Hyderabad Karachi Biscuits recipe - a famous biscuit originated from the Karachi Bakery; Hyderabad India.
Hyderabad Karachi Biscuits recipe is one of those Indian biscuits; that is flavoured with everything Indian you could ever imagine.
Like I said these biscuits gets its name from one of the famous bakeries back in Hyderabad; Karachi Bakery; famous for its fruit biscuits, rum cakes, plum cakes and many other.
These Hyderabad Karachi biscuits are basically a fruit biscuit that has a dominant flavour coming from the tutti frutti, pineapple essence and the orange zest. If you have never tried these Hyderabad Karachi biscuits then I insist you to try it at least once because its sooooo freaking amazing bursting with the flavours of fruit.
Why am I insisting you guys to try this Hyderabad Karachi Biscuits?
1. The crispy and crumbly texture of the biscuits makes it perfect to go along with Indian tea.
2. This biscuit is sweetened perfectly enough to suit your taste buds.
3. It is bursting with the flavours of fruits - tutti frutti, pineapple and orange
4. Perfect biscuits for high tea - looks classy and expensive
5. Pretty enough to gift it your friends and family on occasions like Diwali, Birthdays, New Year etc.
6. And most importantly no one can stop at just one - they would keep coming back for more.
If you would ask me to describe these biscuits then all I have to say is that,
The brown biscuits looked so inviting when it came out of the oven; the fresh buttery smell of the biscuits swept me off my senses. The craving for the first bite of the cookie intrigued me so much that I couldn’t wait for it to cool down completely. A perfect crunchy top, so brittle, that you can audibly hear the crunch as it cracks in your mouth; the shattering of the grains of sugar and flour with your bite; the buttery melt-in-your-mouth texture of the biscuit will make you crave for the second bite and then the third.. Someone stop me please..
Hyderabad Karachi Biscuits has that crispy and crumbly texture yet the buttery melt in your mouth feel.. oh my goodness.. just try this for once.
If you guys are wondering what tutti frutti is; then let me talk about it briefly. Tutti Frutti usually refers to candied raw papaya. These are little brightly coloured confectionaries that is generally used as a topping in bakery products like these biscuits, cakes etc and also available in the form of ice-creams; as a filling in between paan.
Related Recipes:
Hyderabad Karachi Biscuits | Tutti Frutti Biscuits | Fruit Biscuits
Ingredients
- 3/4 Cup Plain Flour (Maida)
- 1/4 Cup Custard Powder
- 1/4 Cup Cashew Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- Pinch of Salt
- 113 gms (1/2 cup) Butter softened
- 1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar (refer notes)
- 1/2 tsp Pineapple Essence
- 1/2 tsp Cardamom Powder
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1/2 Cup Tutti Frutti
Instructions
- Cream together the butter and sugar until combined around 3 4 mins depending upon how soft the butter is. ( No need to cream it until soft and fluffy like we do for cakes)
- Add in the pineapple essence, cardamom powder and orange zest. combine together.
- Meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl and add it to the creamed butter and sugar in two stages (reserving around 2 tbsp flour) and combine together.
- Finally, its time to add the tutti frutti. Mix it in the reserved flour first and then add it to your cookie base. Combine together to form a dough.
- Never knead the cookie dough; just combine it until everything comes together as a dough.
- Give it a circular log shape first and then press it into a rectangular shape. (Refer vide for clear understanding). Cling wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours until the butter firms up.
- Then cut them into 1/4 inch thickness. Lay on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and bake in a preheated oven, 180°C for 12-15 mins until it has golden brown edges but pale centre.
- The cookies would be soft when straight out of the oven. Allow it cool completely it would crisp up.
Notes:
1. You can use cornflour in place of custard powder but then it won't give you that striking yellow colour and also custard powder adds a flavour to these Hyderabad Karachi Biscuits.
2. Instead of using cashew powder you can use any nut powders of your choice. (basically nut powder is nothing but simply pulsing the nuts in the blender to get a powder form)
3. And of course you can skip the nut powder entirely and use the same amount of Flour instead but I would not recommend that.
4.To make the powdered sugar all I did was measured out 1/2 cup of regular sugar and then powdered it in a regular mixer. And used it in the recipe.
If you like my today's recipe then do let me know by tagging me, tweeting me or instagram me. I would love to follow you and your posts.
