Home made dog treats … what better way to celebrate a snow day.  OK, that is lame, even for me, but it was a fun day of snow and baking on Saturday.

My Mom sent me a recipe ages ago and I gave it a whirl the other week.  I made some amendments and tried it again — and here is the recipe I came up with (with original ideas in parenthesis).  The gang is in total agreement that these are yummy.

Sweet Potato Apple Treats

1 smallish cooked plain mashed sweet potato (original recipe called for 1/4 C – but I use the whole “tater)

3 Tablespoons water (you can use chicken or beef broth)

1 cup whole wheat flour  (original recipe used 2 C wheat flour and no oat flour, I like using the oat flour and I think it is healthier)

1 cup oat flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal

1/4 dried parsley (original recipe used finely chopped mint … but I don’t have any mint in the garden and I have parsley in the freezer)

1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and grated  (I peel the apple and grate it directly in to the mix, rather then cutting it up, I just grate around the core so I am not dealing with small pieces)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  In a large bowl, whisk together sweet potatoes and water (or broth).  Add flours, cornmeal, parsley and apples.  Stir to combine.  This is a very stiff dough, so get in there with your hands and knead it to thoroughly mix.  You can finish this by:  1.  Flour a surface and taking half of the dough, roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with a cookie cutter, then repeat with other half of dough, or 2. Roll the dough in small batches through the roller of a pasta maker set to the largest thickness it has (no larger then 1/4 inch).

Bake until dry and slightly golden.  This will take 35 – 40 minutes if you used option one and hand roll the dough, and less time if you got the dough thinner using the pasta maker – 30 minutes or a little less.

Turn the oven off and leave the door ajar (or not).  Let treats cool and dry.  I leave them there till the oven is completely cool.  Store in an airtight container for a week or so.  I put mine in the fridge in a Ziploc bag and they keep a little longer.