Beer and Cookies for Santa

Wow, Christmas is almost here! Hard to believe. And if you’ve been tracking Santa’s trek around the world, you’ll know that by the time he gets here to the US, he’ll be needing a beer real bad.  So when the little kiddies set out their milk and cookies, don’t be afraid to add a little bribery on behalf of the big kids.  After all, Santa is a beer lover too!  Seriously, you don’t think he got that belly eating too much jelly, do ya?

So sleep tight my friends, and if the beer is really good, perhaps Santa will show his appreciation by leaving some quality holiday beverages under your beer tree on Christmas morning.

Hoppy holidays and best wishes for lots of wonderful new beer ventures in 2012!

Cheers beers!

Peanut Butter Dog Cookies from Spent Grain

I’ve been itching to make dog cookies from spent grain since seeing a recipe in one of the hubster’s beer magazines.  Many breweries hand their spent grain over to local farmers for feed, so we know our four legged friends are fans.  After the hubster and his buddy brewed this weekend,  I asked him to set aside of few cups of grain for experimentation purposes.

Below is a basic recipe that seems popular among homebrewers and their canine sidekicks.  I actually halved the original recipe, and as I write this, our kitchen is filled with the yummy aroma of peanut butter dog cookies baking in the oven.

VERY IMPORTANT NOTE:  Hops are toxic to animals, so do not feed any grain to animals if it has come into contact with hops of any kind.

Peanut Butter and Grain Dog Cookies

Makes 2-1/2 dozen medium sized dog cookies.

Ingredients

• 2 cups grain
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix ingredients thoroughly.
3. Roll out dough and press shapes with cookies cutters, cut with knife, or drop cookies using two spoons.
4. Bake for 30 at 350 degrees, then reduce temperature to 225 degrees and continue baking for 2 hours.  The cookies should be dried out at that point so they won’t spoil when left out.

Cool cookies and share w/ your four-legged friends.

These are rustic looking cookies.  But my dogs don’t seem to mind.  There’s not much they won’t eat and they seem to really enjoy these.

Soft or Hard Cookies.  Since I have older dogs, I prefer cookies that aren’t too hard, and still have some tenderness on the inside, so I don’t overbake them.  Test out times and temps in your oven to determine optimal baking time and texture.  Just keep in mind that if the cookies are soft, then their shelf life won’t be as long.  You can even refrigerate them so they won’t get moldy.

Storage.  I’d store these for up to 2 weeks in an airtight container, much like you would human cookies.  However, if you dry them out completely at a lower temperature for a longer period of time , then they should have a fairly long shelf life.

No Grain?  If you’re just looking for a good dog biscuit recipe but don’t have any spent grain on hand, then  visit SpiceGirlFl’s blog Savoring Every Bite and give her homemade peanut butter dog biscuits a try!

I’ll be testing and posting more recipes and ideas for using for spent grain, so stay tuned!

Cheers beers!