Tutti Frutti Cookies | Eggless Fruit Cookies | Christmas Cookies

When I started jotting down this cookie recipe, I realized that this is the first cookie recipe in my blog.It does not mean that I do not make cookies at home but to be honest I rarely bake cookies as we both are not very fond of cookies.Moreover the amount of butter that goes in them keeps me from making it quite often.I usually bake Benne biscuit and Khara biscuit which I just love to make when I have those sudden cravings for the typical Iyengar bakery goodies.

I like Tutti frutti  and I love to eat them just like that or any other bakery goodies like cupcakes, dilkush and dilpasand.My dad always used to buy a pack of tutti frutti and candied cherries for me along with the other baked goodies during my childhood and I used to snack.on them happily.

I recently bought a pack of tutti frutti to prepare Christmas fruit cake and I had some left over tutti frutti which tempted me to bake these cookies. I have used my basic eggless cookie recipe and added tutti frutti for preparing these colorful cookies.They are slightly chewy and perfectly crisp just like the way we want,we are not fond of powdered texture cookies.This is also a perfect recipe to bake for Christmas to gift your family and friends.I am sure everyone would love these colorful cookies especially the kids.

Tutti Frutti Cookies | Eggless Candied Fruit Cookies:

(makes 24 cookies)

Ingredients:

1 cup All purpose flour

1/2 cup(minus 2 tbsp) Unsalted Butter*

1/2 cup(minus 2 tbsp) Sugar**

1/3 heaped cup Tutti Frutti(candied fruit)

1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence

a pinch of Salt

Method:

• Keep the butter outside until it comes down to room temperature and becomes soft.
• Powder the sugar in a mixer.
• Sieve the all purpose flour and keep it ready.
• Take butter in a big bowl and add powdered sugar to it and beat well with a electric mixer for 3-4 mins until you get a soft and creamy mixture.
• Add vanilla essence and beat again.
• Sprinkle all purpose flour in batches and add tutti frutti and mix it to get a soft dough consistency.It will be slightly sticky.If your dough is very crumbly you can add 1-2 tbsp milk to mix the dough.If the dough is very sticky sprinkle some flour to mix the dough.
• Divide the dough into 2 portions and make each portion into a 2" cylinder log and wrap it in butter paper. Follow the same process for the other portion.If the dough is very sticky sprinkle some flour to roll it into a log.
• Freeze the packed dough for 40-45 mins or you can refrigerate the dough for 3 hrs.
• Preheat the oven at 160 deg C(320 F) for 12-15 mins.

• Remove the dough from freezer and remove the log from the butter paper and cut the log into 1/2" roundels using a sharp knife.If the dough crumbles while cutting into slices,slightly press the dough back to hold the shape of roundel.You can even roll the dough into 1/4" thickness and cut them into your desired shapes using cookie cutter.
• Place a butter paper or cookie sheet on the baking tray and arrange these cookies leaving 2" gap in between them.

• Bake them at 160 deg C for 10-12 mins until the edges turn slightly brown.Keep a close eye after 8 mins and remove them once you see the brown patches.If you like them more crispier bake for a minute more.
• The cookies will be very soft to touch when you remove from oven,but it is ok they would be crisp once they cool down.
• Leave them in the baking tray for 5 mins and arrange them on the cooling rack to let them cool completely.
• Once they are cooled down store them in air tight container.You can store them up to 4-5 days.

Serve them as a snack with a glass of milk or dunk them in your tea/coffee and enjoy.

*If you are using unsalted butter add salt in the recipe.I added salted butter hence I skipped the salt in the recipe.
**The cookies are sweet enough for us,if you like them really sweeter then make the sugar quantity in the dough to 1/2 cup.I find it too sweet if I add 1/2 cup sugar in the recipe hence I always reduce 2 tbsp sugar which is perfect for us.

Notes:

1. This is a basic eggless cookie which is very versatile and you can add various roasted nuts and dry fruits or chocolate chips instead of tutti frutti in the recipe.
2. You can even add 1 tsp fresh orange zest in the dough to get flavorful orange cookies.
3. If you do not get tutti frutti you can even add chopped candied cherries in the recipe.
4. While mixing the dough if your dough is very crumbly you can add 1-2 tbsp milk to mix the dough.If the dough is very sticky sprinkle some flour to mix the dough.
5. The cookies are sweet enough for us,if you like them really sweeter then make the sugar quantity in the dough to 1/2 cup.I find it too sweet if I add 1/2cup sugar in the recipe hence I always reduce 2 tbsp sugar which is perfect for us.

Look at the texture inside,they were perfectly crisp on the outside and slightly soft and chewy in the center.Those beautiful specs of tutti frutti is just adorable in these cookies.

Check out my collection of Christmas Cakes recipes here.