Olive Oil and Wine Cookies

Who wouldn’t want to combine two of their favorite things in the world? Cookies and wine? Together? How?

Ingredients:

• 2 3⁄4 c all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 c sugar
• 1⁄2 t baking powder
• 1⁄4 t fine sea salt
• 1⁄2 c olive oil
• 1⁄2 t pure vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 c white wine, preferably sweet
• sugar, for dredging 
Directions

1.
Position the racks o divide the oven into thirds and  preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

2. Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl. Pour in the olive oil, switch to a flexible spatula, and stir to incorporate. Stir the vanilla extract into the wine, then pour the wine mixture into the bowl and mix until you have an easy-to-work-with dough. It should look like a sponge.
3. Divide the dough into pieces about the size of a bouncy ball or small walnut and roll each one into a ball. Next, roll each ball under your palm to shape it into a short sausage. When you’ve got the sausage shape, press down on the ends with your thumb and pinkie (don’t press the center), and roll up and back a few times to form a cookie about 4 inches long that is just a little plump in the center and tapered at the ends. Dredge each cookie in sugar and arrange the cookies on the baking sheets.
4. Bake the cookies for 20-22 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 10 minutes, until the cookies have brown tips and bottoms and golden bellies. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets.

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That these cookies are made with olive oil and wine is not surprising when you realize that they’re a specialty of the Languedoc-Roussillon region in the South of France—it’s one of the non-butter regions of the country and one known for its vast vineyards. But if the mix of oil and wine isn’t surprising, just about every other thing about these cookies is: their shape is long, plump in the middle, and pointy at the ends, and they have a sophisticated flavor—first a little sweet, and then a little tangy, and finally, wonderfully mysterious. Right after they’re baked, their texture is crunchy at the tips and cakey in the center—wait a day or so, and the chubby middle dries and starts to resemble a great tea biscuit. In fact, I like these best after they’ve had a little time to age and develop a crunchier texture and a more mellow flavor.

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