Jason called me this morning with a request: would I hang out with his dog Zelda for a few hours today while he took care of some errands?

Obviously, I said yes (would you say no to an afternoon with that sweet face?).

Z (or Chi-Chi, as we sometimes call her) proved herself to be an ideal sous chef, mostly because she seemed impressed by everything I cooked today. She was so good, in fact, that I wanted to reward her with some treats. She was really, really into these. In fact, if she could talk, I am certain she would call them “bac-o-peanutty-licious.”

• ingredients
• 2 strips bacon (preferably uncured and thick-cut) $1.50
• 1 1/2 cups flour, plus more for rolling. Pantry
• 1/3 cup flax seed meal $3 for 16 oz
• 2 tsp baking powder Pantry
• 1/2 cup peanut butter Pantry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten $1.50 for 12
• water, as needed

Total Cost of Ingredients $6

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet (or line with parchment paper—my preferred method).

Heat a dry frying pan over medium-high heat and cook the bacon until crispy on both sides (2-3 minutes). Drain the bacon on paper towels and reserve the grease left in the pan.

While bacon and bacon grease cool, combine the flour, flax seed meal and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Stir well.

To the dry ingredients, add the peanut butter, egg.

Crumble the bacon and add to the bowl, along with the cooled bacon grease and stir well, adding water as needed to create a thick dough.

On a lightly-floured (or parchment paper-lined) surface, roll the dough out to 1/2” thickness. Use cookie cutters or a paring knife to cut into desired shapes. (I don’t own a bone-shaped cookie cutter, so I just cut circles out of the dough using a small upside-down glass and then used a paring knife to cut the circles into the shape of a bone.). Gather scraps, re-roll and continue cutting shapes out until you run out of dough. Arrange dough shapes on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 18-22 minutes, then turn off the oven and leave the biscuits in the turned-off oven for at least an hour (and as long as overnight). This will dry them out and make them more gnaw-able for the pups.

Store the cooled biscuits in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks in the fridge or up to 6 months in the freezer.

Makes 18-24 biscuits (amount varies according to cookie-cutter size).