Fruit Biscuits from Karachi Bakery are our favorite tea time accompaniment. Any friend coming from Hyderabad and visiting our home in Haridwar back in childhood days, made sure to bring several boxes of these tutti-frutti biscuits which were an absolute delight. These Karachi Style biscuits crumble in your mouth as soon as you bite into them. Very light in texture this biscuit is full of butter flavour with chewy candied dried fruits in every bite. The delicious melt-in-mouth Karachi Biscuits are tea time favorites. In India there is no dearth of usage of candied dried papaya or popularly known as Tutti Frutti which are generously used for making cookies, sweet buns and cakes.
Ingredients:
1 cup All purpose flour
4 tbsp Custard powder
1/2 cup Butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp Powdered Sugar
1/2 cup Tutti Frutti / Dried Candid Fruit
1/4 tsp Cardamom powder
1 tsp Pineapple essence
1-2 tbsp Milk (Only to be used if the dough isn't smooth)
Pinch of Salt
Method:
In a bowl mix together all dry ingredients - flour, salt, cardamom powder and custard powder. Keep aside. Take a hand beater and beat butter and sugar till creamy, smooth and pale in color. Don't overbeat to incorporate more air into it. Now add essence and cardamom powder. Mix well. Add in the tutti frutti and flour mix. With a mixing spatula combine everything together until it comes out a smooth round dough. Not if you find the dough little dry or see many cracks then add 1 or 2 tbsp milk gradually to knead a smooth dough.
Pre-heat the Oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and make it into thick logs. Wrap the logs with a cling film and refrigerate for minimum 2 hours.
Take out the dough logs and cut into your desired shape cookies (I shaped them in a square). Lay the cookies on the baking sheet and place them at least 2 inches apart. Bake them for 12-15 minutes. Remove from Oven and transfer to the wire rack to cool completely. Do not get fooled by the look of soft cookies, as they cool down they will be crispy. Store Karachi Style Biscuits in an airtight container and later enjoy with Chai !
Notes:
- You can replace pineapple essence with rose essence.
- Adding milk is totally optional as it makes the dough smooth so if your dough isn't smooth enough then add milk little by little.
- Do not get tempted to bake the Biscuits for more than mentioned time as otherwise it will become hard and loose it's light cream colour.
