WCB/ Hey, Hay, Its Donna Hay!

Well, Weekend Cat Blogging is one year old, and Clare is throwing a party. She asked us all to bring our favourite toys and some checkerboard cookies....

Aggie's not particularily interested in the cookies ~

but you can see her smiling when I pull out her little man and stuff him full of catnip

Then, she hangs on for dear life, shooting me evil looks if I so much as look at her toy.

Check out the big party over at Eatstuff.

Pistachio and Rosewater Checker Board Cookies
For the Hay Hay its Donna Hay event, I was unable to make the recipe without changing the flavours. Its not that the chocolate and vanilla sounds bad ~ I just have an addiction to messing with recipes.

185 gms butter (6 1/2 ounces)
1 cup of caster (superfine) sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups plain flr (all purpose)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup ground pistachio
1 tbsp milk
2 tsp rose water

preheat oven to 180 C (355F).
Place the buter, sugar and vanilla ina food processor and process til smooth. Add the flour egg and egg yolk and continue til a smooth dough forms.
Remove half the dough and set aside. Add the pistachio and milk to the processor and process for 1-2 mins or until just combined. Remove the dough and roll betweern 2 sheets of bakingpaper until 5 mm or 1/4 inch thick. Add rosewater to the other half of the dough ( and I used a little red sugar to give the dough a pale pink colour), roll out as for original dough.
Use a square cookie cutter* to cut out squares arrange on baking sheet lined with baking paperto for cheqerboards. Repeat
Bake for 10 - 12 mins until crisp and golden. — You just lay the squares right next to each other they will stick together when they bake.

*Alt method 1) Use a ruler and a knife and cut small squares, can be fun and fiddly, esp if you want to make small squares
*Alt method 2) Divide the 2 doughs and make long thin logs, join the together and then cut 1 cm thick slices. You will need a sharp knife.