kalamata olive cookies

The last time I made something sweet with Kalamata olives was when I put them in brownies! I understood completely the somewhat negative reactions of some coworkers, because I myself had mixed feelings initially. But I grew to like them in brownies, and I feel that these might be easier for people to handle. I also went to a deli for the Kalamata olives (the bottle in the photo is just a prop), and they tasted fresher and seemed to have a fruitier quality to them than canned or jarred olives, but maybe that’s just my imagination.

This recipe was taken directly from Heidi at 101 Cookbooks, with two differences: rolling out the dough into a log to slice, instead of rolling it flat and using a biscuit or cookie cutter to cut out the cookies, and not cutting or slicing too quickly after making the dough, but rather to let it cool in the refrigerator overnight at the very least. The benefit of doing it this way is that you can slice only what you want to bake, and you can store the rest in the freezer for later. Also after an overnight sit, I found the dough a lot easier to handle and held their shape better.

kalamata olive cookies 

ingredients 

9 tablespoons (4.5 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup (3 ounces) confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 and 1/4 cups (6.5 ounces) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup  (2 oz ) cured olives, pitted and chopped

two pinches of sea salt

method

Cream the butter first, then stir in the powdered sugar until incorporated into the butter. Continue to stir while drizzling in the olive oil. Mixture will be slightly wet and sticky. Fold in the flour in increments until mixed in. Lastly fold in the olives.

Transfer the dough to a large piece of parchment paper and form into a rough log about 10-12 inches long. Wrap it up with the parchment paper and place in the refrigerator for about an hour.

After an hour, take it out on a work surface and with the roll of dough horizontal to you on the work surface firmly press down and roll away from you, shaping the dough into a more perfect log. Rewrap if needed and place back into the refrigerator for an overnight sit to get it ready for slicing and baking in the morning.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

When ready to bake, slice into 1/4 inch slices and place evenly on baking sheets, you should have about 2 dozen cookies depending on whether you rolled it out into a short or a longer log, or sliced thinner or thicker than 1/4 inch thick.

Slice and bake one baking sheet of cookies at a time for about 12 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring cookies. 

Store in an airtight container for a few days.

4 responses to “kalamata olive cookies”

  1. These actually look really good! Especially if you know that they’re olives going into it, ha. I can see it being a similar kind of surprise to mistaking raisins for chocolate.

    Liked by 1 person

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