Welcome to #BarkWorld: Dog Cookie Cook-off and Recipe

The dog cookie bake-off at BarkWorld Expo

This weekend we're at BarkWorld Expo, and all the fun kicked off Thursday night with an opening reception and dog cookie bake-off!

Teams were given a whole table-full of ingredients to choose from -- items like sweet potatoes, applesauce, peanut butter and eggs -- and they had to mix up a batch of dog cookies from any combination of the ingredients. The winner of the bake-off will be announced today at BarkWorld!

Rocco inserted himself as the unofficial cookie evaluator

The nice folks at the Westin Hotel in Buckhead Atlanta set up the bake-off and provided this recipe as inspiration. The hotel bakes these treats and provides them to canine hotel guests.

Sweet Potato Dog Treats

1 sweet potato
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prick sweet potato several times with a fork.
2. Heat sweet potato in microwave on high until tender, about 6 minutes. Cut in half and scoop flesh out of skins into bowl; discard skins. Mash potato with a fork and transfer 1 cup of potato into a large bowl. Save any remaining potato of a later use.
3. Mix whole wheat flour, applesauce and eggs in the large bowl with the sweet potato until a dough forms.
4. Turn dough out on a well floured surface and roll dough to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out shapes using cookie cutter or cut dough into strips with a pizza cutter. Arrange cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet.
5. Bake until crisp, 35-45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Remember, this Halloween treat responsibly!

The fun and games continue every Friday with FitDog Friday, the weekly Blog Hop brought to you by To Dog With Love, SlimDoggy and My GBGV Life to promote a healthy active lifestyle for pets (and their people, too!). Join in every Friday by linking up your FitDog story or visiting the blogs in the Hop.