Homemade Dog Treat Gift Jar

Finances were a little tight this past year for Christmas, so I decided to get creative in order to save money. One of the items that I gave several family members was homemade dog treats in a jar. This gift isn’t one that is limited to Christmas but can be if someone gets a new dog or as a hostess gift.

You probably have many of the ingredients necessary to make these dog treats in your cupboard right now!

Here is what you will need:

• Bell or Mason jar (quart size is best)
• 2 bone-shaped cookie cutters (one for using to cut the treats, the other to gift)
• swatch of fabric
• ribbon
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 cup peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
• 1 cup milk

Here is what you do:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, combine flour and baking powder. In another bowl, mix the peanut butter and milk, then add to dry ingredients and mix well. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and knead. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and use a cookie cutter to cut out shapes. Now here is the important part: Bake the dough for 20 minutes on a greased cookie sheet until lightly brown. Afterwards, turn the over to warm and continue to bake for approximately 4 more hours or until the treats are completely hard. You should not be able to penetrate the treat with your fingernail.

To create the cover for the lid, cut a circle approximately 9 inches in diameter. I actually used a pot to create this circle. After I chalked the circle, I just cut out the circle. There are two ways to attach this cover. You can secure it to the jar using twine or ribbon, or you could even unscrew the ring (leaving the small, thin circular part on top of the jar) place the fabric on the top of the jar and replace the ring.

A nice touch to this gift is if you add a gift tag with the ingredients and recipe and also include a cookie cutter.

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