I was being really lazy this morning. I didn't want to get out of bed and it was 11am. Luckily, my little pugs reminded me that there are lots of things to do today (including bringing them outside to go potty). To apologize for sleeping in too long I decided to make them these Peanut Butter Pooch Snacks with Fig Jam.

Romper is usually very picky about treats and will politely, when he is offered one, take it out of your hand only to spit it out when you're not looking. Today he politely took it out of my hand and sat down by the stairway to eat it - a good sign!

Hopefully your dogs will like this recipe too. I know that figs are not usually available so I'm sure you could use strawberries or bananas instead of figs and your pooch would not complain.

Enjoy!

Step 1: Ingredients

1 c. rolled oats
2 heaping tbsp. of peanut butter
1 egg
1/4 c. fruit (figs or strawberries or bananas or whatever your dog likes)
1/4 c. water

When I made this I used more than 1/4 c. fruit because I wasn't sure what I was doing.

Also, make sure that whatever fruit you are using is safe for dogs. If you have a pie pumpkin you're going to make pies with you could use a piece of it. They're supposed to be good for dogs and mine love cooked pumpkin!

Step 2: Preparing the Peanut Butter Balls

1. Preheat your oven to 350.

2. Take you rolled oats and put them in a small bowl (you don't need much room for these).

3. Crack your egg open and pour the contents onto your oats.

4. Stir the egg up with a fork until it is is completely mixed in with the oats.

5. Add your heaping tablespoons of peanut butter to the oat mix. Make sure to stir this a while. I noticed that clumps of peanut butter with an oat coat would form. Make sure to break these up.

Step 3: Baking the Peanut Butter Balls

6. Place aluminum foil over a cookie sheet or lightly grease the sheet.

7. Take a small bit of the oat mix and roll or pinch it into a small ball. Place it on the cookie sheet. Repeat until all of the oat mix is gone.

8. Bake oat balls until golden brown (this was about 10 minutes for me but watch yours closely)

9. Once they're done baking take them out of the oven and put them on a plate

Step 4: Fig Jam

10. Wash your figs (or other fruit) and pick off the stems

11. Puree your fruit with a blender, hand blender, or just mash it up with whatever technique you can use. The thing in the picture is my hand blender (I LOVE IT!)

12. Put the pureed fruit in a shallow saucepan with equal volumes of water. Mix the water in well.

13. Let the fruit mix simmer until it becomes thick again and will easily hold its own shape if you stir it up. Stir occasionally.

14. Once the pureed fruit is thick again take it off the heat.

The reason I cook the figs is because I like that I'm killing bacteria. Also, the taste after cooking is different and goes better with the peanut butter balls (in my opinion).

Step 5: Applying the Jam and Serving

15. Once your fruit jam has cooled sufficiently place a little dollop of the fruit jam onto each little peanut butter ball.

16. Have your dogs enjoy what you've created!

Dog Ratings:

Romper (fawn pug) - as usual he politely took a piece and then ran off to eat it. Came back and asked for seconds (shocking!) and then thirds (more shocking!)

Murphy (black pug) - stood up on his hind legs to get it and then gobbled it down. Came back to ask for seconds and then thirds.

Now, I'm not going to give all of the treats to them at once. I put them in a tupperware container to store them. You could probably freeze them too. If you have any leftover jam you could refrigerate it or freeze it for another batch.

If you're really daring you can try a treat yourself. I did this because I want to make sure what I'm making my dogs actually has some flavor. It's sort of like a peanut butter granola bar with a soft center and fig jam on top.

Thank you for reading my instructable on Peanut Butter Pooch Snacks with Fig Jam. Have a great day!