Homemade Liver Snaps (dog treats)
This is Opal. She wants a taste of the dough. Now.
These are the “snakes” of dough. Some have more flour than others, but it doesn’t really make a difference.
Makes almost 1-1/2 pounds!
I created this recipe from a variation of other dog treat recipes because I wanted a small treat to put in my dog’s Kong Stuff-A-Ball Large
. She has a blast banging it around to get the treats out. The “Kong” brand treats cost about $7 for half a pound. That’s more than a decent steak costs per pound! One of the best things about these is they are wholesome and contain no chemicals or preservatives. Since they are cooked until thoroughly dry they keep well, too.
Another note: I changed this recipe several years after it was originally published, it used to use whole wheat flour and corn meal, which we now know are not good for dogs.
Homemade Liver Snaps (dog treats) (no wheat!)
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice flour
- 1 cup cooked rice
- 1 lb. raw liver
- 2 eggs
- water as needed to get dough to correct texture
- (more rice flour for handling)
Instructions
- Dice liver. Place in food processor and pulse to liquify, add eggs and blend a little more. Transfer to a large bowl. Then add rice flour until it's the consistency of a thick paste, as water as needed to make sure the rice flour gets damp, but not really wet. It may help to add the water, mix and wait a little for it to get absorbed. We're going for something the texture of playdough. Add cooked rice and knead in by hand. Use rice flour for dusting, as this dough can get pretty sticky.
- Once it gets good and firm, take big hunks of dough and roll it into snakes about 3/4" thick. (Use lots of flour or it will stick)
- At this point, your dog is probably nearly jumping up on the table to get at this delicious concoction. Go ahead, give them a smidgeon.
- Okay, now you'll have several snakes rolled. Put them on a baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment paper because I'm too lazy to wash pans). Put them in the freezer for about an hour.
- Okay, an hour is up. Now the snakes are pretty firm. I used a couple of long 1/4" dowels and dented the sides (trying to make a snowman-ish shape, a la Kong treats). You could just leave them roundish. If your dough is firm enough you can slice it in 1/8" slices. If the snakes squish when you're slicing, put them back in the freezer. My experience is that the ends will be nice and firm and ready to cut the middles are squishy, so I sliced the ends off each snake and put the dough back in the freezer having baked my first batch in the meantime. I used my santuko knife, which is great for cutting through frozen stuff.
- Once you've got a nice pile of little liver snap slices, put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Try to stay away from greasing it, these are healthy, wholesome treats!
- Bake at 350° for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 250 and bake for another 30 or 40 minutes (this is to really dry them out).
- Alternate ways to shape these cookies:
- Using a large pastry bag, pipe treats in whatever shape/size you want them in.
- If your liver is fine enough, leave out the cooked rice and keep your dough a little softer then use a cookie press to shape the cookies.
- I buy rice flour at an international supermarket near me. If you can't find it. Cook and cool regular white rice and pulse it with the liver and eggs in the food processor.
Notes
Makes almost 1.5 pounds!
I like everything about this recipe EXCEPT the garlic. I was pretty sure that garlic is bad for dogs.
I need to get Buddy a Kong toy, he gets bored easily.