For Your Furry Friend: Doggy Domuts!

Do you have a beloved furry doggy friend this Christmas? Did you know making doggy treats is super easy and fun to do? Try these domuts aka doggy donuts. These easy treats are made with the goodness of oatmeal and peanut butter and topped with pink icing and their favourite doggy sprinkles!

We've now had our little Mochi for almost a year now and she has repaid us back in fathoms of happiness. A Dear Reader Pamela who recently adopted a rescue greyhound messaged me with a suggestion to make some Christmas themed snacks for dogs. And it occurred to me that we always buy Mochi's snacks rather than made them. Domuts it was! Mochi had first tried a domut at a cafe and loved it. She's very food motivated.

Mochi basically likes all food that humans eat, except for watery vegetables. But if we eat it, chances are she'll love it. I have to admit that I tried some of the uniced donut to see whether I thought she'd like it-it was a bit odd with the chicken stock and peanut butter but not unpleasant. I wasn't sure if she would go for the beetroot yogurt icing (I didn't like it at all) but she happily licked it even without her favourite treats sprinkled on top.

She's a very patient girl and will happily sit with a costume on as long as her other needs are met (company generally). For the photos I set up our tree, hung some domuts off it and let her loose. Her pink nose twitched and she quickly sought out the nearest domut. She licked at it before biting it and then pulled it off the tree. I broke it up into pieces for her to eat and she was as happy as a clam.

Later that day I moved the tree off the table onto the floor in its usual place by the window and went for a shower. Usually when I have a shower Mochi sits right next to the tub or outside the door if I close it but she was nowhere to be found. "Mochi? Where are you?" I called. You see in my rush I had forgotten that I still had three domuts left hanging on the tree. And there was Mochi busy stealing the domuts from the Christmas tree! I really couldn't even get upset at her as she looked so happy. She now hangs around the tree quite a bit and we figure she must think that it's a rather magical tree that on occasion, grows food that she likes.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you have a pet and what kind is it? Do you make food for your pet?

Doggy Domuts

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Preparation time: 20 minutes plus 30 minutes refrigeration time

Cooking time: 30 minutes

• 1 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 small egg white
• 1/3 cup low sodium chicken stock
• 4-5 tablespoons peanut butter (make sure that it contains no xylitol)

For icing

• 5 tablespoons natural yogurt
• 5 tablespoons tapioca flour*
• 1 teaspoon beetroot powder*
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1 tablespoon of your dog's favourite treats, crumbled finely (I used a liver treat)

You can find tapioca flour at Asian grocery stores or health food stores. You can also find beetroot powder at health food stores. If you can't find it, a drop of pink or red food colouring is fine for dogs too.

Step 1 - Place the rolled oats in a food processor and blitz until you get a fine texture, similar to wholemeal flour (which you can also use in an equal quantity). Add the egg white and chicken stock and blitz again. Then add peanut butter which should help it all bind and form a ball.

Step 2 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Roll out between two sheets of parchment. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes. Then take two round cutters and cut out donuts - the size depends on your dog but mine were around 6cms diameter. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

Step 3 - In a small bowl mix the beetroot powder and water together. Then mix in the yogurt and tapioca flour together. Spoon over the donuts. The sprinkle the icing with the treats while the icing is still wet. Refrigerate for 1 hour and it will then set hard (honestly it won't feel like it ever will but if you leave it overnight, it will go hard).