When Boo Boo and Roo, two Italian greyhounds, got married earlier this year, Hawai‘i Doggie Bakery made the wedding cake: a dog bone-shaped, three-tiered affair topped with heart-shaped sweet potato biscuits.
The special request for the all-in-fun nuptials was a first for the bakery, which has gotten orders for wedding favors and birthday cakes.
Hawai‘i Doggie Bakery is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily at 2961-C E. Manoa Road. Call 783-7390 or visit hawaiidoggiebakery.org. |
Sisters Niki and Tasha Libarios, owners of Hawai‘i Doggie Bakery, recently opened a new store at Manoa Square, where they fulfill orders for custom cakes and sell fresh-baked goodies for canines. The doors opened last month, and a grand-opening celebration is expected sometime this month.
The Libarioses took over the business last year from another pair of sisters, Jen Kunishima Sarsuelo and Trudy Mahelona, who founded Hawai‘i Doggie Bakery in 1998. They had been operating as a mobile doggie bakery, selling their biscuits at farmers markets and dog-friendly events around Oahu. When a fitting space became available at Manoa Square, they took it.
"We always wanted to get back to a shop. That was always the goal," said Niki Libarios, who also created the Shiba Inu Hawaii social club for fans of the ancient breed of Japanese dogs.
The little shop has a counter holding baked treats, a chalkboard detailing specials and a photo corner where dogs can pose on an overstuffed velvet chair.
On the Lowrey Street side of the shop, there’s a grassy sitting area with a window for walk-up orders, just in case your dog is not keen on socializing with the four-legged customers inside.
The Libarios family has seven dogs, and you will often see their shiba inus, Katsu and Kuri Firefox, in the store.
The bakery sells leashes, collars, T-shirts and Filthy Farmgirl soaps for dogs — all produced locally.
"We’re trying to be 100 percent local and support local vendors," said Tasha Libarios.
Hawai‘i Doggie Bakery’s treats use Ka Lei eggs and Okinawan sweet potatoes and bananas from many of the farmers the owners got to know at the markets. The poi used in the treats is from Taro Brand.
Many of the recipes from the original bakery are still in use. The treats contain no salt, butter, sugar or preservatives.
For Halloween the bakery is offering orange-frosted Halloween cupcakes along with "Meow-lo-ween Fish-n-Poi Pup Treats," "Hocus Pocus Hound Dog Hats" (chicken and poi biscuits) and "Okinawan Sweet Bootato Ghosts." A treat bag filled with Halloween-themed biscuits also is available.
Dogs that come in to the bakery Oct. 31 and do a trick will get a treat.
HALLOWEEN SWEET ‘BOOTATO’ SWEETHEARTS 1/2 cup steamed
Okinawan sweet potato 1 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup honey 4 1/4 cup rolled oats 3 cups all-purpose flour 3 cups whole wheat flour 2 cups water
In large mixing bowl combine ingredients and slowly mix in water. When mixture holds together in a ball, roll out dough to approximately 1/8-inch thickness. Cut out ghosts or other Halloween shapes and place on baking pan. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Bake 30 minutes, flipping biscuits over after 15 minutes. Cool before serving.
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Recipe courtesy Hawai‘i Doggie Bakery
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