Lucy pup was rescued in the cold February night in 2014. She was a mess, stinky and covered in snow. The vet said she must has never had a haircut. The veterinarian we took her to estimated she was just shy of two years old. After a few nights with her in isolation, we decided to get her a good haircut, a bath and keep her. Lucy has captured my heart but not the rest of our families. I love this doggy. She loves me too. Spoiling her is hard with four kids running around the house. So, today was a chilly day that was just perfect for making Pumpkin Dog Treats for this spoiled Lucy.

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Published November 3, 2021
Updated March 22, 2022
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Spoil your dog

We have had Lucy for seven years and she has been a crazy ride ever since. She barks at everyone, well except my dad, brother and Tyler. But the greatest thing about her is she loves me unconditionally. But that is also her greatest weakness. She gets really annoying when I leave and am not around.

For instance, Lucy dog has a massive case of separation anxiety. One way I like to calm her is to remind her of me with food. When not home, our kids like to give her treats. She may be a little chubby, she is over 9 years old, but she won’t be forgetting me. At least not after she nibbles on these yummy pumpkin dog treats!

Buying dog treats is a fun way to spoil your pet. Lucy goes crazy when we mention the word, just like walk, or bed. But actually, buying them is equally hard with four kids and a budget. So, what would a blog about making homemade food for our family be without making a post about homemade dog treats for Lucy pup?!

This recipe for Banana Pumpkin dog treats only has four ingredients. Just four! Being able to read the ingredients and know for certain what we are feeding our family gives me such relief and joy. Even knowing what is in the treats we give Lucy pup is really great. Especially when it is just flour, bananas, egg and pumpkin!

Cost breakdown for this recipe

These dog treats have only four ingredients! I love buying Lucy dog treats, but literally cannot afford gourmet ones at the store that can cost upwards to $20.

1 cup pumpkin $0. 52
2 eggs $0.16
3 cups whole wheat flour $0.48
1 banana $0.21

The total cost for this recipe is $1.37.
That is it! All-in-all, this recipe made 35 large pumpkin dog treats that were 4 inches by 2 inch and 1/8 inch thick. Had I known sooner, I maybe would have used a smaller cookie cutter to make a larger number of threats as we ended up just breaking them in thirds.

While looking online at prices for gourmet dog treats, prices ranged from $4.99 starting price from a popular ship-to-home online store to $45.00 on Etsy. Don’t get me wrong, my treats for the first time are nowhere near gourmet! However, I sure like saving some big bucks! And plus, now being November, this would be the perfect gift for all your friends with fur babies!

Banana Pumpkin Dog Treats Recipe

Ingredients

3 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 banana

Directions for Dog Treats

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and take out baking stone, then set aside.
I am going to use our Pampered Chef baking stones and am hoping that they will help to bake the dog treats extra delicious just like cookies for our family.
2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a KitchenAid mixer, place ingredients in to be mixed.

3. Place 1 banana in the bowl, make sure it is not a green banana, but one that is ripe and ready to be easily mashed which helps to add natural sweetener to the dog treats, without adding sugar.

4. Add 2 eggs to the bowl with the banana, then lock the KitchenAid mixer and turn it too low to blend the banana with the eggs.

5. Add 1 cup pumpkin puree to the bowl and mix all together until completely combined.
Elliana was my special helper today; she was so excited about making Lucy treats! Mix on low, as the pumpkin could splatter out of the bowl, then use a spatula and scrape the sides down so all of the ingredients mix well.

6. Add flour, 1 cup at a time, and mix on slow until blended.

7. Lightly dust a clean countertop and turn out Pumpkin Dog Treat mixture onto flour.

8. Then, using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thick making sure to sprinkle flour onto the surface as you roll out the dough, as it can stick to the rolling pin.

9. Use a cookie cut-out to make your dog treats in any shape or design you’d like. For example, I used the dog bone cut-out, but I wish I would have made them smaller as we just broke them into thirds to serve.

10. Place the cookie cut-outs on a Baking Stone or baking sheet, making sure they do not touch, or they could end up stuck together while baking.

One thing that I wished to have done would be to take a fork and poke each of the bones a few times because when I took them out, they had puffed up while baking and caused bubbles to form on the bones. Had they been poked; they would be flat and nice and crispy.

11. Bake the Pumpkin Dog Treats for 25-28 minutes or until browned. I would recommend leaving them in as long as possible to avoid chewy treats that have too much moisture and can be at risk of molding.

12. Let cool completely before serving to your doggo! Lucy sure loved these treats!
And as she was older at 9, she actually liked the chewy treat more than she would have liked a crispy treat. The smell as they were baking was delicious enough that our three bigs asked what snack I baked for them after school!

Needless to say, they were unimpressed that I had made Lucy pup treats but were more than willing to give her one!
Enjoy, and let me know if you try this recipe! I would love to hear how your doggie likes them.
~Monica

Recipe for Pumpkin Dog Treats

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