Hungry for gold? Yes, indeed! Here’s how to make gold medal dog treats or cookies for people, if you’d prefer. Continuing our Olympic-inspired fun from our DIY medal dog tug toys, this treat post shows you how to create edible gold medal dog treats using basic items you probably already have on hand in the kitchen. No special tools or stamps required. Pawfect! Here’s how to make your own cute, simple, and fun DIY medal shaped treats for top dogs.
Going for Gold!
Choosing a Dough Recipe
Any rolling dog treat (or human cookie) dough works for this DIY medal making method. You’ll get better impressions on a smooth cohesive dough that can take an impression cleanly. See our post on decorating homemade dog treats for more information and helpful tips.
For gold medals, consider a recipe that uses something like turmeric, peanut butter, pumpkin, kumara, molasses, or other a natural golden ingredients for colour. You can read more about tinting treats in our post on using natural food colourings for dog treats. The pictured treats were made using peanut butter and ground flax in a rice flour dough recipe.
Safety first, furfriends! Although I photographed my ever obliging (and very obedient) taste tester and pro poser, Oli receiving and nipping his well-deserved gold medal from the ribbon used to stage the photos for this post, I strongly recommend presenting the treats without ribbons to your dogs for safety. And good manners. Hehe. For human cookies, use your discretion based upon age and safety considerations.
Making the Gold Medal Dog Treats
Making the Treats:
Preparing and cutting the dough:
- Preheat the oven and mix the dough according to your chosen recipe.
- Roll the dough, then cut to shape and place on a prepared baking sheet. To keep things on the smaller size, I use a small round biscuit cutter to cut each medal. Everyday objects, such as drinking glasses, make handy substitutes for circles if you don’t have a suitable cutter.
- Optional: To cut a ribbon hole in the medals, I used a mini circle cutter. They’re very inexpensive and my new favourite training treat tool; however, anything clean and round will do. The hole can also be omitted or created by pressing through with a small point instead of cutting.
Creating the design on the gold medal treats:
- A curved line was pressed into the edges using the back (blunt) edge of a butter knife to form the stems for the laurel leaves. Small indentations were added for leaves using tip of a teaspoon handle.
- The “1” was pressed into the middle by again using the butter knife. If you have small number cookie cutters, these are great as well. I own some now, as seen in the decorations on Oli’s 12th birthday cake, but didn’t at the time the pictured medals were made.
Finishing and baking the treats:
- Chill if needed for your chosen recipe, and then bake according your chosen recipe.
- Cool before serving and storage.
Training and Treats
Don’t forget that doglympians need plenty of fun, play, exercise, and training as part of their quest for the podium. Be a bit silly and get fitter whilst having fun together. Then you can celebrate your achievements with a well-earned treat or two. Woofs!
Hungry for more tasty treats? There are all sorts of homemade dog treat ideas in our blog archives. You can use the category and tag labels to find other recipes that might be of interest or use our internal search tools to find something specific. Remember, treats (bought or homemade) are for spoiling your pup in moderation. We share ideas from treats that we’ve made ourselves for our pets, but different animals have different preferences (likes/dislikes), just like people. Some pets may have special dietary requirements and/or food allergies/intolerances. If you are ever in doubt or have questions about what’s suitable for your pet, have a chat with your trusted vet.
