Peanut Butter-Honey Roll Ups

Bender promised I would share another treat recipe. This is more time consuming than the last recipe I posted in my Sunday=Baking post, but the dogs seem to enjoy the finished product just as much. I got this recipe from Jen over at All-Natural-Dog-Treat. She made treats for her dog Baggins, who sadly passed about a month ago.

Recipe for Peanut Butter-Honey Roll Ups (modified from Jen's website)

*Note this recipe does take time to complete. You must have time to freeze finished dough!

For the Filling

1/2 c - Oatmeal, powdered (crush it up in the food processor)

2 tbsp - honey

1 tbsp - peanut butter (chunky or creamy is fine, just make sure it's organic!)

2 tbsp - Flax seeds, optional

1 egg white

For the Filling:
Use food processor to turn the oats into powder. Basically you’re making oat flour for the filling. Sift, then measure out ¼ c. of the most finely powdered oats.

Dump this back in the food processor and add peanut butter, honey and egg white. Blend until thoroughly mixed. Add flax seeds then pulse a couple of times to mix but keep mostly whole (mix by hand if you prefer, I'm just lazy).

Scrape out as much as possible into small bowl and set aside. Don't bother to clean out the food processor, you'll be using most of the same ingredients in the next step anyway.

Dough Ingredients:

1.5 c - whole wheat flour

1/2 c - all purpose flour

1/2 c - dry oatmeal

1/2 c - applesauce (puree a small apple as a substitute)

1/4 c - milk

1/4 c - peanut butter

2 tbsp - honey

1 egg + 1 yolk (XL)

For the Dough: Dump applesauce, milk, egg yolk, peanut butter, honey, and oats in food processor and pulse a few times.

Ingredients should be well combined, the oats looking about a quarter of their usual size. Scrape this out into the larger (1.5qt) bowl then add all purpose and whole wheat flour. Mix thoroughly to form a stiff dough. If dough is too dry to stick together, add 1tbsp of water at a time (do not exceed 4tbsp) until moist enough to stick. Knead for about 5 minutes then let dough rest for 10 minutes.

*Note:* Jen prefers to chop up a small apple rather than using applesauce. This leaving small chunks to give the dough more texture. I would have to agree with her.

To Make the Roll Ups:
Roll out dough between two sheets of wax or parchment paper, 1/4" to 1/2" thick, forming a rectangular shape about 8" wide, length will vary depending on thickness. Slightly taper both long ends. Now, get out the filling and evenly coat the whole top of the dough, avoiding the flattened edges. (I added a little extra honey and peanut butter for good measure!)

CAREFULLY roll up the dough tightly enough to trap the filling inside (don't let it squeeze out the ends) starting from one flattened edge to the other. (If the end won't stay put, moisten the tapered edge a bit so it will stick.) Once rolled up, wrap the wax or parchment paper around the tube then put it in a plastic bag or wrap it with plastic wrap, and put it in the freezer until firm enough to cut easily (usually 2-3 hours).

Even It Out

If your roll is uneven, you can even it out after chilling by rolling it with your hands against a flat surface.

You can also reduce the thickness in the same way, though I'd do this after chilling one hour then return the roll to the freezer. Using a slight sawing motion, cut slices 1/4" to 1/2" thick.

Baking

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees (325 degrees if using dark cookie sheet), top rack for 30-45 minutes or until tops are slightly golden and bottoms are lightly browned. If you like, turn them for the last 10 minutes baking time so that the filling on the top browns and makes the swirl pattern more obvious. Let cool and then you can feed a healthy,delicious and PRETTY snack to your canine companion. Makes about 28 cookies, 2" wide, 1/2" thickness. (Rachel Note - again, with fresh treats I refrigerate them since they don't have preservatives.)

*Note:* But, they don't have to be roll-ups.

You could also roll out the dough to 1/4" thickness, cut into equal halves, coat the top of one half with the filling, top with second half of dough then cut into squares or strips. That would make more of a peanut butter dog treat sandwich.