Fruit Biscuits Tutti Frutti Cookies

Can’t Do Without Cookies

Cookies, or biscuits as popularly called in India, are one of the most common tea time snack. Not just me and my family, we all love to dip these in our tea or coffee and have. Also, get upset, if while dipping, a mushy portion just falls into the cup or mug and settles at the bottom! Like most biscuits or cookies, these Tutti Frutti Cookies are also an awesome evening snack. Since the time I had tried these for the first time during one of the Christmas/New Years, I was hooked to the taste. This recipe of mine has been adapted from a book on industrial baking. Wondering what is tutti frutti? Tutti frutti are candied papaya, made with raw unripe green papaya. These small colorful bits add a lovely sweet chewy bite to any dessert or snack they are added in. The same goes for these cookies too. You can get yourself a pack of tutti frutti easily from a grocery store near you or by ordering online. Some more lovely recipes made with tutti frutti that you must try are Tutti Frutti Ice Cream and Tutti Frutti Cake.

About Fruit Biscuits Recipe

My Fruit Biscuits recipe is a bit healthier as it is made with whole wheat flour. The other ingredients that I use are sugar, butter, vanilla, milk and candied papaya a.k.a. tutti frutti. These Fruit Biscuits get done easily with the butter-sugar creaming technique. You just have to pay attention to the recipe and follow it to the T. Either use a handheld electric mixer, a food processor or even a stand mixer for the same. While these cookies are made with tutti frutti, you can also add chopped nuts and dry fruits in it. Texture of the Fruit Biscuits is flaky and crispy, and a bit crumbly too. Just in line with the famous phrase “that’s the way the cookie crumbles,” but in a positive sense. This recipe yields about 475 grams (60 to 62) of small-sized Fruit Biscuits. Quite a large batch! Make a small batch by proportionately halving the recipe. Pack the Fruit Biscuits in airtight jars and keep at room temperature. This way, the cookies stay good for a few weeks. Make these cookies sans egg, and gift to your near and dear ones too.

How to make bakery style Karachi Biscuits

If you have heard of Karachi Fruit Biscuits, then you know they are cookies made with tutti frutti. You can also use my recipe and make bakery style biscuits like the Karachi Biscuits. To make bakery style Karachi Cookies, replace the whole wheat flour with all-purpose flour. Using all-purpose flour (maida) will make your cookies softer and crumbly. You could also add custard powder to the cookie dough. Use a combination of 1 and ¾ cup all-purpose flour and ¼ cup custard powder. Make sure to add less liquids in your cookie dough when you make these fruit biscuits with all-purpose flour. Do remember to add ¼ teaspoon of mixed fruit essence or as needed, so that you get the distinctive fruity fragrance reminiscent of the Karachi Bakery Biscuits.

How to make Fruit Biscuits

Make Cookie Dough

1. Firstly, take ½ cup raw sugar or white sugar in a dry grinder, mixer-grinder or spice-grinder.
2. Grind to a fine powder. You can also use ½ cup powdered sugar or confectioner’s sugar instead. Keep aside.
3. Grease a baking tray with some butter.
4. In a mixing bowl, take ¾ cup softened butter (140 grams butter). You could use either unsalted butter or salted butter.
5. Add the powdered sugar.
6. With a beater, cream the butter and sugar till the mixture becomes light and fluffy.
7. On a medium speed, it took me about 4 to 5 minutes to cream the butter and sugar till smooth and light.
8. Here’s a picture of the creamed butter and sugar. Also, preheat your oven to 180 degrees C/356 degrees F. The oven should be preheated 15 minutes before baking.
9. Now, add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla essence. You can also use ½ teaspoon cardamom powder or ¼ teaspoon nutmeg powder, if you do not have vanilla extract. Also, rose essence or extract can be added. In fact, you can add any fruit extract or essence.
10. Fold the vanilla extract with the creamed mixture.
11. Next, directly sift 2 cups (240 grams) whole wheat flour (or atta) directly in the bowl containing the creamed butter. You can also sift the flour in a plate and then add. Instead of whole wheat flour, you can also use all-purpose flour or maida or half-half of both the flours.
12. Now, add 3 to 4 tablespoons milk. I added 4 tablespoons. Depending on the quality of flour, you may need to add more or less milk. The milk helps in binding and to get the mixture together in a dough.
13. Begin to gently mix with your hands.
14. Mixing gently, gather the whole mixture in a dough. Do not knead. The mixture should be able to come together and hold easily. Tip 1: Add 1 or 2 tablespoons more milk if the dough is not able to come together in a dough.  Tip 2: In case, the dough becomes sticky, sprinkle some flour evenly all over and gently mix again.

Assemble and Shape

15. Before you roll and cut the cookies, preheat your oven for 15 to 20 minutes at 180 degrees C/356 degrees. Roll the cookie dough gently with a rolling pin to an even thickness of about 0.5 cm. Tip: If the dough feels too soft, then wrap it up with a cling film or cover in a bowl and refrigerate for 15 to 20 minutes.
16. Sprinkle 4 to 5 tablespoons tutti frutti evenly on the rolled cookie dough.
17. Gently roll and press the tutti frutti with the rollin pin, so that they get stuck and embedded in the dough.
18. With a biscuit cutter, cut the cookie slices.

Bake Fruit Biscuits

19. Gently remove them and place on the greased baking tray. These cookies are light and soft, so do remove gently and carefully without breaking them.
20. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 degrees C/356 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes or till the top becomes light golden. Since oven temperatures vary, it may take less or more time. So, keep a check.  For convection ovens, use the preheating and baking temperature of 165 to 170 degrees C/329 to 338 degrees F. In an OTG, keep the tray on the center rack with both the top and bottom heating elements on.
21. Bake till the cookies are light or pale golden. Do not over bake them as then they will become very hard. Here’s a closer look of the cookies.
22. The base should also be light golden to golden as you see in the picture below. I baked in two batches as I have a small oven. If you have a big oven, you can bake the cookies in one go.
23. After a minute, place them on a wired rack. Let them cool to room temperature. Once cooled, store them in an air-tight box or jar.
24. Serve Fruit Biscuits as a sweet snack or tea time snack.

Expert Tips

Please be sure to rate the recipe in the recipe card or leave a comment below if you have made it. For more vegetarian inspirations, Sign Up for my emails or follow me on Instagram, Youtube, Facebook, Pinterest or Twitter. Nankhatai Recipe | Nankhatai Biscuit Coconut Cookies Recipe Oatmeal Cookies | Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Gingerbread Cookies This Fruit Biscuits recipe from the blog archives first published in December 2015 has been updated and republished on September 2023.