gingerbread cookies cats and dogs
cats / Dogs / Food and cooking

Cat and Dog Cookies

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Cat and Christmas tree
Gracie has been playing with the ornaments, but stops and emerges from the tree when I approach. She swears she was being a good girl!

For some people, Christmas is a time of cookies and warm memories of family traditions. I can’t say that I’m big on customs, but I love cookies! As we prepare for the Solstice and Christmas during this challenging year, cookies seem like an excellent choice. Since we eat gluten-free, dairy-free, and egg-free, this can be a bit of a challenge, but store-bought cookies just don’t provide the taste we crave.

gingerbread cookies
River couldn’t resist sniffing the cookies as I snapped a picture. She backed up when I asked her to, so I shared the cookies she had her nose on with River, Garnet, and Tribble. There were no complaints!

I took a little extra time off work this season and my son and I decided to bake some cookies. I bought new cat and dog cookie cutters to try, so I chose a gingerbread recipe. The dough held together well without being overly sticky, which is a problem for most gluten-free recipes, making them quick and easy.

gingerbread cookies
My son is cutting cookies with typical cutters. To the left, you can see two of the red presses used to place the design on top of the cut cookie.

The cookie cutters use an outer ring and an inner press plate to imprint a design. It gave a little decoration without requiring me to try to pipe on icing, which is not in my skill set. They look super-cute, and I like the way they taste, but I think my husband would like them a little sweeter, so I might add some glaze drizzle. (I bought the cookie cutters at a favorite Etsy shop, ChikoCraft. My husband and son were excited, saying the cookie cutters were obviously produced on a 3-D printer. I was just happy they were cool cats and dogs; I especially like seeing the cats depicted as a crescent moon and star.

gingerbread cookies cats and dogs
Finished cookies! Normal cats as well as crescent moon cats and star cats. I chose a dog cookie cutter with perky ears, as our Garnet is known for her huge ears that stand straight up!

I made some Crescent cookies that are not as cute but full of a satisfying, pecan-flavored crunch. Pecans are a favorite for us, and this recipe is almost identical to one I used to make years ago in our care-free, standard-American-diet days. The recipe translated beautifully.

Crescent cookies
These don’t look like much, but they are sweet and crunchy – and melt in your mouth!

I made Peanut Butter Blossoms for the first time this year . They are yummy, but I probably won’t make them again. They are very sweet, and we are unused to eating so much sugar these days. I made them because my son wanted them, but he hasn’t eaten them all! I have found my hand creeping into the stash, and these are dangerously good. Too good!

peanut butter blossom cookies
These are mainly brown sugar and peanut butter with a chocolate chunk pressed into the cooling cookies. My husband doesn’t like chocolate chips, so I made a few cookies for him, plain. These are seriously delicious and very sweet.

We finally put up our Christmas tree about a week before the holiday. Once more, we left all the breakable ornaments off the tree. Gracie is growing in confidence lately, and we were afraid she would climb the tree and knock it over, breaking our oldest and most cherished ornaments. So, we set those aside this year. As I lay in bed late at night or early in the morning, I can hear her downstairs playing with the ornaments; so far, we’ve not seen her climb the tree. We hope to get the tree down again before she gets up her nerve!

Christmas tree
I took this picture as we were finishing up putting the decorations on. Late this summer, my husband found one of our owl ornaments in the back yard. My guess is that a naughty cat pulled it off the tree, and when she was finished with it, a dog took it outside with her other toys!

42 comments

  1. OH MY!!!!! Those cat cookies are RIDICULOUSLY cute. I LOVE them. My hand kept twitching over the link, but I seriously NEVER make cookies that require me to roll out dough (not MY skill set!), so I resisted the urge. BUT – OH MY!!! SO cute. Perhaps I should gift them to a friend so I could be on the receiving end of such ridiculously cute cuteness! We often find ornaments in our yard, one time we found one hung on our door knob on the fence. As careful as we are at not missing an ornament in the undecorating process it often seems we miss one. We are lucky when it lands in our yard and we find it later . . . and that one year my heart was so warmed that someone was kind enough to put it on our gate!

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    1. Your cats sound mischievous in the ordinary sort of way; how nice that your neighbors sent some of the cat toys/ornaments back to you! We expect a little breakage every year, and it’s about time to buy some new ones next year. I’m surprised that Gracie did not claim the tree – of if she did, she didn’t knock it over. Next year, we might try some of our glass ornaments.

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      1. When the ornaments are in the yard it is because we missed taking it off the tree. The cats don’t do outside. They pretty much leave the tree and ornaments alone – they know better. Plus we put our tree on a table which – with it off the floor – keeps it away from the cats, a bit. I mean they can jump on the table and did originally to get the tree water, but we cover it so now they don’t bother. I also have a little talk with them when we put up the tree. I say, “NO KITTY!” In a very mean scary voice and I point at the tree, in hopes that they understand that the tree is NOT theirs and will result in trouble. 🙂 Here’s to glass ornaments for Christmas 2021!

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        1. We anticipated problems that never came. We also have the tree up on a table. We put durable ornaments on the bottom branches. We see them as our gift to the cats – playthings for a few weeks. Then we put them all away until next year.

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    1. She does that innocent look really well. But when I hear someone playing with the Christmas ornaments in the middle of the night as the dogs sleep around me, I know who it is!

