Glossy Chicken Treats

I decided to bake Rose a batch of biscuits in preparation for our mini-vacation. Just because. Oh. And we had also run completely out of chewy chicken flavored Milkbones around the same time!! Oops. Good thing I own a dog treat cookbook!! Not to mention, in addition I have collected several recipes from Blogs and Web sites online!! Okay. So, after several days attempting to make a decision among my endless choices, I went with this cornbread-flavored chicken recipe!! Yes, I test-tasted one!! Rose would rate this recipe: Four 'paws' way, way up!!

Paw Lick'n Chick'n

HOW DID THE CHICKEN GET TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ROAD? (Really?! That is such a cliché question!!)

3 cups white flour

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1 cup chicken broth

4 tablespoons softened margarine (I used butter!!)

1 egg

1 tablespoon milk

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine flour, cornmeal, chicken broth and margarine (Or, in my case, butter!!). Knead dough for 3 minutes. (I had some loose flour on the bottom of my mixing bowl. So, using our metal spoon, I sort of "mashed" it in!! After that, I did not need to set some timer for three minutes!! I'm a rebel, this I know!! I did, however, knead my dough!!) Apply a light layer of flour to rolling surface and pin. Roll dough to 1/4 inch thickness and stamp out with cookie cutter. Beat egg and milk together and apply to top of biscuits with brush. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I baked six at a time for 30 minutes!!) Makes two dozen. (Yep.... That was how many I baked!!) (They are golden brown on top when done!!)

Bake bones on the middle oven rack. If your dough is sticky, apply a light layer of flour to your hands, the rolling surface and rolling pin. Because of variations in oven temperatures, monitor the cooking time for your batch of "Doggy Bones". Bake bones until the bottoms of the biscuits become medium brown, and adjust remaining baking times accordingly. If bones do not become "bone hard", bake bones for an additional five minutes or leave them in the oven as it cools. Store "Doggy Bones" in an airtight container. For extended supply, double your batch and freeze them!

 The dough was dry, so rather than adding "sprinkles" of water, I gradually poured in extra chicken broth!! Yeah!! Extra flavoring!! I allowed Rose a liberal taste of chicken broth. She loved it, and wanted more!! So, I gave in!! Spoiled girl!! For reasons beyond my comprehension, the biscuits stuck to our pan, as though somebody had glued them there. Seriously. Was it the egg/milk coating, perhaps? Hmmm.... Next time--which will be for Rose's "birthday"/Gotcha Day on September 21st--I'll spray the pan!! Why? Because I needed a spatula to pry my biscuits from the pan!! They were bonded that well!! One biscuit actually split in half!! Whoops. But they were glossy-looking!! The prettiest batch of biscuits I have baked!! Thus far!! In fact, they looked too pretty for eating!! Sort of fancy, even!! There is, however, a downside to these biscuits. Several of them developed mold while sitting in their airtight container. Ew!! I threw all of those away, of course!! This may have been my fault. For enclosing the biscuits before they completely cooled. Or, perhaps it was the egg/milk coating? Maybe I should refrigerate these biscuits? Or freeze half of them next time? Queries, queries, queries!! Plus the inside of our enclosed airtight container got damp somehow. Any input would be greatly appreciated!!