Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies with Almond Glaze
I’ll admit, I think olive oil is sexy. Extra Virgin Olive Oil especially, sends me over the moon. The rich, full and nutty smell, the beautiful translucent green color, and the way the taste coats my mouth. It’s just gorgeous. I’ve been known to buy a fresh baguette on the way home from work and simply eat warm bread with plates full of olive oil. I think I’ve also put the stuff in my hair as a conditioner, and on my hands as a lotion. But that’s sounding like a whole other blog, so let’s not get into that.
Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies with Almond Glaze. Sounds like there’s a lot going on in one humble cookie, right? It’s amazing how the flavors and sweetness meld together to create a unique, yet strangely familiar taste treat. These essentially taste like a darling lemon sugar cookie, but with a slight (sexy) hint of olive oil. I tested these on unsuspecting, but die hard cookie fans, and they couldn’t put their finger on the olive oil without me pointing it out. The verdict- two thumbs up.
Not only does olive oil smell gorgeous and taste great, it’s also good for you! There’s a reason why the Italians are so beautiful, and I think it’s something in the olive oil. Olive oil has less fat than butter, and has mono-saturated fats which are good for you heart. It’s a great substitute for butter in these cookies.
I found that the batter for these cookies comes out a little wet, almost like cake batter. I spooned the batter onto a greased and floured cookie sheet by the tablespoonful, and baked them up. They turned out just lovely! Try them, I’d love to hear what you think!
Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies with Almond Glaze
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
generous pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup good quality olive oil
3/4 cup whole milk
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Zest 1 lemon and rub the zest into the granulated sugar, creating a slightly fragrant sugar. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla extract, olive oil and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. If the mixture is stiff (I didn’t have this problem, I thought it might have been too wet) then add a touch more milk.
Drop by tablespoonful onto a lightly oiled cookie sheet and bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack. When cooled completely, drizzle with almond glaze.
Almond Glaze
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
splash of pure almond extract (about 1/4 teaspoon)
2 Tablespoons of milk, more as needed to create desired thickness
Combine all ingredients and whisk until smooth.
38 Comments Add A Comment
haha I agree with the olive oil love! How can one little bottle be so damn alluring?!
Very, very, very interesting . . . I’ve never imagined such a thing as a cookie incorporating olive oil . . . I like it! Thanks for expanding my universe. You still rockz!
Oh my these look lovely! I love lemons almost as much as I love olive oil!
I agree with Amanda, and find your beginning a dissertation on alternative uses for olive oil intrigueing. Tell us more, about how olive oil might be applied to Joy…
I’ll admit, I was apprehensive. Olive oil is great, but mixed with sweet things, I wasn’t too sure. I also took these to another level and made them vegan (added 2/3 cup of apple sauce instead of eggs, soymilk for whole milk), so when I tasted the dough/batter and it wasn’t so great, and I was upset. But when they came out of the oven, and drizzled with glaze? Mmmm. Good, definitely good. Bizarre, but in a really lovely way.
oh, i love olive oil in little cakes and things (even had a great olive oil gelato once at one of mario batali’s places), so i’ll bet these are delicious!
Only ever used it in cakes…will have to try in cookies.
I have baked an orange corneal cake with olive oil, but haven’t tried it in cookies. These look so good!
Yum, these cookies look scrumptious!!!
I will have to agree with you there. Hands down, olive oil is a sexy igrendient… I know what you mean about its nutty, wonderful flavor. These cookies sound great!
Olive oil in cookies? Those sound very intriguing! I’ll have to give them a try since I don’t think I’ve ever had olive oil (which I love in a lot of things) in cookies. They look really good!