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  4. Your cookies look yummy! I love those cutters you found. I didn’t have much time for baking this year, but I did bake an eggnog custard pie for Christmas day. I love recipes where I can use the fresh eggs from our birds!
    Merry Christmas to you and your whole family!

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  9. I made the almond flour crescent cookies tonight and realized they are what I call pecan sandies. My husband ate two and warned me not to eat the rest while he was gone. I’m really trying, trying…. They are a HUGE hit here!
    Tomorrow I am going to make the Peanut Butter Blossoms using Almond butter, dark, sugarless chocolate, and swerve brown sugar. Thanks for these super great recipes for folks who can’t eat regular ones!

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    1. I’m glad you like them. My husband had the same attitude. I quadruped the recipe the second time I made them and they lasted for 5 days. It’s a very small recipe and my husband and son were so happy to have good cookies! I’m sure I’ll make more for company on Thursday. Even people who like everything could eat them. Let me know how your adaptations go for the blossom cookies! My husband prefers almond butter, so that might be the way to go.

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    1. Well, our snow has just about melted off, but we are getting more snow tomorrow. Christmas Day, it’s predicted to be 50 degrees. That’s not very Christmasy, either! But we work with what we have.

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  12. Love the cat and dog cookie-cutter designs and I’m sure the gingerbread would taste great. I’ve only made 2 gluten free, dairy free, egg free, bread-style loaves in recent months and decided I’m just not a baker, so I applaud your efforts.

    Wishing you and your family a happy and peaceful holiday season. Stay safe and well seems to be the new festive wish for us all. Looking forward to many more posts from you in 2021. 🙂

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    1. Gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free bread is extremely hard to do. I have found one roll recipe that everyone here likes, and I’m still looking for something more. It is really like being set up to fail when we remove all the bread-enhancing ingredients. Cookies are much easier than bread. I seem to think you had your surgery around 12/6, right? I hope you are recuperating well. It’s good to hear from you.

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      1. Surgery was 1st December and I’ve been home a week from rehab. Still can’t put weight on my right leg and still at the stage of thinking ‘will I ever walk again’, but using a walking frame or walking stick is much easier than crutches for someone like me with chronic all-over body pain.

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          1. Thanks KD. Knee replacement is supposed to be far more painful than a hip, so I sympathise with your Mother. I just washed the kitchen floor with a sabco mop & spin bucket and it was incredibly easy as you’ve always got the mop handle to use as a ‘walking stick’. All the years of core strengthening exercises I started when I had 3 slipped spinal discs in 2004 made an enormous difference. My advice to anyone contemplating this type of surgery is to spend at least 2-3 weeks prior doing core & balance exercises and strengthening ankles, knees (ouch), or lower spine. I could stand up and shower from day 2.

            I never ever felt like I would fall over (my greatest fear).

            Tell your Mother than one day (as I hope for myself) she’ll wake up and find it much easier to cope – she just has to hang in there and keep herself occupied with some good books, music or DVDs and good (short) visits from friends.

            Don’t underestimate the healing power of plenty of sleep and if need be, a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon. Anaesthetics and surgery are major invasions on your body and take time to recover from.

            I’ve re-assessed my expectations and aim to walk freely by end January and get back to slow nature walks and photography in February. I aim to be hip pain free in 3 months (not the unrealistic 3 weeks I orginally hope for). But having a chronic 40 year pain and inflammatory condition, I also have little expectation of overall pain reduction.

            Tell your Mother to be realistic and not to be concerned if she feels the pain is overwhelming at the moment.

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          2. You have taken a realistic approach and understand your body. The preparation is a great boost, I can see. I have been doing physical therapy for over two years, developing core muscles and all the others in an attempt to correct misalignment so that I can hopefully avoid a surgery and live with less pain. An anti-inflammatory has helped, but it is only part of the solution for me. We are all different in our problems and our remedies. I suspect my mother’s doctors were not realistic in their discussions with her. They always minimize the negatives and accentuate the positives until their patients think things will be easier than they are.

            I’m relieved to hear how well you are doing! You were smart to prepare as you have and realistic in what to expect. This obviously isn’t your first rodeo!

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  13. What a lovely post. I don’t bake any more and never baked anything but banana nut bread. I felt I was right at your side and cutting the cookies. What a nice helper you had and he deserved the extra special peanut butter blossoms.

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    1. He is a wonderful help in the kitchen, for sure! He is a good cook on his own and a good helper for me. Because I like to eat, I have learned enough baking skills to get by. It is fun, if I have unlimited time and all the ingredients!

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  14. Your tree is so beautiful. I didn’t feel like dealing with my 9 (or is it 12) foot tree all by myself, as my husband is working 2 deadlines up to Christmas Eve on top of his regular part-time job. Wondering if you might send us the recipe for your cut-out cookies and your crescent cookies? lexitheschnauzer at the g mail account thingy. We are gluten-free, and a lot of other “free” stuff, too. Amy

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    1. Thank you for kindly letting me know that my links weren’t working! I have fixed them; if you try again, each recipe name is linked to the on-line recipe. I have my eye on a cute schnauzer cookie cutter I found on Etsy yesterday! Those 3-D printers have been a boon for cookie cutter enthusiasts. My husband and son have approved these three recipes. We finished off the second round of crescent cookies tonight; they have been very popular here.

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    1. As a matter of fact, I found a parrot cookie cutter yesterday. It looks like an Amazon; now all I need is a cockatoo and cockatiel. Sugar gives these cookies his talon-up approval!

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