Holiday Treats for Cash and his Buddies

Russ and I knew we wanted a dog before we got married, but we decided to wait until after we were married and settled into our new house to start looking for one. After a couple months of settling in to married life and our new home we started looking through dog books. We looked up all sorts of pure breeds including some rather unusual ones where the closest breeder was in Wisconsin. While Russ and I agree on most things we couldn’t come to an agreement on a breed as they were either too small, too big, too much of a herder, too active, not active enough… After much deliberating we decided that what fit our family best would be for us to adopt a shelter or rescue dog. Since most shelter / rescue dogs are mixes and not much is known about their background we couldn’t be as picky, so our list of what we were looking for was much shorter – a sweet, male puppy that would grow to be a medium sized dog.

Like most of our searches we turned to the Internet to start our search and were pleased to find that all the local shelters and rescues have their pets listed online. We found a few puppies that fit what we were looking for and emailed for more information. The one we grew fondest of was a sweet looking little lab mix with black fur and little white paws. He was housed with a foster parent through the West Alabama Animal Rescue (WAAR) and was the last of his litter waiting for adoption. We emailed back and forth about his story, health, and temperament for a couple days with the WAAR contact. The more we learned the more we fell in love with this little guy. We finally set up a meeting time for us to pick him up. As it came closer to the time we were supposed to meet him I started to panic. We were about to adopt a puppy we had never met before, so I emailed her back and she calmed my nerves by saying that if after the weekend it wasn’t a match to let her know and they would relocate him. Well, as soon as we set eyes on him I knew that there was no way we would be returning him. Cash has been a part of our family since October 2006 and we have loved having him every minute… well except a few like when he dug up part of the new sod or chewed a chair leg….

Cash shows up on the blog fairly frequently and I have mentioned several times how he is my constant cooking companion. He just loves being in the kitchen while I cook and is usually either sprawled out on his bed, under my feet licking up anything that might have dropped, or playing tug of war with Russ. Since he is such a good little kitchen helper I decided to make him some holiday treats that he could also share with his buddies – Hugo, Wagg, Chester, and Kilkee. Based on Cash and his friends’ feedback I think these were a hit with two paws up!

Apple Peanut Butter Biscuits (recipe found online source unknown)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons canola oil

2 tablespoons honey

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, whisk together flours. In a medium bowl, whisk together applesauce, peanut butter, water, oil and honey until smooth. Add the dry ingredients, one cup at a time, into the wet and stir until combined. Scoop the mixture out onto a floured surface and knead a few times until it completely comes together and is smooth, adding enough additional whole wheat flour to keep it from sticking. Roll the dough about 1/4" thick - cut out as many shapes as you can and place them on parchment lined baking sheets. Repeat rolling and cutting until you have used up all of the dough. Bake until the biscuits are golden, about 25 to 30 minutes, rotating the pans halfway though. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool completely. Depending on your biscuit cutter size, the recipe can make a couple to several dozen biscuits.