Osmania Biscuits

Today we will see how to make Osmania biscuits, all the Hyderabad lovers; it is a must to know the method to make this wonderful, mouthwatering, delicacy of Hyderabad

Like other Hyderabadi cuisine, Osmania biscuit too is a princely legacy. The biscuit is named after Mir Osman Ali Khan, the seventh Nizam. He liked the biscuits made at Vicaji Hotel, a popular restaurant those days at Abids, so much that every evening a car from Nazari Bagh used to fetch the biscuits for him.

Pleased with the Royal Patronage, the hotel named the biscuit ‘Osmania' and the name has stuck long after the Nizamian era is over. The hotel is believed to have worked out the biscuit taste to the Nizam's liking by reducing the salt content and making it slightly sugary.

Despite numerous mouth-watering cookies flooding the market, Osmania biscuit still holds its own. Whatever the season, it remains the most popular tea-time snack. Be it a private programme or official function, one can't do without this yummy stuff.

All across the City of Hyderabad, this is the favorite tea-time snack. In bakeries too, Osmania biscuits are the fastest moving delicacy on the shelf. ‘Bun-maska', ‘dil-pasand' and ‘samosa' may be the typical local flavours, but Osmania biscuit is what Hyderabad is readily identified with. In fact the first thing many do on arriving in the City is to experience the ‘zaiqa' of Osmania

Osmania Biscuits
Ingredients
Butter- 120 gms
Sugar powder- 80 gms
Milk- 20 ml
Salt- a pinch
All purpose flour- 200 gms
Custard powder:  10 gms
Milk powder-: 10 gms
Cardamom powder-: 1/2 teaspoon
Baking powder:    1/4 teaspoon
For the Milk Wash
Saffron : half gms
Warm milk : 1/4 cup
Method
Preheat oven to 180C.
*Mix the warm milk and saffron and keep aside.
*Sieve together all purpose flour, salt, custard powder, milk powder, cardamom powder, baking powder and keep aside.
*Beat butter and sugar till creamy. Add milk and mix well.
*Add the flour mix and mix well to form soft dough. Cover with a cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for the dough to firm up.
*Roll the dough into a thin sheet and cut them into round shape and arrange the biscuits in the tray, and pour the saffron mixture on top of this and bake them for 15 minutes.

Osmania Biscuits comes in two types one is salt and the other is sweet