Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

A few weeks ago, I took a little jaunt to ChefShop, one of my favorite food resources in the world. A fabulous online store, ChefShop is physically located in Seattle, just five minutes from our home. That makes me one lucky girl. Among the other delectables and goodies I found on their shelves, I spotted a Sorrento lemon olive oil from Italy. When the knowledgeable staff member put it into my hands, and began to tell me the story of how the olives and lemons are crushed together, my brain snapped to attention.

Lemon olive oil cookies.

I'm certain that some of the magic of these cookies comes from using that particular type of Sorrento lemon olive oil. It's green and fruity, and it truly smells like lemons. I recommend that you order a bottle. If, however, you don't have that type of oil, I think this would still work with a high-quality extra virgin olive oil. Just bump up the lemon zest and juice.

I originally used plain, non-fat yogurt in this recipe, which is what this version calls for. This allows the cookies to crisp up a bit, and at least give the illusion of being healthy. However, in subsequent batches, I used sour cream instead. Yum, yum good. Those cookies are a bit chewier and far richer. If you are making this for a treat, I would use sour cream. That's what the Chef recommends as well.

SERVINGS
Makes nine large cookies or twelve rather smaller ones

INGREDIENTS
1/4 cup plain, nonfat yogurt (make sure it's gluten-free) or sour cream
1/4 cup lemon olive oil (or the best quality olive oil you can afford)
1 egg
zest of one lemon
juice of one lemon
1/2 half cup white rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca flour
1/2 cup fresh ground almond meal (fresh ground tastes best)
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder

PREPARATION
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. First, combine the yogurt and olive oil well. Stir in the egg, then the lemon juice and zest, to make a coherent mixture.

3. Next, combine all the dry ingredients together. Slowly, fold the wet ingredients into the dry. The dough will be sticky. In fact, you might have dough all over your fingers by the time this process is done. Oh darn.

4. Form small balls with the sticky dough and roll each ball into sugar. This will make the finished cookies crunchy and shimmery. Place on a baking sheet covered with a silpat, or a layer of parchment paper.

5. Cook for twelve minutes, approximately. The cookies will be soft at this point, but they will feel fully formed. Let them sit on the baking sheet, on the top of the oven, for about five minutes.

6. Carefully, move the cookies to a cooling rack. Let them sit there for another five minutes, during which time they will harden in the air.

Now, try not to eat them all in one sitting.