My wife, Yasmin, showed me this simple recipe for hazelnut olive oil cookies, which she learned when she lived in Novara, a city in the north of Italy. An Italian friend of hers would often make these cookies as an afternoon snack to be served with coffee. Italians like to use olive oil in desserts, as a drizzle for ice cream or, combined with liqueur or sweet wine, as a substitute for butter in cakes.
Hazelnut olive oil cookies are delicious when used to make sandwich cookies. The best filling is Nutella, the famous Italian chocolate hazelnut spread. Yasmin likes to make sandwich cookies with Nutella and to give them a little flavor boost by brushing the cookies with a little additional olive oil and sprinkling a few grains of Malden salt on the top.
The savory flavor of olive oil in the dough also makes them a perfect match for cheese, especially soft white cheeses like fresh goat.
Hazelnut olive oil cookies have another benefit: they are egg- and dairy-free, and are an excellent hearty alternative to fruit salads and sorbets.
John Broening cooks at Duo and Olivea restaurants in Denver.
Hazelnut Olive Oil Shortbread Cookies
Makes 24 cookies)
Ingredients
1/2 cup blanched hazelnuts
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Zest of a lemon
1/2 cup extra-virgin light olive oil
Raw or turbinado sugar (to sprinkle)
Directions
Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Cool to room temperature.
Pulse nuts with the 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a food processor until nuts are finely ground. Invert into a bowl and with the help of a whisk combine very well with the flour, salt, powdered sugar and lemon zest. Pour in the olive oil and with your clean hands work the dough just until it forms into a ball.
Divide the dough into two pieces and roll each on a piece of parchment paper into a tight log. Refrigerate 1 hour until firm. Unwrap dough and cut into 1/3-inch slices.
Place on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper and sprinkle with raw sugar, baking at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. (Don’t expect these cookies to brown much.)
Remove from the oven and allow cookies to stand on the cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the cookie sheet and place on a wire rack until cooled completely.
They can be served with Nutella, jam, ice cream or as in Italy with a cup of espresso.
