Spiced Olive Oil and Pistachio Cookies
The Olive Oil Granola recipe made me a convert – I’m now mildly obsessed with adding olive oil to all things sweet. I must admit that this obsession started way before Olive Oil Granola took the food blogosphere by storm. As with many delicious indulgences, cough it all started with Mario Batali. Years ago, I went to Otto with my then-co-workers for some celebration now long forgotten. Because I have an undying need to order the most odd-sounding thing on the menu, my dessert that day was Olive Oil Gelato with Passion Fruit Granita. It was the creamiest, most luscious gelato. Smooth, sweet with just a hint of olive oil. It was fantastic.
And so was the olive oil granola, and so too is olive oil cake. So, I ask you – what’s stopping me from making olive oil cookies? As of this morning, nothing! Using the same flavors and spices from the granola, I made these Spiced Olive Oil and Pistacho cookies. Just like the gelato, the olive oil flavor comes through, but instead of overpowering the cookies, it adds a lovely richness. The cardamom, cinnamon and ginger add enough of a bite and the pistachios give these cookies some texture.
Overall, I’m happy with the way these turned out. Though next time, I might add some unsweetened coconut or dried cherries, or both. Tonight, these cookies will become ice cream sandwiches with the pint of dule de leche sitting in the freezer. Tomorrow, they may become Passion Fruit Ice Cream sandwiches…
Spiced Olive Oil and Pistachio Cookies
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. fine grain sea salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup natural cane sugar (I like Florida Crystals brand)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
2 large organic eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. cardamom
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 cup shelled, chopped pistachios
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. (Note: I set mine to 350° because it’s convection) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.
Cream the butter, olive oil, sugar, molasses and honey in your electric mixer with the paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer, or whisk vigorously by hand). Add the egg, then scrape the sides down and add the vanilla, cinnamon, cardamom and ginger. Mix until incorporated.
Carefully, add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, stirring with the mixer or by hand until your dough forms. Fold in the pistachios until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Use a tablespoon to measure out little dough balls onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes in the center oven. Make sure you don’t over-bake them or they’ll get too crispy and lose all of their chewiness.
Makes about 3 dozen cookies.