This recipe incorporates applesauce and other wholesome ingredients for a nutritious treat your horse will love.
Healthy Horse Cookies Recipe
Your horse deserves an extra something special. These treats are packed with healthful ingredients your horse will enjoy and benefit from, and you can eat them too! Choose organic ingredients whenever possible.
INGREDIENTS
- 4 cups whole flour (e.g. whole oat, hemp) 1⁄2 cup oatmeal or hemp hearts
- 1 whole egg
- 1⁄4 cup maple syrup*
- 1 1⁄4 cups applesauce
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 2 teaspoons baking powder (e.g. a certified organic, rice-based, gluten and aluminum-free product)
- 1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon finely crushed dried mint leaves (if your horse likes the taste of mint) Extra flour for rolling out dough Dehydrated maple syrup and sundried, unsulfured cranberries for garnish
*For insulin-resistant horses, use filtered water or brown rice syrup in place of maple syrup.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Cover a large cookie sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. The dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl when it is ready to be kneaded and rolled out.
- Sprinkle a cutting board or countertop with flour. Divide your cookie dough into four balls, knead each one well, then roll them out separately and cut into squares or other desired shapes. Place on cookie sheet and garnish with cranberries and/or a sprinkle of dehydrated maple syrup.
- Bake for 40 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden in color. Cool completely before storing in an open bowl. This recipe makes 45 large cookies.
Tasty & healthy ingredients
MAPLE SYRUP
Maple syrup is an excellent source of manganese and a good source of zinc, which work together to support the immune system and help to lessen inflammation.
BROWN RICE SYRUP
This nutritive sweetener is about half as sweet as sugar and is a good source of minerals. It is gluten-free and has a low value on the glycemic index. To use in place of regular sugar, use 1 to 11⁄4 cups of brown rice syrup for every cup of sugar, and use 1⁄4 cup less liquid than the recipe calls for.
CINNAMON
In the West, the inner bark of this familiar spice is used primarily for digestive upsets, indigestion and diarrhea. In China, cinnamon is considered a good energizing herb. Cinnamon is perfect to spice up treats for your horse; research shows it may help support horses with insulin resistance.
AUTHOR PROFILE
Suzi Beber has been successfully creating special needs diets for companion animals for over two decades. She is the founder of the University of Guelph’s Smiling Blue Skies® Cancer Fund and Smiling Blue Skies® Fund for Innovative Research, and is the proud recipient of a Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. She was also was honored with the degree of Doctor of Laws, honoris causa, for her work in cancer, from the University of Guelph/Ontario Veterinary College.
