Homemade Treat Recipe!

[rhianna]

I live in a small upstate New York town filled with bake shops and farms, so naturally I love to bake. My kitchen is currently overloaded with herbs and apples via the transition from summer to fall, so I invented this little recipe for some gerbil treats. My boys love them and they're relatively simple to make, so I thought I'd share

Apple and Rosemary "Breakfast" Biscuits
~~~
You will need:
-Baking Sheet
-Oven
-Parchment paper or foil
-Mixing bowl
-Fork or small whisk
-Measuring spoons and cups
-Blender or chopping board and knife
-Flour (whole wheat is best, all purpose is OK as well)
-Olive oil or corn oil
-1 Egg
-About 1/3 of an apple (remove skin, core, and seeds)
-Rosemary

1. Preheat oven to 350 farenheit (about 175 celcius)
2. Combine about 2/3 cup flour and 1 tsp oil in mixing bowl. Fluff using fork or small whisk.
3. Prepare your apple. For this recipe you'll only need about 1/3 of the apple. Mince it in the blender, or you can do this by hand with a chopping board. If you're young, have a parent do this for you.
4. Add the apple to the mix. Crack your egg and add the white and 1/2 of the yolk to the mix. Sprinkle in some rosemary (about 2-3 pinches) and stir well.
5. You should end up with a thick doughy texture. You may have to add some more flour. Prepare the baking sheet. Line it with parchment paper or foil (do not use butter or baking spray as this is unhealthy for your pets).
6. Wash your hands before handling the dough. You can roll out the dough and cut it into shapes, or you can just break apart pieces. Spread the biscuits around the baking sheet. You should end up with around 40 1cm thick, 2cm wide biscuits.
7. Bake for 7-8 minutes. Allow the biscuits to cool completely before feeding them to your pets. You may want to store them in the fridge or freezer to prevent mold.

Remember to store them in an airtight container. These treats should be occasional, since they contain apple and egg. I don't recommend that you share these with your guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, or dwarf hamsters, but they're suitable for syrian hamsters, rats, and of course gerbils. Here is the finished product:



And of course I have to include some pictures of my boys enjoying the treats




Have fun!

[streetwisegerbil]

I don't bake but may have a go at this.
I had to google "all purpose " flour which is known as plain flour in the UK.( We have self raising flour too.)
Whilst googling that I realised that US cups were different to UK cups! ( not that we use them much)

A converter:

www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/531168/cups-to-grams-converter

About 105 grams. ( ie a gerbil !)  ( I do a lot of gerbil weight comparisons. Eg the new iPad air is about 500 grams... Ie about 5 gerbils. 

Thanks.

[rhianna]

Oct 22, 2013 13:07:45 GMT -8 streetwisegerbil said:

I don't bake but may have a go at this.
I had to google "all purpose " flour which is known as plain flour in the UK.( We have self raising flour too.)
Whilst googling that I realised that US cups were different to UK cups! ( not that we use them much)

A converter:

www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/531168/cups-to-grams-converter

About 105 grams. ( ie a gerbil !)  ( I do a lot of gerbil weight comparisons. Eg the new iPad air is about 500 grams... Ie about 5 gerbils. 

Thanks.

That's some interesting info We have self-rising flour as well but it's not commonly used here, generally for breads/pizzas you'd use all purpose flour (also called white flour or bleached flour) and yeast. Cups are very commonly used here and I didn't know they were different in the UK! We also don't usually measure in grams, as it's a metric unit of weight, and we have our own system of measurement. We don't have a weight unit comparable in size to grams, though, so we do use it on occasion to weigh very small things (such as gerbils!)

Let me know if you try out the recipe, I'd love to hear what your gerbils think of it

[streetwisegerbil]

"own system of weight" (?) 
My mind is boggling!   

Well, we had imperial measurements such as feet , inches,miles, ounces , pounds, stones , gallons . Then 'converted ' to metric, grams, kilogrammes, kilometres millimetres and metres , litres.

But usually in typically British fashion, there's a mixture of both. Eg 20 miles. A pint of milk. But petrol is sold in litres as to market it in gallons would give motorists heart attacks at the cost per gallon.

Yikes! Now you are expecting me to make the biscuits for my boys.OMG!

I don't think it'll include rosemary. I may have to try something else. 

[wolfgirl]

I am definitely going to be trying this the next time I have apples!

[rhianna]

Oct 22, 2013 13:54:05 GMT -8 streetwisegerbil said:

"own system of weight" (?) 
My mind is boggling!   

Well, we had imperial measurements such as feet , inches,miles, ounces , pounds, stones , gallons . Then 'converted ' to metric, grams, kilogrammes, kilometres millimetres and metres , litres.

But usually in typically British fashion, there's a mixture of both. Eg 20 miles. A pint of milk. But petrol is sold in litres as to market it in gallons would give motorists heart attacks at the cost per gallon.

Yikes! Now you are expecting me to make the biscuits for my boys.OMG!

I don't think it'll include rosemary. I may have to try something else. 

Haha, I guess I phrased that wrong. I'm not too sure how the British system works but the main (and pretty much the only) system we use is similar to the imperial system. For example, we measure weight in pounds in ounces, never in grams and kilograms. The store is 5 miles away, not kilometres, and things are usually measured in inches, feet, and yards rather than metres. We do use centimeters quite often, though, as it's the only thing smaller than an inch. It's kind of confusing to explain but I guess us Americans are sort of stuck in old times  

Of course I'm not expecting you to make them! You'd just said you might try it and if you decide to I'd like to know how it goes for you is all

[rhianna]

Oct 22, 2013 14:06:10 GMT -8 wolfgirl said:

I am definitely going to be trying this the next time I have apples!

Awesome! Let me know how it goes

[banditcuster]

Think I might use applesauce or banana in place of the egg, to try and make a treat that is more okay for the vegan pets as well... will add a little more sugar... but maybe leave out a bit of apple if I use applesauce...