Home / Recipes / Blackberry Apple Biscuits
A firm, dark-flecked biscuit where blackberry brings the color and apple brings the body, bound with cooked quinoa and egg.
Blackberries bake into the most dramatic color in the treat kitchen, a deep purple that runs through the whole biscuit, and dogs arrive at the tray before the oven door opens. These biscuits pair that fruit with grated apple, which melts into the dough as it bakes and keeps a quinoa based biscuit from turning dry, and they roll and cut like a proper biscuit even though no flour comes anywhere near them.
The apple prep is the safety step, as it is in every apple recipe on this site: wash the fruit, then remove the core and every seed before the grater comes out. Our apple verdict is a yes with that removal written into it, because the core is a choking hazard and the seeds are not food. Grated apple with the skin on is fine; apple core in any form is not.
Storage: Refrigerate in an airtight container and use within 3 to 4 days, or freeze for up to 2 months.
Every ingredient in this recipe was checked against our own food safety verdicts before it went in. If a food has no verdict page on this site, it does not go into a recipe here, however common it is in other people's treat recipes. The checks for this one:
A classic blackberry biscuit is a flour dough. Flour holds no verdict page in our can-dogs-eat library, so this version builds its dough on cooked quinoa and egg instead, the same reformulation the earlier waves of this library used for their biscuits. The trade is honest: these biscuits are a little more delicate warm and a little less snappy cold than a flour biscuit, and in exchange every ingredient in them carries a verdict you can read.
Drainage decides whether this dough behaves. Quinoa cooked and left sitting in its pot liquor makes a mixture that spreads on the tray; the same quinoa tipped into a sieve for five minutes shapes like a dream. If your mixture still feels loose after the rest, the fix is patience, not additions: another 10 minutes of standing firms it further, and a spoonful of extra cooked quinoa from the fridge is the only thickener this recipe allows itself. Blackberry juice stains everything it touches, including light colored worktops and the cook's favorite tea towel, so mash the fruit in the mixing bowl, not on the board.
A firm biscuit at this size is a satisfying chew for a medium dog and a serious project for a small one. Break biscuits for small dogs rather than serving them whole and hard.
| Dog size | Suggested serving |
|---|---|
| Toy, under 10 lb | 1 biscuit, broken into pieces |
| Small, 10 to 25 lb | 1 to 2 biscuits a day |
| Medium, 25 to 50 lb | 2 to 3 biscuits a day |
| Large, 50 to 90 lb | 3 to 4 biscuits a day |
| Extra large, over 90 lb | Up to 4 biscuits a day, within the day's treat total |
Treats are treats. The American Kennel Club's guidance is that treats should make up no more than 10 percent of a dog's daily calories, counting every treat and snack in the day together, and that the treat calories sit inside the day's total rather than on top of it. The servings above are starting points for a healthy adult dog; puppies, seniors and dogs on a veterinary diet need their own veterinarian's steer, and a dog trying any ingredient for the first time should get a small piece first, with a day to watch for an upset stomach.
Baked fruit and egg put these biscuits inside the FoodSafety.gov cold food storage chart's cooked dish rules: refrigerate within 2 hours of baking, keep at 40F (4C) or below, and use within 3 to 4 days. The freezer extends the batch to 2 months at 0F (minus 18C) for best quality, well inside the chart's wider window. Because the dough starts wet, dryness at serving is the freshness test alongside the calendar: a biscuit that has gone soft and bendy in the fridge has taken on moisture and should be retired early.
Flour holds no verdict page in our can-dogs-eat library yet, and this series only publishes recipes whose every ingredient carries a verdict. Cooked quinoa and egg build the dough instead, following the same reformulation the earlier waves of this library used, and the swap is disclosed on the page.
Yes. Our apple verdict serves apple washed, with the skin able to stay on for most dogs. What must come out is the core and every seed, and the method makes that removal a step of its own before the apple is grated.
Almost always undrained quinoa or very juicy berries. Rest the mixture longer, drain any liquid that pools, and shape with damp hands. Do not fix it with flour or oats, because neither holds a verdict page here; a spoonful of extra cooled quinoa is the in-recipe fix.
Start with half a biscuit and a day of watching, the same first serving rule this library applies to every new ingredient. Blackberries hold a small amounts yes verdict, and a small first test is how you learn whether this particular dog agrees with it.
Firm at the edges and dry on top, firming further as they cool, but not rock hard. A flourless biscuit never reaches the snap of a flour one. If yours baked soft in the middle, they needed 3 more minutes, not a different recipe.
This page is general information drawn from the published guidance of the organizations listed under Sources below. It is not veterinary advice, and it does not replace your own veterinarian, who knows your dog. If your dog has eaten something toxic, contact your veterinarian, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center on (888) 426-4435, or the Pet Poison Helpline on (855) 764-7661 straight away. A consultation fee may apply on the helplines.
Last updated: November 2026. Every ingredient in this recipe was checked against the verdict pages linked above. Storage times follow the FoodSafety.gov cold storage guidance listed under Sources. How we work: our methodology.
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