Karachi Biscuits or cookies are crispy, crunchy and tender egg-less/egg free cookies studded with candied fruit (tutti frutti or candied papaya) and nuts.Ttinged with exotic flavors of cardamom and pineapple essence, it is a totally addictive cookie! These biscuits are so scrumptious, they are perfect to eat with your evening chai or coffee, to serve at any party or even to gift to your friends and family at special occasions!! The name Karachi biscuits (cookies are called biscuits in India) comes from the fact that they were first baked and sold at a famous bakery called Karachi Bakery in Hyderabad (in India), popular for their fruit biscuits (hence the name Karachi fruit biscuits), plum cake and dil kush (sweet bread stuffed with coconut, tutti frutti and nuts)!!
A couple of years back, on my visit to Hyderabad, we got to visit the famous Karachi bakery and that was when I was first introduced to this sweet, crunchy, crumbly fruity biscuits with its unique aroma!! I had to buy a few boxes of them to share with family and friends back home. With Diwali (Indian festival of lights) fast approaching and most of my family being totally vegetarian (not even eggs), I had to make something eggless and it had to be baked as I love baking. With images of the colorful cookies popping up in my mind and its wonderful aroma still in my memory, I decided to try making these delectable Karachi fruit cookies at home. After scouring around different blogs and coming across many variations of this amazing cookie, I decided to make my own version with some adjustments in sugar and flavor. I have added pineapple essence along with cardamom powder for that unique distinct flavor it has!! These original biscuits are made with all purpose flour or maida. With lot of emphasis on eating healthy every day, I decided to substitute at least some of the refined flour with multigrain flour (less guilt while gorging on them!!). The outcome was heavenly!! They still came out crunchy, flavorful, just the right amount of sweetness and beautiful!!
One bite of this freshly baked biscuit and my husband gave his stamp of approval; his comment was; “they taste like the one we ate in Hyderabad!!” Well, this recipe is a keeper in my cooking journal!! Please do try this and you will love it too!!
Other eggless baked goods you can try are:
Chocolate Afghan Biscuits/Cookies Ice Cream Muffin Eggless Chocolate Beetroot Cake
Step-by-step method:
Sift the flours, custard powder, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl or use a wire whisk to mix them well. Stir in the cardamom powder.
Cook Time: 30 minutes
1 cup all purpose flour/maida ½ cup multigrain flour (or more of the plain flour) ½ cup custard powder (I used vanilla flavor) 1 teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt ½ cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature ¾ cup powdered sugar 1 teaspoon pineapple essence ½ teaspoon cardamom powder ½ cup tutti frutti/candied fruit ¼ cup mixed nuts, chopped (I used cashew and almonds) 5 to 8 tablespoons milk (as needed)
Instructions Notes For people with nut allergies, they can omit the nuts and use only tutti frutti. If you cannot get tutti frutti, use raisins, dried cranberries, or any other dried fruit you fancy!! Make sure to not knead the dough or the cookies will come out tough. Try to be as gentle, just enough to gather to make a soft dough. Use as much milk as needed to bind it. Instead of pineapple essence, you can use rose essence/extract (not rose water!) and adding cardamom powder is optional. If you do not have custard powder, use half and half milk powder and cornstarch or cornflour. Try not to add too much tutti frutti or nuts, or else the cookie dough will not hold together well and will crumble while slicing.
Add the tutti frutti and mixed nuts. Give it a good stir and keep aside.
In a large mixing bowl, add the the softened butter (not melted!) and powdered sugar.
Cream them with a spatula or spoon till soft, fluffy, light and well mixed.
Add the pineapple essence and about 3 to 4 teaspoons of milk and mix again.
Slowly add the flour mixture in batches, mixing it with your fingers. It will start to form crumbs.
If needed, add more milk to bind the dough together (I needed about 6 teaspoons of milk) Once it comes together, gently make a soft dough; just gather to form dough. Do not knead or the cookies will become hard.
Divide the dough into 2 pieces, and shape them into tight logs.
Wrap each log in cling film and refrigerate them for at least an hour. I kept them in the refrigerator overnight. As the dough has butter, when chilled well, the shape of the cookies is maintained while baking.
Just before baking, preheat the oven to 180 degrees Centigrade or 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Take large baking sheet and lightly grease with oil or butter. You can line with parchment paper or aluminum foil too. Remove one log from the refrigerator, unwrap from the plastic film and place on a cutting board.
Gently, with a sharp knife, cut into slices about ¼ to ½ inch thick. Place on greased pan.
Place in preheated oven and bake for 13 to 15 minutes till the edges of the cookies start to brown. They will be soft but firm up on cooling. Leave on the pan for about 1 minute, then gently, with a spatula, remove and place on cooling racks to cool completely.
Follow the same procedure for the other log of biscuit and bake all the biscuits.
Once completely cool, store in airtight containers. Serve these delectable, eggless, healthy and exotic flavored cookies/biscuits with fruity bite with your evening tea or coffee, at parties, in your kids’ lunch box or at your next Diwali, Christmas or Thanksgiving party!!
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