Treats from the Grave

It's all grave-y baby.

I was grocery shopping at Target and spent about a good 30 minutes strolling their Halloween aisle for ideas. I ran across a tin coffin filled with candy. Perfect - candy treats for me and a wicked cookie cutter for dog treats.

Cemeteries are so eerie to me. In the Chinese culture, we have a shrine for our ancestors. My mom always told me that children could not go to the shrine, she said that the deceased would want to take a child with them to the afterlife. Of course this spooked the bajeebies out of me. From then on, I would hold my breath every time I passed a cemetery so that the deceased wouldn't know a breathing child was close by and take me. It all made sense in my small brain. Ironically, there is a cemetery right along the major highway next to my neighborhood so I was holding my breath pretty often. There is a cemetery right next to the Minneapolis airport. Whenever I pass that cemetery, I still find myself holding my breath out of habit.

These yummy (not by personal experience of course) dog treats are made with baby.... food. The whole wheat and flax seed makes for a wholesome looking treat with grains you can see. On the other hand, it also looks cementy like an actual tombstone.

How creepy is this? I was rolling the dough and started taking the shape of a skull. I used the coffin tin to punch out the eyes and a knife to make the nose and mouth. Creeeeepy!

INGREDIENTS:
(~20 coffins)

• 1 1/2 C. of whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat)
• 1/2 tbsp flaxseed (good source of omega-3 fatty acids, good for skin and coat.)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 jar of baby food (read ingredients to make sure there is NO onion powder)
• 1/4 C. water
• Few drops of chefmaster food coloring (in black)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees.

2. Mix together flour and flax seed.

3. Add olive oil, jar of baby food, water*, and few drops of black food coloring to the dry ingredients.
*I usually put 1/4 C. of water in the jar of baby food and swish it around.

Step 7

Step 9

4. Mix well and knead dough. Add more water if dough is dry, add more water if the dough is too sticky.
5. Roll dough on floured surface. 

6. Roll of 1/8" thickness.
7. Use Tin Coffin from Target to cut shapes.
8. Place coffins on ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Use a mechanical pencil (take out lead and give the tip a wash) to indent "RIP" into the coffin.
10. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

STORAGE:

Store in an airtight container once on counter after thoroughly cooled for up to 2 weeks . Waiting until cooled is an important step; condensation can build and the moisture will cause treats to mold.

For longer shelf life: store in fridge for up to 2 months. Store in freezer for up to 8 months.

Tip: Write date on plastic bag to keep track of expiration date.