RECIPE: Tasty Homemade Banana Carrot Dog Treats

From over-ripened banana to a few tasty, healthy treats for Banjo. Photos by: Allison Gray/Petful

Once again I found myself with a few overripe bananas this week.

No matter how hard I try to remember to eat them before they turn too ripe for my taste, I always seem to forget. This time, I decided to try to use my forgotten fruit as a dog treat ingredient.

Homemade Banana Carrot Dog Treats

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 ripe banana
2 carrots
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 egg

Directions

Heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Using a grater or food processor, shred the carrots.
Puree the banana until smooth.
Combine all ingredients and stir until a dough forms.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to ¼-inch thick.
Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes and place them on a nonstick cookie sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes, shut off the oven and leave the cookies inside for another 20 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack.

I used a classic heart-shaped cookie cutter for these treats.

Makes about 4 dozen small treats.

The trick to getting nicely shaped biscuits is to use a sharp cookie cutter that can cut through the strings of shredded carrot. After that, you’ll have some perfectly adorable and tasty treats. Banjo was begging for more samples after that first bite.