Lemon, olive oil and almond are three of my all-time favorite flavors! I’m anxious to try these cookies – and I especially love that I probably have all the ingredients already on hand :-)
olive oil in cookies—amazing!!! that is one for the books. I am looking forward to trying this. FRom past experience I have found that I have almost past up a very good recipe just by looking at the ingredients alone. Some of my favorite recipes (saurkraut cake, for instance) have “different” ingredients in them.
sorry joy-this is the first of ur recipes i have tried and it was not good. one of the comments said ‘bizarre’. bizarre is right. strange,,,and kinda gross to be honest. i don’t advise anyone to try this one. as for me…olive oil in cookies from now on is a big no-no.
hopefully the next thing i try from here will be more of a success.
Mmm, few things get me as excited as a new post on your blog, and this one does not disappoint. I’m completely intrigued by this idea. It sounds delicious. I can’t wait to give it a try.
These look awesome! I too eat baguettes with olive oil but I like to mince up some garlic in there too. Adds some spice to it.
Question: My girlfriend is allergic to almonds. What would be a good substitute for the glaze?
hey Jack! You might just leave the almond extract out of the glaze, or insteadm substitute a splash of vanilla extract.
Mmmmmmm. Just made them and let me just say mmmm again! I haven’t even put the glaze on and I love them. They are the perfect kind of cookie for me, not too sweet and just a little tangy :) Love em.
I just made a batch of these and they are awesome! Also, your Apple Crisp is in the oven as I write this. I’m hoping to surprise the wife =)
Merry Christmas
I just made these – haven’t tasted them yet but word from everyone else is they are delicious! I agree with the olive oil.. fresh baguette + olive oil and a glass (or two :)) or red wine would be my dinner every night if there was any healthy way to justify it! Olive oil also goes really really well with chocolate.. I highly recommend olive oil brownies..
These look great; can’t wait to try them. Just a small correction…olive oil does not contain less fat than butter, being just about 100% fat with a few traces of other substances. It does contain a lot of monounsaturated fat however, which is healthy fat.
Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe! Ever the sceptic of long directions, I just threw everything together in one bowl and turned on the mixer- I don’t think it made any difference as my results seem to line up with everyone else’s. Also, I squeezed a little lemon into the glaze for a lemonier cookie- fabulous!!
addendum- Jack might want to just try lemon juice instead of the almond- it sure is good!
The second batch of these cookies is in the oven as we speak. I’ve taken liberal samplings of the batter, and first batch- delightful! The olive oil is very nuanced, subtle, and aromatic. It blends in well with the lemon. I added white whole wheat flour (1 1/2 cups, then reg. flour) which gave a slightly nutty texture.
delicioso!
Olive oil has more fat than butter. It’s 100% fat, whereas butter contains water. Butter is lower in calories, and healthy in different way. They both fulfill nutritional needss. :) The cookies do however look intriguing! Bet the combo of flavors is so good.
They cookies were blah. Bad texture and next to nothing taste.
took the liberty of inviting your blog to spend the day with my mom and i for our annual christmas cookie making spree… we just made these cookies (had to use whole wheat flour) and the whole house smells divine! thanks for sharing all of your awesome recipes.
Happy holidays!!!
Just made a batch ! And have already eaten 3 !! Sigh !! They are super good as I usually make chocolate cookies and these are quite different ! A keeper for sure !!
These are very blah… yuck even, they do not have any kind of cookie texture, they are more like horrible little cakes.
I saw a recipe for Olive Oil cookies a little while ago that used a more cookie like technique of rubbing the flour with the olive Oil that had been made into an emulsion with the egg yokes and a small amount of water to compensate for the lack of water in the oil… I couldn’t find that recipe when I found this one, but clearly I am going to have to search harder!
Sorry to say I didn’t enjoy this at all.
I have a second batch of these in the oven right now. So far, I’m undecided. They taste ok. Kind of weird but ok. I’m going to reserve judgement until they cool and have the glaze. I’ve noticed that some cookies need to cool and sit for awhile to reach their full potential.
These cookies are transcendant! I paired them with homemade lavender ice cream and they were gorgeous. Thank you for this beautiful recipe.
Me and a friend made these and instead of using regular olive oil we use lemon or lime flavored extra virgin olive oil and it was great!
i love them and they do taste like cake more than cookies