Monday, February 18, 2013

Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies | Secret Recipe Club



Spring seems to be in the air in the Bay Area.  The weather topped almost 70 degrees on Saturday.  Despite lemons being available year round in the Bay Area, I tend to associate them with spring, since they are bright yellow, fresh, and vibrant. 

Today is the reveal for group C of the Secret RecipeClub.  If you are not familiar with it, let me enlighten you for a moment.  The Secret Recipe Club is a group talented food bloggers who love to share recipes.  Once a month we are paired with another food blogger to select a recipe from their blog to make and we all post on the same day.  The really fun part is to see who received your blog and what they chose.

(Click "Read More" below to continue post)





For February I was paired with Manuela from Manu’sMenu.  The really fun part of this pairing is that Manuela had my blog in April 2012 and chose my Coconut-Chocolate Chip ShortbreadCookies.  Now it is my turn to tour her blog to select a wonderful recipe to make.  After many times viewing her blog, I finally made a decision to make her Lemon and Olive Oil Cookies.  They simply intrigued me. 

Manuela was born and raised in Milan Italy by Sicilian parents, which is a large part of why the direction of her blog is authentic Italian recipes.  In 2006, she relocated to Sydney Australia with her hubby Clint and raises their two daughters Victoria and Georgia there.  She loves Australia so much, that she is now a naturalized Australian citizen.  Manuela loves traveling which influences her cooking along with her families Italian recipes that have been passed down from generations.  Please take a few moments to browse her extensive collections of tasty recipes – I am sure you will find several you will bookmark to make.


After carefully reading her recipe for these lemon and olive oil cookies, I determined I needed to translate it into measurements that folks in the united states would more easily identify with.  I adapted the recipe but kept the integrity of the ingredients.  Weighing ingredients is a very accurate way to bake and many may prefer this. This is a unique dough in that it is doesn’t use butter, which in turn makes it a bit greasy if you will.  When you roll out the dough, have plenty of flour on hand to keep the dough from sticking to your board and rolling pin.  The beauty of the olive oil is that you have an extremely tender dough and a rich unique flavor.  I decided to create a lemon sugar to top each cookie with to add a bit of sweetness along with more lemon flavor.  The result was one divine cookie!  Enjoy!


Lemon Scented Olive Oil Cookies

Makes approximately 30 cookies

8 fluid oz. Olive Oil
2 fluid oz. Water
6 Egg yolks
2 ½ C. Flour
½ C. Cornstarch
½ C. Sugar
Grated zest of 2 lemons
1 teaspoon Vanilla
¼ teaspoon Salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a stand mixer, add the egg yolks and water and  mix well with the whisk attachment.  Next slowly add the olive oil into the egg yolks until the mixture is thickened.

Add the sugar, salt, lemon zest and vanilla and whisk for a couple minutes.  Slowly add the cornstarch to the mixture until combined.  Finally, slowly add the flour until well combined.  Take the mixture out of the bowl and knead by hand for a couple minutes on a well floured surface.  Make it into a ball and cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for 30 to 60 minutes.

Use a large board that is well floured to roll the dough out to about ¼ inch thick.  Use a ravioli cutter to make 2 by 2 inch squares.  Place them on a cookie sheet and top with about a teaspoon of the lemon sugar.  Recipe below.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown around the edges.  Let cool on cookie sheet for at least a minute, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

Lemon Sugar

¾ C. Granulated Sugar
Zest of one lemon

Mix together in a bowl until well combined.  Set aside until you cut the cookies out.



36 comments:

  1. Great choice, and they came out beautfully!

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  2. What an intriguing recipe. I was the blogger that had your blog! I had great fun cruising through your recipes!

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  3. These cookies look amazing! It's always fun (and challenging) to try unique recipes- baking with olive oil is beautiful. :)

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  4. Pretty cookies, Lisa! You know I love all things lemon, so these look like a winner!

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  5. Yum, these cookies look divine! What great flavors! :)

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  6. These look beautiful! I've never had these but would love to try them!

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  7. These are so pretty Lisa and I love the cutter you used with the scalloped edge.

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  8. What a great looking cookie! The flavor combination sounds intriguing. Great SRC choice!

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  9. Totally intrigued by these cookies - they sound divine (plus beautiful photos!) Pinning this one for sure.

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  10. spring like in a yummy treat awesome
    come see what I shared at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

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  11. oh wow! These sound amazing. Definitely marking them to make. Thanks for sharing! I'm a fellow SRC member, group D

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  12. I envy your SF weather! Lucky you! Meanwhile, we a refreezing here in Canada! But your lemon olive oil cookies are a mega dose of sunshine. It makes me smile :) Just lovely...

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  13. Looks lovely. My son has dairy allergies and I think this recipe would be great for us. I've never tried using olive oil in my desserts before, so this is a good one to try out. I'm new this month to the group C, so I hope you stop by and visit! http://itsyummytomytummy.blogspot.com/2013/02/avocado-cup-salad.html

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  14. What an interesting sounding cookie, your pictures are beautiful!
    ~Jamie

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  15. I made some lemon olive oil last year these would be perfect to make with the oil.

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  16. Hi Lisa! I am so glad you liked the cookies! I still rave about your shortbread! :-) Thank you so much for all your sweet words! :-)

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  17. These cookies look beautiful, and sound like they are full of flavor!

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  18. We have had both hot and freezing in LA in the same week. I think I deserve a cookie! GREG

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  19. Lisa, I love the lemon kick you are on. I'm the same way this time of year. I cannot get enough of the amazing Meyers! And finally our tree is producing almost enough to satisfy all my lemon wishes.
    Manuela's cookies look awesome - a perfect celebration of lemony goodness!
    xxoo
    E

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  20. My kind of cookie! I am always interested to try new dessert recipes that incorporate the use of olive oil. Have a great week!

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  21. I'm about to faint. I love all things lemony. I couldn't think of a more perfect cookie sort of an olive oil short bread. And the lemon sugar on top...can you feel my love.

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  22. What beautiful cookies showcasing one of my favorite flavors! I've been on a cracker kick (another one coming up on the blog). Adding this one to the to-make pile. :)

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  23. MMM, these look so good and are really pretty. I'm in group A. ;)

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  24. I love baking with lemon and olive oil. They are a marriage made in heaven! These cookies look beautiful, Lisa!

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  25. Lisa, these are simply - beautiful cookies. Thank you for sharing.

    Denise

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  26. Lemon and Olive Oil, perfect combo. I might need extra of that lemon sugar though. I think I would have went for cookies too, although all her food looks good to me. Hope you are having a great week too. Night school tomorrow, gotta get my energy up for it. Trying not to be a drop-out, lol.
    -Gina-

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  27. Thanks for your visit, Lisa! These lemon cookies are simply divine! I love the photos... xx

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  28. Wow, these are so cool! I've never heard of olive oil in cookies and am intrigued as well. Your lemon sugar sounds like the perfect garnish. YUM!

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  29. I am so intrigued by using olive oil in a cookie dough! They sound really scrummy :)

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  30. So perfect for spring! Even if it's still 25-degrees here... I make a Lemon Olive Oil Cake that has become one of my favorite desserts, so I need to give these a whirl!

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  31. What a great pick from Manu's Menu! They look delish!!!

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  32. Intriguing recipe, and your terrific photos add to their appeal. This is a must-bake idea.

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  33. Great choice Lisa-wonderful recipe-love the cut out shapes and can only imagine how delicious they were ;-)

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