Spinach Revolution

Yay, potluck time! Welcome!

Yowsers, Keepin’ it kind… what a tough act to follow!

This is not exactly the kind of side dish that you are probably anticipating. I wanted to take part in the VVP, but struggled to think of a VVP-worthy dish. I decided to create a “side” dish for my trusty four legged sidekicks that help inspire me daily to try make the world a better place for all animals (human and non-human).

You can sneak one over the side of the table while you are enjoying all the other lovely VVP dishes you have made… I know it should not be encouraged, but it is a special occasion – we do not have a potluck like this every day.

“A well-trained dog will make no attempt to share your lunch. He will just make you feel so guilty that you cannot enjoy it.” – Helen Thomson

Jake using his Jedi mind tricks to get the biscuits to him

I have included beetroot pulp in this recipe, since I am sure we are going to have many wonderful beetroot juice recipes and you will have lots of pulp left over, and instead of feeding your worm-farm or chucking it on the compost heap, you can use it as an ingredient in this recipe.

It is also a healthy and affordable way of creating some treats for all of your hunny-bunny-fluffy-fur-kids.

(It is scary to see what rubbish ingredients are included in commercial dog biscuits!)

I have made this in many variations, depending on what I have available at home.

The ratios may change, depending on the ingredients, but the 4 ingredients that are always included are:

• Flour
• Peanut butter
• Molasses
• Apple sauce

The rest of the ingredients depend on what I have available at home, sometimes I may use the pulp left over after juicing, leftover beans, if I was a bit over enthusiastic at soaking and cooking a batch of beans to be used for the week, sometimes I use flour that may be close to the expiry date… hopefully you get the idea – you can really just wing-it.

Basic guidelines

Makes approximately 50 bite sized biscuits

2 – 3 cups flour (for this batch, I used rice flour)

2 – 4 cups pulp (in this case beetroot pulp)

1 cup peanut butter

1 heaped tablespoon of peanut butter (optional)

1 cup apple sauce

2 – 3 tablespoons sweetener (molasses/syrup)

Water – depending on consistency

Beetroot pulp and peanut butter (just peanuts – the way it should be – so delicious!)

Optional ingredients

Replace some/all of the flour with oats, dash of salt, dried herbs or spices (just to make it smell a bit more interesting, I love cinnamon, so it is often added)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 180 °C/350 °F
2. Prepare a couple of baking trays – I use the Silpat sheets so I do not grease the baking surface – you may need to, depending on the baking trays that you are using
3. In a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients (flour/pulp)
4. The optional heaped tablespoon is for you to snack on, while making the biscuits – this is the point where you may start snacking on the huge lump of fabulous peanut butter
5. In a blender, add the peanuts/peanut butter, applesauce and sweetener. Blend until it is all combined and a think consistency formed
6. Combine all the ingredients in the bowl
7. At this stage, you can add any optional ingredients you want to include
8. Mix all of it until it forms a stiff cookie dough consistency
   

   See the lumps of peanut butter… the magic ingredient

9. Put flour on your work surface (see my tip about how to do this if you are not a pro (like me))
10. Take some of the dough and roll it out into a square – about 50mm/2in thick
11. Cut the cookies into the desired shape (see tip) and then spread on the baking trays. You can pack it closely, they do not spread much when baking
12. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes
13. Turn off the oven and leave the biscuits there. After about 15 minutes, flip all the biscuits over, so that you make sure they dry out on both sides. I usually leave the biscuits in the oven overnight to dry out properly
14. Will stay fresh for 2 weeks if stored in an airtight container

I have already sent my brother to start the staring contest…
Soon I will have cookies!

Tips

• Type of flour: I use any flour that I have available at home. I usually have whole-wheat/brown bread flour available. I always try to buy less processed, more natural type flours that have very few or no preservatives and extra gunk added.
• Applesauce: We cannot buy applesauce in South Africa. I usually just put a large sweet apple in the blender with 1 – 2 tablespoons of water. When I don’t have apples available, I use pears or bananas.
• Peanut butter: Depending on what I have available, I either just make my own peanut butter or I use shop bought peanut butter. Check the ingredient list of peanut butter – many of the commercial brands add extra oil (even worse – palm oil), salt and more rubbish. You can use any type of nut/nut butter.
  I once tried to make an oil free batch. I replaced the nut butter with a batch of homemade chickpea “hummus”. It was okay, but my dogs prefer the peanut butter versions.

• I have a very sweet tooth so I usually make the biscuits slightly sweet. Again, I use what I have available, molasses, agave/maple/barley malt syrup. I don’t usually add sugar (in powder form), it is usually some form of syrup.
• I love it when you watch all the foodie shows on TV and the baker takes a little bit of flour and very evenly and skilfully ‘dusts’ their work surface with flour. This hardly ever looks that good when I do it. I usually end up with blobs of flour on the counter and when I try to distribute it more evenly, I just make the situation worse….
  I got myself one of those nifty hand-mug sifters (see picture – not sure what it is called). All I do is put a bit of flour in the sifter and then use it to ‘dust’ the counter with flour. I mess less, waste less flour and distribute the flour a lot more evenly on the counter… and I get to use my new kitchen gadget.
  

  Nifty sifter gadget

• I do have cookie cutters available to make all kinds of interesting shapes, but I just cut the cookies into blocks. It is much quicker to do and I have not had any complaints about the shape thus far 😀

Related posts

• November 2012 VVP post:  Fig and walnut sourdough bread
• February 2013 VVP post:  Ooey gooey chocolate pudding cake