Saffron Olive Oil Cookies

I’m not sure if it’s Mark Bittman himself, or the dreamy boy who introduced me to the wonders of Mark Bittman – but either way I dig his recipes.

While perusing his blog over the weekend I found a recipe for saffron olive oil cookies, which sounds weird enough to be curious about and delicious enough to actually bake. Once you get over the hurdle of sourcing saffron these cookies are really easy to make… just steep the saffron, mix dry ingredients, add in wet ingredients and bake.

It was the perfect accompaniment to our tasty lunch – round two of the chocolate pasta from our friends over at Eduardo’s Pasta Factory. This time with sausage, spinach and delicious fresh tomato sauce a la StevO. Our local Bi-Rite rep was in for a regular purchasing meeting and joined us for lunch – food for thought; if you happen to be at the HOG Shack around lunch time, you may well find yourself happily fed.

I left a few of the cookies in the oven a minute too long and they inadvertently got a little dried out – but just as most great ideas spring from mistakes, I found a way to make it all better. Luckily we often have delicious leftovers stocking our refrigerators and from time to time we even have homemade ice cream that sticks around after events…

I was a bit dubious of the saffron olive oil cookie and Thai iced tea ice cream combination but it turned out to be amazing. All the flavors were subtle enough to make for a delicious, one-of-a-kind ice cream sandwich. I’m sure your standard chocolate or vanilla would be tasty as well, but we don’t generally roll like that here at Hands on Gourmet.

-fontaine

Saffron Olive Oil Cookies(a la Mark Bittman)

Makes: About 3 dozen cookies

Small pinch (about 1/8 teaspoon) crumbled saffron threads
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs
2 teaspoons grated or finely minced orange zest
2 tablespoons Grand Marnier, other orange liqueur, or orange juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Combine 1 tablespoon boiling water with the saffron in a medium bowl, stir, and steep for a few minutes. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.

Use 2 teaspoons to drop mounds of dough about 3 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until lightly browned on the bottom, 12 to 15 minutes. Immediately transfer the cookies to a rack to finish cooling. Store in a tightly covered container at room temperature for no more than a day or two.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 23rd, 2011 at 4:20 pm and is filed under Sweet Treats , bi-rite, eduardo's pasta factory, Fontaine McFadden, hands on gourmet, mark bittman, saffron, saffron olive oil cookies, stephen gibbs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.