Receta Lavender and Blood Orange Olive Oil Shortbreads
Amy writes: It was April vacation - a week off from school and the weather was gorgeous. I had bought some blood oranges recently and this one never got eaten. It was sitting there staring at me, begging to be used in a recipe. Then I remembered a blood orange-infused olive oil I purchased at Boston Olive Oil Company. I started to think about cookies. I love shortbread, and shortbread cookies are so nice and light that they are perfect for the sunny springtime weather we were experiencing. I used a Bon Appetit recipe I found online here for the basis of this one, changing the flavorings and disregarding the chocolate.
The dough was extremely crumbly, I have to admit. In fact, I couldn't use about half of it because it just fell apart on me. But that was okay, since there are only two people in our household and we don't need to be eating full batches of cookies. If you can figure out how to prevent the extreme crumbliness, I'd appreciate any suggestions!
Still, both of us loved the scent of blood orange and lavender that filled the house as the shortbreads baked. The cookies were so wonderful, though! They were crisp yet light as air, and definitely full of flavor. The olive oil lightened them up, but they still had a hint of butteriness. The blood orange and lavender complemented one another nicely. Each bite tasted of spring, and they paired nicely with a glass of orange pekoe iced tea.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons blood orange-infused olive oil
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon orange oil
- 2 teaspoons dried lavender flowers
- zest of 1 blood orange
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, confectioners sugar, cornstarch and salt. In a separate bowl, beat butter until creamy. While continuing to mix, slowly pour olive oil into butter until fully incorporated. Stir in sugar, vanilla extract, orange oil, lavender and zest to butter mixture. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring together until just blended. Form dough into a ball and divide in half. Roll each half into a 6'' log, wrap logs in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Preheat oven to 325. Unwrap dough logs and cut each log into 1/3''-inch thick rounds. Place rounds about 1/2'' apart on baking sheets. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire sheets and allow to cool.