Must Love Pupcakes

Did you know that dog food gets taste tested by humans? I start this blog off with that particular tidbit of information because the recipe I'm about to show you is definitely for dogs, but it looks good enough for human consumption. I'm not gonna judge you if you make these for your beloved pooch and accidentally snag a bite. Your dog might though. I always make my dogs a special treat for their birthday, whether it's cookies, cakes, or pupcakes, Hank and Freyja probably get more decadent treats than most people do on their special day...considering my husband and I belong to the generation of Millennials that bought a house just to have dogs, this really isn't all that surprising. I love my dogs and spoil them accordingly. I will show you photo after photo of how adorable they are, clog up your news feed with said photos, and continue to remind you regularly that dogs are the best thing to ever exist. But no, in return, I really don't want to look at your actual baby's photos. Unless your baby has 4 legs. And cute snout. And is definitely a dog. Then we're good. Remember, your kids are only adorable to you and your immediate family, but dogs are adorable to everyone. I will, however, also accept photos of your kids with dogs; this is the one exception to the rule.

I just hope your child's ears aren't as big as my kiddos are.

Blueberry mini pupcakes--the dogs essentially told me these were a hit by devouring a few in under 15 seconds. I had them each try a blueberry before I made these to make sure they'd like them. Hank inhaled it. Freyja looked at me like I had betrayed her with this tiny sour ball that most definitely was not the peanut butter she was hoping for, but ultimately, she ate it. While I don't do calorie counting for dogs (yet...), I limit these to 1 and 1/2 pupcakes per dog, per day, mixed in with a little less kibble for dinner. The recipe yields 18 mini pupcakes total and is an absolute cinch to throw together for your four-legged companions (or yourself...).

I mean, minus the dog food, this is all good stuff to eat!

You only need a few staple pantry items and some blueberries to make these. I adapted this recipe. Round up:

• 3 tbs crushed dog kibble
• 1/3 cup plus 3 TBS whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp honey
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 2/3 cup fresh blueberries + 18 blueberries for garnish

Start by preheating your oven to 350 and line a mini muffin tin with mini cupcake papers. Lightly grease your cupcake papers. Alternatively, you could reaaaallly grease up your mini muffin tin and skip the liners all together.

Ensure you have a good buddy on hand to clean up any floor spills.

 Mix together the crushed kibble, flour, and baking powder in the bowl of your stand mixer. I turned around after doing this to see Hank (as pictured above) and knew in that moment he had figured out whatever I was making, it was definitely for him. He's smarter than most of the people I know, I swear. Dump in the milk, egg, honey, and blueberries to the dry mix and blend for a minute on medium high. You want the berries to break up a bit so the doggos can chew them easily.

Now, take a cookie scoop, and grease it well.

These don't bake up much, so fill a little over 2/3 full with the help of your cookie scoop or a tablespoon scoop.

Since these mini pupcakes are, well, mini, they only need to bake for about 10 minutes in the oven. Test with a toothpick--you shouldn't have any batter come out on a cooked pupcake. Avoid aiming for a blueberry cluster when you test though. Unless you like to lick blueberry juice off a toothpick. And I do. So I may have done this "test" a couple times.

Let rest on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.

Then remove and allow 30 minutes to fully cool, all the while marveling that these look like tiny blueberry muffins and definitely something you want to try a bite of.

These are definitely safe for your consumption.

 To frost your pupcakes, fit a piping bag with a 1M tip, and load the bag with a little bit of whipped cream cheese. I simply piped little stars on top of my pupcakes by holding the bag directly over the pupcake and piping a small mound on top:

And they were super tiny and super adorable. I could probably fit four of these in my mouth at one time. I know my dogs would double that.

Finish off by gently pressing a blueberry into each star.

"Mother, I am hungry."

 Once frosted, keep these in the fridge until ready to serve at your dog's birthday party, obedience school graduation, dog wedding, or whatever other ridiculous shindig we dog folk continue to come up with every year to celebrate our beloved canines. Be sure to unwrap these before serving to your pup. They definitely aren't discerning when it comes to eating paper...I mean, they kinda have a reputation for it. No one ever said their cat at their homework, after all. But I promise you they will love them, and they will show this love by burping in your face directly after eating them and then licking you to death with blueberry kibble breath. And it will be wonderful, because dogs just are.

It's blurry because he was wolfing them down like he hadn't eaten in days (it had literally been an hour since his last meal).

Hank turned six(ish..rescue dogs don't come with birth certificates!) today, and I just want to stop time. No matter how many years I get with this dog, it will never be enough. He is my soul mutt, and when he looks me in the eye, my icy cold heart turns into complete mush. There is nothing I wouldn't do for my dogs, including but not limited to: waking up at 5 a.m. to walk them 7 days a week, bake them fancy treats, brush their teeth every few days to recover from said treats, cuddle them with reckless abandon, let them sleep on me and refuse to move for fear of waking them, and basically give them more love than I ever knew I had in me. That's the great thing about dogs--they are steadfast in how much they love you. A crappy day is always ended quickly when wagging tails and cold noses are there to greet you at home. The least I can do in return is spoil my dogs to what may seem a borderline ridiculous amount to some, but not to me--or to Hank and Freyja. 'Til next time, my fellow eaters! Go cuddle your pups!