Co(okies)Worker

Here again trying to make excuses to bake, I made some cookies for my boyfriend's colleagues at work, the founders of LabPixies web gadgets. It actually started when they saw my blog and ordered a batch of my Oatmeal cranberry cookies, but I try not to make the same recipe twice so I came up with something else.

This recipe is from a German baking book that has 888 recipes. I felt it needed a few minor changes, I added some lemon zest and also would add some more sugar next time (my recipe has the addition of sugar already in it).

I don't know if it was the amount of butter or the buttermilk that made these cookies very flaky and moist almost like a pie crust but softer. One negative these cookies have is that the dough is quite problematic, it is very soft and sticky even after resting in the cold (that could also be because I halved the recipe), But after all I made use of the whole mass of dough so it's doable.

I hope everyone at work enjoyed them although they weren't as sweet as I hoped them to be.

Buttermilk Pistachio Squares:

400 gr (3 2/3 cups) flour

400 gr butter

pinch of salt

125 ml (½ cup) buttermilk

150 gr (2/3 cup) sugar

2 egg yolks

150 gr (¾ cup) chopped and peeled pistachios

zest of half a lemon

Sift flour into a large bowl. Cut the butter into flour in small bits, add the salt, buttermilk, sugar and zest. Mix together with a wooden spoon, then knead so it comes together (this can also be done in a mixer, just put all the ingredients in together and mix until dough forms).

Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in refrigerator for 12 hours.

Preheat oven to 200°c, prepare baking tray with a double layer of parchment paper.

Roll out the dough in portions, about ½ cm thick. Cut dough into squares with a knife or use a cookie cutter. Lay cookies on baking tray, they can be placed very close together. Make egg wash by mixing the egg yolks with two tablespoons of water, then sprinkle with chopped pistachios.

Bake for 12 minutes until golden and pistachios have toasted.

After baking let cookies cool on wire rack.

Makes 120.