jump to Recipe" at the top left of this post. To browse the post quickly, just click the headings in the table of contents below.

These peanut butter and pumpkin dog treats are...

• Soft
• Nutty
• Buttery
• Easy to make
• A hit with all the pups!

These peanut butter pumpkin dog treats are a one bowl baking recipe that your dog will go crazy for.

Ingredients:

• Whole Wheat flour
• Natural peanut butter
• Canned pumpkin - choose pure pumpkin puree, not pumpkin pie puree (see my notes below)
• Large egg
• Flaxseed meal - this seed meal provides an extra nutty note that my dog loves while also supplying omega-3s that are good for dogs' skin and coats.
• Baking soda

Substitutions:

• Pumpkin - defrosted frozen butternut squash can substitute for the canned pumpkin
• Peanut butter - non-natural peanut butter can work in place of the natural peanut butter. Important note: do not substitute almond butter or any other nut butter, as most nuts are toxic to dogs.
• Flaxseed meal - additional whole wheat flour can work in place of the flaxseed meal

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How to make pumpkin peanut butter dog treats:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. And prepare a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix the peanut butter and pumpkin together in a large bowl.
3. Whisk an egg into the pumpkin mixture until combined.
4. Add the flour, baking soda, and flaxseed meal to the mixture and mix in with a wooden spoon until no streaks of flour remain.
5. Roll the cookie dough out onto a floured surface into a ⅛-inch thick round . Cut out cookie shapes with the cookie cutters and place 1 ½-2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
6. Complete with the rest of the dough, re-rolling it as needed.
7. Bake the cookies until the bottom of the cookies just start to turn golden brown.
8. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack until cooled to room temperature.

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Recipe pro-tips:

1. Flour the roll-out surface adequately - keep the dough from sticking to the surface by adequately flouring it. I also recommend flouring your rolling pin as well as the top of the dough. Re-flour the dough as you need to, including when you roll out the dough scraps.
2. Weigh the flour - weighing flour is the most accurate way to measure it and is pretty simple to do, thanks to (affordable) kitchen scales.
3. Bake according to cookie size - medium-sized cookies will need to bake 7-8 minutes. Larger cookies may need 1-2 more minutes of baking time and smaller cookies may need 1-2 minutes less of baking time, so keep an eye on their progress and adjust the baking time as needed.
4. Bake similar size cookies together - this helps them to bake up evenly.
5. Bake longer for harder cookies - want crunchier cookies? Bake them longer. Bake the cookies for up to 22-24 minutes, rotating halfway through the baking time, or until the cookies are firm when lightly tapped.

How to make crunchy dog treats:

The directions listed are to make soft dog treats. You can easily make crunchy dog treats with this recipe, too, however. Just increase the baking time to 22-24 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, or until the treats feel firm to the touch.

Bonus: crunchy dog treats should stay fresh longer at room temperature.

Are peanut butter and pumpkin safe for dogs to eat?

Yes, both peanut butter and pumpkin are safe for dogs to eat, as long as your peanut butter doesn't have xylitol in it. So, just check your peanut butter ingredient label before you bake!

A note on cookie cutters:

You can use whatever type of cookie cutter you like for this soft peanut butter dog treat recipe, but I personally love using a dog-bone shaped cutter.

Just note: if your cookie cutter is larger than 4-5 square inches you will probably need to bake these cookies on the longer end of the baking time range.

Storage tips:

• Room temperature - soft dog biscuits store covered at room temperature for 3-4 days. Crunchy biscuits store covered at room temperature for up to a week.
• Refrigeration - treats store covered in the refrigerator for up to 10 days.
• Freezing - dog treats can be frozen in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months.

A gifting idea:

These homemade dog biscuits make a great gift! Bake a batch and package them up for your friends' doggos at the holidays, for a housewarming gift, or just because.

Tools needed to make this recipe:

• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Silicone scraper or spatula
• Measuring spoons & measuring cups
• Kitchen scale (optional but recommended)
• Rolling pin
• Medium-size mixing bowl
• Dog bone-shaped cookie cutter (or other medium-sized cookie cutters)
• Wire cooling rack
• Parchment paper or silicone baking mat

Check out my other dog treat recipe:

• Peanut Butter Dog Treats Recipe - this other soft dog treats recipe has bacon in it and requires no cookie cutters

Other baking recipes and pumpkin recipes to check out:

• High Altitude Beer Bread
• Oatmeal Bread (No-Yeast!)
• Gluten-free Pumpkin Cookies
• Pumpkin Spice Blender Muffins
• Quick No-Yeast Dinner Rolls

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