Happy Birthday, Dahli!

My precious schnauzer/dachshund pup turns three today, so I thought I would whip her up a sweet birthday treat. I wanted it to be vegan (though she is not) because that’s what I’m comfortable working with. I wanted it to be free of corn (she’s had some bad responses) as well as peanut butter (my family’s dog has not fared well with that creamy goodness). And, with the exception of the minor addition of crushed cracker as “sprinkles,” it’s gluten-free, too! All natural puppy-friendly goodness. Here’s what I came up with.

But would she like it? It was time to test.

She knows better than to eat off the table, so at first it went unnoticed.

When I finally pointed it out to her she was suspicious…

The smell must have grabbed her interest…By the time I took it off the table to feed it to her, she was darn near pleading.

She was so relieved by the time I let her dig in!

Her favorite part was licking the banana frosting.

Banana Oat Birthday PupCakes

1 ½ cup steel oats
1 tbsp. baking soda
2 ripe bananas
1 cup water
1 tbsp. agave nectar
1 tbsp. unsulphured molasses
Splash of vanilla (just a drop!)
Crushed crackers (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Put cupcake liners in a pan. Grind the oats in a food processor. Add the baking soda and pulse until combined. Transfer the oat mixture to a medium mixing bowl. Add to the food processor one of the bananas, water, agave, molasses and vanilla. Process until smooth and bubbly. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and whisk or beat to combine. Fill cupcake liners 3/4 full. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine took about 24 minutes on the nose!)

Let the pupcakes cool on  a wire rack. Once they’re ready to frost, pulse the other banana in the food processor until some big banana chunks remain. Spoon it over the top of the pupcake. Sprinkle crushed crackers (if you have gluten-free, go for it!) over the top and serve. Your pup will thank you for it.

*Update* I almost forgot to mention, this recipe was inspired by (and vegan-ized) from the banana carob chip dog cake recipe here.

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