Perfect Lemon Softies

I. love. these. cookies.  Seriously - they almost make me want to sing. Crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, the texture of these tangy morsels adds up to everything I crave in a cookie.  

What's even better is that I don't have to "cheat" to enjoy them.  They are dairy and nightshade free (and whole-ish) so that I can occasionally indulge without any side effects.  (Woo hoo!)  To add to the wonder, there's a secret ingredient too...lemon olive oil!

I would never have thought of putting olive oil in a cookie.  Ever.  In my world, olive oil was for salads, pasta dishes, and sauteeing.  When I saw some lemon olive oil at the grocery store, I put it into my cart expecting to use it on some salmon.  I had no idea how thankful I would later be to find it on the pantry shelf!

While there are other cookie recipes out there that use olive oil, I still wouldn't want to substitute the lemon olive oil for regular EVOO.  Maybe further experimentation will prove otherwise, but I just don't think it would be the same.  Next time I plan on adding some poppy seeds so that it is more like a lemon poppy seed cake.  I also have some ideas about the orange olive oil I saw at a specialty store in town...

 Perfect Lemon Softies 

2 c. flour

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 c. lemon olive oil

1 egg, beaten

1 large lemon, zested and juiced

1/4 t. almond extract

1/4 vanilla bean, split and seeded (use remaining bean shell for vanilla sugar)

Preheat oven to 350* and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  In  a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder; set aside.

In another small bowl, combine lemon olive oil, egg, juice, zest, extract, and vanilla bean seeds.  

Mix thoroughly and stir into dry ingredients until dough forms.  Scoop batter with a small cookie scoop (filled level) and place 2" apart on prepared pan.  Bake 12-13 minutes in preheated oven.  Remove to wire rack to cool.  Enjoy!