lemon-scented olive oil cookies with almond glaze

I love food blogs. I can only hope that I will be as good as some of those awesome food blogs out there one day. One of the ones I love is Joy the Baker. Mostly because I love sweets and breads, she is the gal for me. I was looking through her archives the other day (stalker?) and found these cookies. Doesn’t the name alone seem interesting and exotic? It does to me. Lemon, olive oil and almond…mmmmm. I had to try these.

They came out beautifully. They are just as exotic-tasting as they sound. That comforting taste of olive oil and the kick from lemon zest. And the almond glaze. Oh, the almond glaze. But if you don’t care for almond flavor, the cookies are great on their own too! Not too sweet….almost like a tea cookie in texture…they’ll win you over like they did me.

Lemon-Scented Olive Oil Cookies with Almond Glaze

Pretty much taken directly from Joy the Baker :) She’s awesome.

1 ¼ cup powdered sugar

¼ teaspoon of pure almond extract

2 tablespoons of milk, more as needed to create desired thickness

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Generous pinch of salt

1 cup sugar

1 lemon

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup good quality olive oil

¾ cup whole milk

Preheat the oven to 350˚.

Whisk the powdered sugar, almond extract and milk together until smooth. Set aside.

Zest the lemon and rub the zest into the granulated sugar, until you can smell the lemon.

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium sized bowl. In a small bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla extract, olive oil and milk. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Batter will be very wet.

Drop by tablespoonful onto a Silpat- or parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then remove and cool on a wire rack. When cooled completely, drizzle with almond glaze.