Express your creativity in baking with these fun eye cat-ching treats!
Calico cat cookies
You don’t need many ingredients or much time on your hands to create the most buttery and adorable shortbread kitties. And just like real calico kitties and their beautiful tri-colour fur, each one is unique and totally down to how you marble the dough and where YOU place the cutter!
MAKES AROUND 30 SMALL CATS
200g salted butter, at room
temperature, cubed (or vegan
butter – use one that’s close to
80% fat content)
85g caster or granulated sugar
280g plain flour, plus extra for
dusting (to make gluten-free,
substitute with a gluten-free
plain flour blend plus ¾tsp
xanthan gum)
Orange gel food dye
½tsp unsweetened cocoa
powder
1 Line two baking sheets with baking paper or a silicone mat.
2 Beat together the butter and sugar in a large bowl until smooth and spreadable.
3 Add the flour (plus xanthan gum, if gluten-free) and mix until just combined. The dough should be slightly sticky, but soft and easy to handle.
4 Pinch off two x 35g pieces of dough and set aside the remaining larger piece. Mix orange food dye into one of the small pieces and cocoa powder into the other.
5 If the dough feels too warm or soft, wrap it in clingfilm and chill it in the fridge for 15-30 minutes until firm enough to roll out.
6 Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and roll the large plain piece of dough out to around 5mm thick. Press in pieces of the orange and brown dough all over randomly, then roll out again until around 4mm thick. Cut out cat shapes using cutters, then transfer to the prepared baking sheets. You will have some leftover dough, so press this together and roll out again, being careful to prevent the colours from merging too much.
7 Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or in the freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 160°C/Gas Mark 3.
8 Bake for 10-12 minutes until just ever so lightly browned at the edges. Leave to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheets, then carefully transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Store in an airtight container for 1-2 weeks.
Top tip: These can be made vegan and/or gluten-free.
Fo-cat-ccia
MAKES 1 SHARING-SIZED 23X33CM FLATBREAD
500g strong white flour, plus
extra for dusting
2tsp fine salt
7g instant fast-action dried yeast
450ml lukewarm water
4tbsp olive oil, plus extra for
oiling and to serve
Butter or margarine (can be
vegan), for greasing
1 tsp flaky sea salt
To decorate
Your choice of vegetables to create a cat scene! Use a knife or peeler to remove the courgette skin, and cut this and arrange to form the cat design. Other useful toppings are fresh rosemary, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced radishes, and carro
