Chocolate Orange Olive Oil Cookies
Have you ever made cookies with olive oil?
I’ve used shortening. Butter. Browned butter. Vegetable oil, sometimes. But olive oil? Not until recently.
I am a huge fan of Nudo Italia Olive Oils. I adore their flavors – Lemon, thyme, garlic, chili pepper. But I use those for savory cooking, not baking. And since it’s Christmas, I want to bake. In steps the Mandarin Orange.Olive Oil. Sure, I could have gone the lemon route, but I was feeling chocolate, so orange seemed the natural choice.
Great choice.
These cookies are unlike your standard butter based cookie. Very little ingredients are used – some sugar, some flour, lots of chocolate, and olive oil. Not much else! They scoop perfectly with a cookie scoop, and when baked retain a nice chewy center and almost meringue like quality, thanks to the almond meal I tossed in for good measure.
Would I make them again? Certainly! While the orange was a wonderful pairing with the dark chocolate, I think regular olive oil with the addition of some peppermint extract would be delicious. Maybe sprinkle them with some crushed candy canes? How cute would that be?
Next time.
Until then, give these a try! if you don’t have Nudo flavored oils yet, get some! In the meantime, use good quality extra virgin olive oil and add a touch of orange oil or extract for a similar result. Enjoy!
Chocolate Orange Olive Oil Cookies
Rating: 4
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 40 cookies
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate or semisweet chocolate chips, melted
2/3 cup Nudo Mandarin Orange Olive Oil (see above notes)
zest of 1 orange
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
1/3 cup Almond Meal
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. prepare baking sheet with parchment paper or SilPat. Set aside.
Combine melted chocolate and olive oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, use your fingers to combine the sugar and orange zest. Add the beater attachment and add in the eggs on medium speed. Slowly add in the chocolate mixture and beat for 2-3 minutes. Add in vanilla and beat for 1 additional minute.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and almond meal. Add mixture to chocolate mxture in the stand mixer. Turn on low and beat only until combined.
Using a small cookie scoop, scoop heaps of batter onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each scoop.
Bake for 14-16 minutes. Allow to cool on baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough.
The Giveaway
Don’t be fooled by the “healthy” sounding ingredients in those cookies, kids. Olive oil of course sounds a smidge better than butter. Almond meal? How can that be bad? Dark chocolate? That’s a super food, right?
No, these are not healthy cookies. Any doubt, eat a few dozen and then put on a bikini and locate a BMI calculator. You’ll see. NOT Healthy.
But on to the giveaway!! Nudo Italia. I can’t tell you how often I use it. I have all the flavors, and I love each of them! A great one is the garlic. Ooh, or the Chili. Lemon is great on chicken and pork. They’re all great!
In need of an amazing gift? You can adopt an olive tree from Nudo, and the oil from THAT tree will be sent to you at various times throughout the year. Tell me that doesn’t intrigue you. I know it does me!
Luckily, I have a kind friend at Nudo who has offered to send one of you a 3-pack of their olive oils. Lucky, lucky you!
Do you want it?
Leave me a comment!
Want another couple of chances? Of course you do.
Follow Nudo Italia on Twitter. Then come back here to leave me a comment letting me know you do. That’ll net you an extra chance.
For another, become a fan of Nudo on Facebook. Again, I’ll need to know you did, so leave me a comment.
Want another? Okay. Pin one of my cookie pictures on Pinterest, OR, share the link to this post on your Facebook page. Either. Both. Just leave me a comment and let me know you did.
There you go…up to 4 chances to win this great Nudo Italia Olive Oil!
Four total entries per person, max. All extra comments will be deleted. Open to US Addresses Only (so very sorry Internationals, I do appreciate you, though), and is courtesy of and shipped by Nudo.Giveaway ends December 18, 11:59pm EST.
The BIG DEAL
See that 7 Quart KitchenAid? I know you want it. I certainly can’t blame you. So, to keep it fun and interesting, I’m giving you LOTS of extra opportunities to win it. For every giveaway you enter during my 25 Days of Doughmesstic Christmas, if you’ll go comment on THIS POST (Click thru!) saying “I entered to win the …” (you know, whatever you entered to win), you’ll get a BONUS entry to win the mixer. That’s 24 additional chances to win that bad boy. So scoot! Go enter to win today’s giveaway, and then visit THIS POST to comment for your bonus entries on the mixer. GOOD LUCK!