Now that you are here I would highly recommend you to also check my Indian Bakery style Butter Biscuits that has just 3 main ingredients.
I will see you soon with yet another recipe.
Until then
Hugs
Sushma
Alex says
Hello Sushma!
I am fairly new to your site and am so happy to have found you! Your recipes and instruction are wonderful and so concise...thank you so much! I am looking forward to trying many of your offerings!
I have 2 questions for you please...
1. Where I live in Canada I cannot locate 'true' Tutti Frutti as in only papaya, even in our amazing Indian grocery stores. Can 'regular' candied mixed peel be used as a substitute or do you have another suggestion?
2. The same applies to the pineapple essence. I can locate pineapple extract which is less potent than the oil Your link goes to the LorAnn flavour oil. Is it 1/2 teaspoon of the oil you use, or is it an extract?
I have been looking for an authentic recipe for Karachi Tutti Frutti biscuits for so long and am very excited to try it!
With wishes for a full and speedy recovery for your son and please take time to 'just be'...it is not easy juggling all of the challenges we are facing every day now. Family is always first...
Thank you, Sushma!
sushma iyer says
Hi Alex.. thank you for your patience. I know I am a bit late replying to you so sorry about that.
Coming to your queries:
1. Can you please share an image of the tutti fruti that you are able to find in Indian grocery stores. Mixed peel won't work here so you Indian stores would be the best place for you. Just share a picture with me on Instagram or through email and I can have a better look.
2. Yes definitely if you find essence or extract locally then by all means use that. The link is for everyone who do not have an option. If you do not manage to find pineapple essence you can also use rose essence in place of it.
Thank you so much for your support. Appreciate it.. 😀
Alex says
Oh My!
Now it is my turn to apologize, Sushma . . . profusely! Here I am responding to you almost a year later! My goodness!
I don't know how I missed your reply to me especially as it was so timely - not delayed at all.
I know you are on a break from your website, but I wanted to send a note to you letting you know I finally found some authentic Tutti Fruti in my local Indian grocers. It is only red and no green, but I know it will be perfect for me to make your Karachi Bakery inspired cookies. I cannot wait to make them!
Thank you for for your confirmation on the pineapple essence and the suggestion to use rosewater too.
I so hope you and your family have managed through the pandemic and remain in good health and happiness.
I for one am very appreciative of your creativity and instruction, Sushma, and again I am so very sorry for the oversight on my part!
I'm not too sure if you even view any of the emails for this site now, but I hope you do and receive my apology!
With Kind Regards,
sushma iyer says
Hi Alex..
Please don't be apologetic.. It is absolutely fine.. I understand we do get busy with one thing then the other thing completely skips form our minds.. that's ok.. 🙂
And only red tutti fruti will also do.. we do get three colours - red, green and yellow.. but it is hard to find all the three colours abroad.. even I don't find them often at my Indian stores here in New Zealand so it is ok to use whatever you get..
Thank you for keeping me and my family in your thoughts.. I appreciate it.. yes we are doing good.. we are moving back to India for good.. so big changes coming up..
Glad to see the blog posts and videos are helpful.. thank you 🙂
Regards
Sushma
Akanksha jain says
Hi Sushma my cookies have spread way too much upon baking for 12-15 mins. I followed Ur receipe exactly same with exact qty u had mentioned. Only change I did was to use rose essence instead of pineapple. Pls guide me reasons for spread.. btw I have made this 2nd time using Ur receipe. The first time it came out perfect but I can't figure out wat went wrong this time
sushma iyer says
Hi Akanksha..
The recipe says cream together for 3 to 4 mins.. so if you creamed it for a little longer then you have accidentally incorporated more air into the batter which causes it to spread. Here is a video which explains it in much detail.. Watch this and you will understand better: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljyXvC-HUJ4
Regards
Sushma
Akanksha says
Hi Sushma thanks a lot for replying. Also I remember I had seived the flour with powdery dry ingredients 2-3 times. So even this step incorporated a lot of air in the dough.
Smita says
Can cashew powder be substituted ?
sushma iyer says
Hi Smita..
You can substitute it with flour but you won't get that rich taste.. 🙂 but of yes definitely it would be good enough 🙂
Deepti says
Any substitute for pineapple essence?
sushma iyer says
HI Deepti.. you can use orange essence or any fruit essence or even simple vanilla essence would work but of course, it won't have that taste that we are after. 🙂