Dirt Peanut Butter Cups - Worms, Mud, and Dirt oh my!

Diggin' this dog treat? 

I remember in Mrs. Hall's class in the 5th grade, we would watch scary movies, write scary stories, and share them in the dark with a flash light. Mrs. Hall would also bring in these oreo dirt pudding cups for Halloween.  It was my favorite part of class - chocolately, crunchy, and gummi - a kid's dream come true.

So for this Halloween, I wanted to make my pup's dream come true by turning my favorite childhood Halloween dessert into a dog treat version. I spent some time thinking about what I would use for oreos or chocolate pudding instead since those are big no-nos for dogs. I wanted to put them into cupcake liners but was afraid Mochi would eat the paper. 

Borrowing ideas from my last two recipes (bat crisps, mini pies) I used a mini cupcake tin and lined it with a similar pie crust recipe. I filled the cooked pie cups with unsweetened/unsalted peanut butter to replace pudding. I then crushed the bat crisps to look like oreos. Lastly, in place of gummi worms, I used chicken sausage. I went all the way to whole foods to find sausage with the least crap in it. I swear Mochi eats better than I do.

INGREDIENTS:

(~20 mini cups)

• Pie cups:
• 1 C. of whole wheat pastry flour
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 C. skim milk
• 1 C. unsweetened, unsalted peanut butter
• 2 chicken sausages sliced lengthwise into 1/4'' thick strips, cut in half
• 1/2 C. of crushed black bean bat crisps

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.

2. Mix together flour, olive oil, and skim milk. Knead dough.

3. Roll to 1/8'' thickness. 

4. Using a 2" circle cookie cutter, cut into circle shapes.

5. Flatten circle to stretch dough out slightly.
6. Put into mini cupcake pan.

7. Poke holes at bottom of the pie cup with fork to avoid bubbles and air rising in the pie cups.
8. Bake for 18 minutes.

9. Bring a small pot of water to boil.
10. Add chicken sausage strips and reduce to medium heat.
11. Let simmer until strips curl. Drain.

12. Let pie cups completely cool then fill with 1/2 tbsp of peanut butter.
13. Top with crushed bat crisps and chicken sausage strips.

How spooky... 13 steps. Coincidence? Yeah, probs.

STORAGE:

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week due to meat in the treat.

Tip: Write date on container to keep track of expiration date.