Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

I'll be honest I have never made cookies with anything other than butter. I am a huge fan of butter in my cookies. You can imagine my curiosity when I saw this recipe that only had olive oil. Olive oil is a healthy alternative to butter. I use it all the time in my cooking, but have never really used it in my baking. I'm pretty sure the only oils I have in my house and regularly use are olive oil, coconut oil, and butter. Now I'm not saying I'm going to stop using butter in my cookies. I absolutely adore the buttery taste of most cookies, but in these cookies I didn't mind not having it. These cookies were crisp on the edges and soft and chewy in the center with a delicious flavor of lemon. They were really quick and easy to make. I think I threw them together in 10 minutes or less and they only took 12 minutes to bake. It turned out to be a quick, easy, and delicious mid day snack!

Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

• 2 cups unbleached flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 3/4 cup Lemon Olive oil (I didn't have this so I used regular Olive Oil with great results)
• 4 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• Juice of 1 ½ lemons
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Sugar, for rolling

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Whisk flour, sugar, salt and baking soda together in medium-sized bowl. In another small bowl, stir together the olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla.
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, then mix lightly until it resembles wet sand (I like to use my hand, when the dough is squeezed it should form a solid clump). Using your hands, roll dough into balls about the size of a walnut.
4. Roll in a  little sugar and roll the cookie balls gently in your hands to distribute it. Put the cookies about 2 inches apart on cookie sheets and bake for about 12-15 minutes

Recipe Source: Field of Cakes