Has anyone found or tried a stud muffin style recipe? I’ve tried a few crispy flax recipes and other things of that nature but I’d love to make a semi moist horse treat. My mare goes bananas but a small bucket of the local version available runs me $20 and it can’t be more than $5 in ingredients. The slightly spongey texture leads me to believe that perhaps they are baked like mini muffins?
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I have not seen that particular treat, but baking a mix of oats and ground flax will make a muffin that holds together.
I used to make baked treats with sweet feed, molasses, grated carrots, apple and a little flour. I tried to find a similar recipe (it’s been a while…) and this page has several that look good https://horsemansnews.com/easy-to-make-horse-treat-recipes/
Stud Muffins has the ingredients listed on their website, you could try some small batches and play with measurements.
My advice if you’re using molasses – liberally oil the muffin tins or it is never coming out. Nowadays there are silicone muffin pans, that might work! I used to use an old sheet pan and cut them up into squares, I didn’t try to make pretty round cookies.
I make them all the time - super easy. I don’t really measure anything so I’ll give you my best guess as to amounts. Sorry for my total lack of precision, but if you make them once or twice you’ll have a good sense of where to add more or less for the texture you want.
First and foremost, get silicone mini muffin pans! I have two and this “recipe” will make about that many. And get a small cookie/ice cream scoop (like 1.5" across) - it’s the right size to portion into the mini muffin pans.
Steel cut oats (not quick cook)
Regular oatmeal (not quick cook)
Molasses (if you’re going to be making a lot, get a gallon of deer molasses from Tractor Supply)
Flour
Cornstarch
Peppermints (the puffy ones, not the flat ones (the flat ones absorb liquid from the treats and get gooey while the puffy ones don’t))
Ground or whole flax (if desired, not necessary)
Applesauce (if desired, not necessary)
About 2 parts steel cut oats to regular oatmeal (so say 2 cups and 1 cup). Add a glug or two of molasses and stir to coat. I start with less than I think I need since I can always add more. You just want all of the oats to be coated but not drowning. The less molasses you use the crunchier the treats will be. But if you use too much, while they’ll be soft, they’ll also stick to each other and everything else.
Add some flour (say 1/2 - 1 cup) and cornstarch (1T) and stir until completely mixed in. If desired add the flax. If it seems too dry add a little applesauce or a little water. If it seems too wet add more flour or more oats.
Use the cookie scoop to portion into the muffin pan. You want the mixture level with or slightly below the top of each muffin hole. Take a metal spatula and press each one down to flatten and compress the mixture in the muffin pan. You’ll need to wipe the spatula often so it doesn’t stick. You can also run hot water and rinse the spatula between presses.
Bake at 325-350 for about 18 minutes. While treats are baking, unwrap your puffy mints (I’ve only found them individually wrapped). When the treats are baked, remove from the oven and immediately firmly press a puffy mint down into each one. Then, if the tops of any of the treats look like they’ve kind of splayed open, press the edges back together.
Let cool for 10-15 min and pop treats out of the muffin pan. And voila, fancy horse treats.
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Thanks! I’m assuming you probably haven’t given them a taste but is there a texture you would use as a comparison? Is it like a dense muffin or like chewy sweet feed nuggets?
My mare is meh on treats but Nicker Doodles and Stud Muffin texture seems to be spot on for her.
Ok. It took me a few tries but I have a fairly solid knock-off German Horse Muffin recipe for squishy horse cookies. A friend of mine got my gelding hooked on those dang treats and I can’t really stomach spending $40+ on a bag of them when I can make them for less than $10. So here’s what I figured out and these are all rough amounts. This will make 1-2 gallon size bags of treats
About 12 oz. blackstrap molasses (regular molasses will work fine)
3 cups oats
2 large grated apples
2 grated carrots
1 or 2 mushed up super ripe bananas
1 1/2 cups of flour, you may need more depending on how wet the mix is. Enough so they will hold a shape without using a muffin tin because this is a bit of a messy bake. I tend to use parchment paper and a cookie sheet.
Mix everything together and shape into cookies. Bake at 325F for 12-15 minutes or until the tops feel dry.
I have used all kinds of fruits and veggies depending on the grocery store sales. A particular favorite was apple, beet, and mango with chia seeds. Blackstrap molasses is closer to the German Horse Muffins than regular molasses but texture-wise there’s no difference.
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thank you!!!
