Who doesn’t love the smell of holiday baking? Here are some tasty treats you can make for your horse and his friends this year. These apple and oat cookies are the perfect combination for the season, and the addition of almond meal gives an extra special boost to your horse’s diet!
Ingredients
6 cups whole oat flour
2 cups oat bran – and extra for rolling out dough
1 cup whole almond meal/flour
2 tablespoons carob powder
3 cups unsweetened apple sauce
Local honey (optional)
Instructions
1. Try to use organic ingredients whenever possible.
2. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. Combine all ingredients in a food processor or mixer, except the honey.
4. Mix thoroughly, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If you find your dough is a bit dry, add a little filtered water.
5. Transfer dough to a counter or cutting board.
6. Take small rounds of dough and knead gently, sprinkle extra oat bran on your cutting board or counter, then roll out the dough using a rolling pin. Continue until you have used up all the dough. This recipe will make six dozen large biscuits.
7. To make this recipe even easier, you can place half the dough on each cookie sheet, roll out to the corners, and score with a knife.
8. Now for the option…local honey! If you wish, after placing the biscuits on the cookie sheets, drizzle a bit of honey onto each one, or just a few.
9. Place the cookie sheets in the oven. Turn the oven to 350°F.
10. When the oven reaches 350°F, turn it down to 250°F and let the biscuits bake slowly for 1½ to 2 hours. Then turn off the oven, and allow the biscuits to cool completely. You can even leave the biscuits in the oven overnight.
11. Store biscuits in a cookie jar or Ziploc bags. Choose a fancy tin for perfect gift giving. Almond delight with apples ’n oats
If you would prefer chews to biscuits, all you have to do is omit the second baking! Chews should be stored in the refrigerator.
Audi Donamor spent her childhood and early teenage years riding horses, right beside her dad. She is the founder of the smiling blue skies cancer fund, part of the university of Guelph’s pet trust, and has been working voluntarily with special needs companion animals for 15 years. She is the only two-time recipient of the Silmaril Kennel trophy for the human/animal bond and was the 2009 recipient of the golden retriever club of British Columbia’s Christopher Burton memorial trophy.
