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5 Vanilla Dog Treats Recipes

Boxer dog receiving homemade bone shaped dog treat  with eyes wide open

I found out by accident that a lot of dogs LOVE vanilla.

I was baking over the holidays.

Well, I have two small dogs.  So, when I cook or bake, I have two small, shadows attached to my every move.

I can’t step without bumping one. Long story short… Lorelei tripped me.

Luckily, all I was carrying was a measuring spoon.  It had vanilla extract on it.  Lorelei was all over that and she actually growled at me when I picked up the spoon!

It was more a disappointed grumble than a full growl… so she still got a finished cookie. Before I go into these recipes lets take a look at dog safety.

Is Vanilla Safe for Dogs?

Vanilla beans and flowers on wooden surface

The answer to this question is “it depends”. Most of the time the answer is yes, there is no problem with vanilla itself, but alcohol is toxic to dogs and vanilla extract can be made with alcohol.

Can Dogs Have Vanilla Extract?

You want to make sure that if you use vanilla extract – which is normally made with alcohol – that you are either making cooked food which burns off the alcohol or that you are using vanilla extract that is made with glycerin instead of alcohol.

The bottom line is that vanilla extract in dog treats is OK if the treats are cooked, but I would still stay away from the stuff with alcohol when baking for my dogs. Don’t give raw vanilla extract to dogs unless it has no alcohol in it. Here’s a brand (found on Amazon) (paid link) I recommend that has no alcohol and is safe for dogs.

Making Vanilla Dog Treats

There are many different recipes for making vanilla dog treats. If you like to bake at home, then you will find this process to be fun!

Homemade Vanilla Dog Treats

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup cornmeal
  • 1/2 cup rolled oats
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring (no alcohol)
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 3 tablespoons all natural peanut butter**

Instructions:

  1. Preheat an oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
  2. Lightly grease 2 large baking sheets.
  3. Mix the whole wheat flour, cornmeal, rolled oats, and baking powder together in a bowl.
  4. Lightly mix the water, applesauce, and vanilla extract into the flour mixture.
  5. Stir the eggs and peanut butter into the mixture.
  6. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and knead until no longer sticky, about 1 minute.
  7. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness; cut into 75 small squares and arrange onto baking sheets.
  8. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Turn the oven off and allow the treats to sit in the oven as it cools another 30 minutes.
  9. Remove the treats from the oven; allow the treats to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

The original poster says to use low-salt peanut butter.  But I’m having trouble finding low-salt PB that is also all natural.  And with so many brands using xylitol, I highly recommend you use all-natural.  Xylitol is highly toxic to dogs, and can often be fatal.  So, I avoid it in my house to be safe.

Thank you to All Recipes for this recipe.

Vanilla Yogurt Dog Treats

bowl of yogurt topped with mint on wooden table top with vanilla beans, Chamomile flowers and a spoon

These make delicious cookies that are full of healthful dog-safe ingredients.

Ingredients:

  • 1 3/4 cups old fashioned oats (rolled oats) divided
  • 1/2 banana cut into 4 chunks
  • 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tsp. organic vanilla flavoring (no alcohol)

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease baking sheet.
  3. Place 1 ½ cups of the oats in chopper or small food processor. Process until ground to a flour texture.  Pour into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
  4. Place banana, yogurt, vanilla and egg in chopper or small food processor.  
  5. Process until well combined, scrape down bowl and process some more, if needed.
  6. Pour mixture into bowl with oat flour.  Add the remaining ¼ cup of (unground) oats.
  7. Stir together.
  8. Scoop 1-tablespoon portions and roll into balls.
  9. Flatten with the tines of a fork in a criss-cross pattern.
  10. Bake for 15 minutes for a softer center.  
  11. Let cool on baking sheet.
  12. Store in air-tight container for a few days or in the refrigerator/freezer for longer.

Thank you to epicuricloud.com for this recipe.

