Eggless Mixed Fruit Biscotti / Tutti Fruti Rusk

These Mixed Fruit Biscotti with Cardamom and Kewra Essence are a wonderful addition to your cookie recipes. They are not only crispy and flavorful but also chewy and dense. Full of apricots, raisins and  other dried fruits, these biscotti’s screams holidays…

Biscotti’s are loved by all, dip them in tea, coffee or milk and they are a pure indulgence. Perfect for holidays, these babies make excellent gift as well. Double baking gives them there incredible crispy texture which we all enjoy. I like to add cardamom and Kewra essence to these; it pairs very well with Mixed Fruit and gives them wonderful sweet aroma. But by all means you can use Vanilla or Rose essence if you are not a big fan of Kewra essence.

Although Gayathri  chose the recipe of "Apricot Pistachios Biscotti" for this month's Eggless Baking challenge, but since these days am feeling some allergic reaction from nuts, I am trying to avoid them as much as possible. And cranberries alone would be tangier than usual. Hence I went ahead with mixed fruit addition and the result didnt fail to fulfill my expectations. 

These biscottis taste just like our Indian Cake Rusk. Next time, I am not going to add any flavoring or nuts and will increase the quantity of Butter to get that extra crumbly texture. Also, off course I will be using Egg in that recipe. Will post very soon with the difference that I would feel. 

What you need ?

• All-purpose flour – 2 cup.
• Whole Wheat Flour - 1/2 cup
• Cardamom powder – ¼ tsp.
• Baking soda – 1tsp.
• Salt – ½ tsp.
• Butter – ½ cup.
• Flax Meal - 2 tbsp ( mixed with 1 tbsp water)
• Sugar – ½ cup (light brown sugar preferably).
• Kewra essence – 1tsp (can use vanilla essence instead)

How to Make ?

• Preheat the oven to 350F.
• Measure and mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt and cardamom powder) in a clean bowl. Add the dried fruits to the dried flour mixture and mix well till they all are well coated. Keep aside.
• In a clean bowl cream (beat) butter and sugar till it turns fluffy and light. Beat in Kewra essence, mix well.

     

            

  

        

         

• Now start adding the flour mixture, 1 cup at a time, until you have well-mixed dough.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions, transfer each portion to the baking sheet lined with parchment. Shape each portion into a log about 8-10 inches long. Don’t add any flour, the dough will be sticky, slightly damp your hand with water and it will work fine.

• Bake the log for 20-25 minutes, until they are beginning to brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven and let it rest for at-least 20 minutes.

• Lower the oven temperature to 325F.
• Carefully transfer the cooled logs to a cutting surface, cut them on diagonal using a serrated knife into ½-inch-wide slices. The cookies can crumble at this stage, don’t worry just cut them gently.

• Transfer the slices, cut sides up to a parchment lined sheet. Bake the biscotti once again for 20-25 minutes, until they are very dry. Because we used brown sugar in this recipe the biscotti’s will be relatively brown in color.

Remove them from the oven, cool completely and enjoy. These can be stored in an air tight container for almost 15 days.

My Notes:

• Instead of Kewra Essence, you can use Rose Or Vanilla Essence
• Increase the quantity of butter for more crumbly texture, this worked just fine for me. 

• Be careful while cutting the Biscottis and use a Bigger knife. I didnt have it hence got it crumbled from many parts
• Dont forget to roll out two logs from the dough. I did just one, and hence my Biscottis were a bit thick. Thinner ones will taste better and bake better too.