By now, I'm sure most of you who have been enjoying my blog know that my husband is a homebrewer (with dreams of one day opening his own brewery). With brewing comes lots and lots of spent grains, which for humans, have no use - what little nutritional value they had was used up during the brewing process. For a long time, my husband would give the leftover grains to our chickens as a treat, but with our small flock his leftovers were more than what they needed (or could even safely consume). He hated to just throw out the leftovers so I suggested he find a recipe to make spent grain dog treats out of them. (Note that spent grains are completely safe for dogs as they are removed from the brewing process prior to the addition of hops - hops are what makes beer hazardous for dogs.)


This recipe became an instant hit with our pups, and is now a staple in my business!

Spent grains dog treat shaped like a bone on a kitchen table

the recipe


Ingredients

  • 4 cups spent grains
  • 2 1/4 cups flour (plus extra for rolling)
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter (make sure it does not contain xylitol as this is poisonous to dogs)
  • 2 large eggs


steps

  1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat. Preheat over to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix all ingredients (can be done by hand or with a mixer). If the dough is too sticky, add a little extra flour.
  3. Separate your dough into three balls of approximately equal size for easier handling.
  4. Generously flour your counter and rolling pin, then roll one of the dough balls out to approximately 1/4" thickness.
  5. Using your choice of cookie cutter, cut out as many dog treats as you can, re-rolling the scraps as needed.
  6. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough, or wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for later.
  7. Place cookies on lined cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
  8. Reduce temperature to 225 degrees Fahrenheit for an additional 2 hours. This step isn't necessary if you plan to refrigerate the treats. I always include this step as it fully dries out the cookies, allowing me to store them for longer periods at room temperature.
  9. Remove from oven and cool. Store in an airtight container.


**Recipe adapted from Red Rock Brewing.

spent grain dog treats in my business


A while back, I decided I wanted to have custom dog treats made with my logo to give out to clients when I delivered their artwork. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any local dog bakeries that could make what I was looking for. I decided the easiest way to go about it would just be to make my own cookies and stamp my business name on them. After a quick search on Etsy for custom cookie cutters, I realized I had a solution in my own backyard - my engineer brother owns a 3D printer. He was able to quickly print me up a cookie cutter, and my custom cookies were born.


Initially, I was baking all of the cookies, but once my husband started using his spent grain recipe, he took over the baking role. He brews often enough that we have a continual supply of fresh spent grain dog cookies, keeping both my dogs and my clients' dogs happy.

approved by my pups


Of course, what is a good product without a little quality control? My pups have the enviable job of testing each and every batch of cookies (you can clearly see this is the world's worst job for them).

Belgian malinois dog looking up at a spent grains dog treat with Kylee Doyle Photography stamped on it

Arawn waiting to taste test a spent grain dog treat

Is your dog jealous? Book your session now and I'll be sure to treat your pup with a generous amount of these delectable treats!


ALL AROUND THE CIRCLE


Don't forget to continue following the blog circle to read about some other delicious treats! Up next is Elaine Tweedy of I Got the Shot Photography, cooking up favorite treats in her kitchen in the Endless Mountains of Northeastern PA.

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