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.
Bob Parker
i love them and they do taste like cake more than cookies
N/A
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!
Cindy ScrappyV
These cookies are transcendant! I paired them with homemade lavender ice cream and they were gorgeous. Thank you for this beautiful recipe.
Jessica Harrison
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.
Libellule
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.