PUPCAKES BIRTHDAY DOG TREATS & SCHENNA’S TROPICAL BIRTHDAY PARTY

This past weekend, we celebrated a very special pup, Schenna Marie, with a social distancing birthday party in my parent’s backyard!  Tuesday was her actual birthday, or rather her gotcha day since she is a rescue.  

Some of you may already know her adoption story, but for those of you who don’t, I found her while I was walking Beowulf and Becks when I lived in Temecula.  Their favorite place to walk was in a dried-up ravine; and one day on our afternoon walk, we came across this little abandoned pup who was covered in ticks and fleas and had a deformed front paw (Schenna has since had that paw amputated since it was not reparable).  I took the poor little dog to the animal shelter; but after her hold period was up, and no one claimed her, I went back and officially adopted her on July 21, 2010.  Schenna picked me to be her person ten years ago, but our vet thinks she is closer to 11 years old so I’m calling this day her 11th birthday.  

We enjoyed the perfect tropical backyard party that we could in these unusual times.  My mom made each of us girls a plumeria lei from the plumeria trees she grows in her yard.  Boy, did my lei smell wonderful!  She also made the most delicious dinner of grilled shrimp served in a pineapple bowl, with King’s Hawaiian dinner rolls, a fresh fruit salad, and pina coladas.  Such a fun themed dinner!  For dessert, I made a lemon blueberry bundt cake.  We sang happy birthday to a rather confused Schenna, but don’t feel too bad for her because she received lots of toys and Bocce’s Bakery treats for presents.  Maybe she wanted the birthday cake on top of her pupcakes!  

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Only Beowulf joined us at the party, and he even wore a hot pink bowtie for the occasion.  I’m not sure he has forgiven me for that yet.  Don’t worry though, Bunker and Becksie also received pupcakes, just back at our house.  

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Overall, it was such a relaxing evening, with a warm summer breeze, pina coladas in hand, and Hawaiian music lofting in the air.  I think we successfully created a tropical backyard getaway, and I know my sweet little Schenna Marie felt extra loved at her party.  After all this little pup has been through in her life, I always want to make her feel extra special on her birthday.  

Now, for the important part of this post, how did I make those delicious (I’m assuming since the pups all gobbled them up) pupcakes?  Well, here we go.  

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Makes 6 Pup Cupcakes 

Ingredients:

(For the Cupcakes)
1 Egg
¼ Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
¼ Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
¼ Cup Honey
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

(For the Icing)
½ Cup of Tapioca Starch
½ Cup of Plain Yogurt
2-3 Teaspoons of Milk
Food Coloring (Optional)

Directions for Pupcake:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  
2.  Line a muffin baking tin with six cupcake liners and set aside. 
3.  In a mixing bowl, combine egg, peanut butter, applesauce, vanilla, and honey.  Mix with a handheld mixer or stand mixer.  
4.  Once mixed, add whole wheat flour and baking soda to the mixture and mix for two minutes.  The dough will become stiff and sticky.  
5.  Spoon dough evenly into the 6 lined muffin cups.  
6.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the pup cupcakes are golden brown on top and done in the middle.  
7.  When cupcakes are done, remove cupcake tin from the oven and cool to touch before transferring cupcakes to cooling racks to completely cool before icing.  
8.  Make icing. 

Directions for Icing:

1.  In a mixing bowl, combine yogurt and tapioca starch. 
2.  Mix until you have a creamy texture, then add milk slowly and mix until thoroughly combined.
3.  If the mixture gets hard, just stir it to get to the consistency of icing. 
4.  Add food coloring to the icing mixture.  You can separate the icing into various bowls, so you have the option to make more colors.
 5.  Decorate cooled cupcakes and let the frosting dry.  You can refrigerate cupcakes to harden icing, but it may crack the longer the iced cupcakes are refrigerated.