Honey Vanilla Dog Treats

honey comb with vanilla beans and a sprig of mint on white background

I love frosting! And this recipe delivers a wholesome dog biscuit with a wonderful honey, vanilla frosting that dogs love.

Ingredients

Dog Treats

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1 cup skim milk

Frosting

  • 16 ounces cream cheese room temperature
  • 3 tsp honey
  • 2 tsp vanilla flavoring (no alcohol)
  • 3 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

Baking the Dog Treats

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Mix together all of the ingredients for the dog treats (first four ingredients in the recipe) in a large bowl.
  3. Combine until blended.  The dough will be a bit crumbly but give it a few minutes of kneading and it will come together just fine.  Add a teaspoon of milk if you need a little help getting it to combine.
  4. Roll dough out and use a cookie cutter to cut into shapes.
  5. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown.  

Frosting

  1. While your dog treats are cooling, combine cream cheese with honey, vanilla and cinnamon until blended.
  2. To color the frosting, add a few drops of food coloring and blend.
  3. Place frosting in a piping bag (or freezer bag with a small hole in the corner), and decorate-away!

Mint Vanilla Dog Treats

Small wooden basket of mint sprigs on a wooden surface

Mint dog treats are great for helping your dogs with “doggy breath.” This recipe is a bit more complicated, but the results are great.

Ingredients

  • 2 and ½ cups old-fashion oats (or whole wheat flour if preferred)
  • 1 large egg (or ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce if eggs are a no-go for your pup)
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 3 tablespoons coconut oil
  • ½ cup finely chopped, fresh parsley
  • ½ cup finely chopped, fresh mint
  • 1 teaspoon of dill
  • 1 tablespoon of honey
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring (no alcohol)
  • paw print cookie cutter

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 325º F and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Place oats into a blender. Pulse them until they reach a flour-like consistency. Then set aside.
  3. Whisk parsley, mint, egg, water, vanilla, and oil together in a large bowl.
  4. Add the oat flour to your mixture and stir until it combines
  5. Knead the dough (just a few times is perfect), and place the dough onto a floured surface.
  6. Flatten out the dough using a rolling pin, or your hands, until it is about 1/8-inch thick.
  7. Using your cookie cutter, cut out you cookies! Typically you’ll have around 40 mints.
  8. Place mints ¼-inch apart on your parchment lined baking sheet.
  9. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until golden brown.
  10. Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving, no matter how much they beg!

Recipe adapted from Skinny Ms.

Easy Vanilla Dog Treats

dough rolled on floured surface with dog bone cookie cutter, rolling pin, red towel, and rack of dog biscuits cooling.

This recipe has just 5 ingredients and is easy to put together. Make sure your peanut butter is all natural and doesn’t contain xylitol.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter*
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla flavoring (no alcohol)

You can use other kinds of peanut butter such as chunky, but if you do you’ll probably need to add more water to the mixture in order to make it into workable dough.

Instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
  2. Mix together your flour, vanilla, peanut butter & eggs in a large bowl until slightly combined.
  3. Add in a little bit of water (approximately one Tbsp at a time) until the mixture becomes wet enough to roll out as dough.
  4. Roll out your dough & cut out your favorite shapes with some cookie cutters.
  5. Place your treats onto your baking sheet & cook for about 15 minutes. For a little bit of crunch I like to take mine out once the bottoms start to darken.

Thank you to puppy leaks for this recipe.

The Bottom Line on Vanilla Dog Treat Recipes

Most dogs love vanilla, but you need to be careful with the alcohol content of extracts. I recommend using alcohol free vanilla flavoring instead. It’s better to be safe than sorry.

For more great recipes, try Flea Terminator Dog Treats and Good Dog Cookies.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Kim West

Tuesday 18th of October 2022

Could you please help me. Im trying to use color for my all natural dog treats. Do you have a brand that’s safe for dogs? The name of the company. Thank you very much Kim