We’re getting into the holiday spirit with red velvet beetroot truffle dog treats. Pureed beetroot gives these homemade truffle dog treats a vibrant natural red colourings. Peanut butter and carob add a delicious boost of scents and flavours, but they also help to deepen colour to a darker rich velvety red. They can be rolled in snowy white coconut as a festive holiday snowball treat or left uncoated to showcase the rich red. Here’s our red-velvet inspired beetroot truffle dog treat recipe.
Making Homemade Truffle and Bliss Ball Dog Treats
Although our dog-friendly truffle recipes are no bake treat recipes, the base ingredients sometimes require prep, like the cooked unseasoned beetroot used here. Truffle (bliss ball) dog treats can be made using any combination of dog-friendly ingredients that you like, as long as they set firm. This usually requires using ingredients that set when chilled and/or ingredients that absorb moisture and firm up with time.
"Red Velvet" Beetroot Truffle Dog Treat Recipe
Beetroot Bliss Ball Truffle Dog Treats with (Optional) Coconut Coating
The optional coating for these beetroot truffle dog treats can be adjusted, substituted, or omitted to suit your preferences and pup’s palette. We’re making Christmas Dog treats at the moment, but these would also be a gorgeous colour combo for Valentines Day.
Treat Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup unseasoned cooked beetroot, pureed
- 2 tbsp smooth peanut butter
- 2 tbsp carob powder
- 2 tbsp ground flax or LSA
- 2 tbsp coconut oil, warmed to liquid
- Approximately 1/4 to 1/3 cup coconut flour
- Optional: Fine desiccated coconut for rolling (or other coating of your choice)
The amount of flour depends on the moisture in your beetroot (consistency can vary quite a bit depending on type and prep methods) and your dry ingredients. Mix incrementally and if in doubt, I prefer to err on the side of wet. A slightly soft truffle is better than a crumbly truffle. If you’re rolling to coat your treats, you might want to keep the mixture a little on the wet side to help the coating stick well. Uncoated truffles can be made to suit your personal preferences. Wetter dough makes a softer truffle, but is often easier to shape when forming the balls.
Making the Treats:
- Puree the beetroot and transfer to a stain resistant mixing bowl.
- Add the peanut butter, carob powder, and flax to the beetroot. Mix to combine.
- Add the coconut flour incrementally, mixing thoroughly, until you’ve reached the desired consistency for shaping. The truffle dough may feel slightly loose and wet/oily when warm, but should hold shape when pressed. Not quite right? You can use a small amount of additional flour, additional oil, or warm water to adjust consistency to a nice sticky dough for shaping/pressing into balls. The finished balls will firm up with set time for moisture to absorb into the dry ingredients and when the coconut oil is chilled.
- Roll into small bite-sized balls.
- Coat (optional) or leave plain.
- Refrigerate until firm.
As with any treat, be mindful of treat size and consumption relative to your pet’s size and any other individual factors. Just like human bliss balls, you can break truffles into smaller pieces for serving and/or safety if your pet tends to gulp treats instead of chew.
Treat Making Tips and Tricks
- Truffle treats can be stored in the fridge short term or frozen for longer storage. See our comprehensive post on making and storing chilled dog treats for additional information.
- Check labels and take care to avoid artificial sweeteners in ingredients like peanut butter when used for your dogs. Xylitol (sweetener E967) is particularly dangerous for dogs.
- Coconut flour is a good option for gluten-free / grain-free pet treats, and is also fairly healthy. It is high in fibre, high in protein, and low-GI relative to alternatives. Coconut flour is very absorbent, which is key to getting a nice consistency and balance in these treats.
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.
