These cookies earned their name ‘cookie crack’ after the addictive behavior I had experienced with my horses after giving them a couple of these treats.
One bite, and they were hooked.
Warning: These cookies may cause unwanted behavior such as…
- obnoxious pawing demanding more
- slobbery lips searching your pockets
- the loss of mental awareness as they run you over to get the cookie
All jokes aside, I haven’t met a horse who didn’t love these cookies! So if you’re tired of spending $30 on a small container of mediocre cookies bought at the feed store, take an hour out of your afternoon and bake up a fresh batch of deliciousness to spoil your pony with!
Ingredients
1 1/4 cup of steel cut oats
1/2 cup flaxseed [optional, I prefer leaving it out]
3/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 package of peppermints
Canola oil or vegetable oil to grease your tins
Step 1
Set your oven to bake at 350 degrees.
Step 2
In a large bowl, mix together your steel cut oats, molasses, and flaxseed [if you choose to use it]. Make sure the molasses is evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
Step 3
Next, stir in your flour and cornstarch. I recommend sprinkling in a bit at a time, mixing it, and then sprinkling in more. This will help to evenly distribute your ingredients.
Note: I gave up on using a spoon to stir. I found that my hands were the best tool to get a good mix on this sticky batter. And don’t worry, molasses surprisingly washes off easily!
Step 4
There are two baking methods I experimented with for this recipe: mini muffin tins and cookie sheets. Both methods work well, so it just depends on your personal preference of how you want your treat to look as a finished product. The mini muffin tins shape your horse treat into a small cup-like shape, while the cookie sheet gives you…well, a flat cookie.
This next step is crucial. HEAVILY grease your muffin tin / cookie sheet. Learn from my experience, if you don’t heavily grease your tin, you will spend a good amount of your time chipping horse cookies out of it.
Step 5 [muffin tin]
If you choose the mini muffin tin, fill each cup about 3/4 full with your batter.
Note: Do not attempt to use muffin liners! They do not work and the cookie ends up getting stuck to the paper – another lesson I learned the hard way.
Bake for about 15 min. The baking time is pretty flexible depending on your oven and I have found that even when undercooked, the cookies harden when cooled. Do not overcook treats. This could burn the molasses which will make the cookies very hard and a bit sharp which is undesirable for your horse.
So rule of thumb, undercook rather than overcook.
Step 6 [muffin tin]
Once your treats are done cooking, pull them out of the oven and immediately press a peppermint into each cookie.
Let them cool for about 10 to 15 min before popping the treats out with a spoon.
Note: The trick is to let them cool long enough to where the treat holds it shape, but not so long to where the treat is now stuck to the tin and you’re prying them out.
Step 5 [cookie sheet]
Personally, I prefer using a cookie sheet. It’s easier and you can bake large quantities of treats quickly.
Take about a ping-pong ball size amount of batter in your hands and roll it into a ball. Place that ball onto your greased cookie sheet and repeat until the sheet fills up or you run out of batter. Space the cookie balls about 1.5 in apart from each other.
Easy enough right?
Step 6 [cookie sheet]
Bake cookies for about 10 to 12 min. The same rule applies as with the muffin tins, it is better to undercook than overcook these cookies. So error on the side of caution and pull them out early if you feel like they are starting to burn.
After you pull your cookies out of the oven, immediately [and gently] press a peppermint onto the top of each cookie treat. Let them cool for about 10 min before taking them off the sheet.
Step 7
Serve your delicious homemade cookies to your horsey pal with a side of love and lots of kisses ❤
DriftBound 