Comments on: Portuguese Sweet Lemon and Black Olive Cookies

By: David Leite

David Leite — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:46:46 +0000

Chris, glad you tried them again. Did you use oil-cured olives? The extra sugar might have accounted for the need for a bit more olive oil.

By: Beth Price, LC Director of Recipe Testing

Beth Price, LC Director of Recipe Testing — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 13:40:17 +0000

Hi Chris,

Thanks so much for divulging your pressing method. So glad that you liked the results!

Beth

By: Chris J

Chris J — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 05:31:25 +0000

This is what comes of boring Monday nights– and because these are so simple, I gave them another whirl. One problem I used twice as much sugar as called for.but then, too much sugar isn’t generally a problem when it comes to cookies– though it might blunt the olives to a degree.

They also needed a little more olive oil to form a dough this time, but still good.

My ‘pressing method’ is to lay the parchment out right in the baking pan and put the balls of dough directly on. I then cover them with the next piece of parchment, roll, and then use the topmost piece of parchment for the next batch. Worked just fine.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:35:26 +0000

Chris, thanks for the kind words about the recipe. Yes, it definitely needs the oil-cured olives, as it offers (as you say) more of a punch. And tell your friendly Spanish Table I thank them mightily for stocking my book.

By: Chris J

Chris J — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:32:00 +0000

Made these twice now; first with oil-cured olives which definitely gives the cookies a punch in the taste profile in terms of contrast. Deferring to my wife’s preference, I used canned, chopped black olives which were much more uniform in size (advantage) but lacked that extra punch. Regardless, the cookies were still tasty but with more of a lemon tang.

I’m giving half of the pile to a Portuguese/Filipino friend via Macao, now living in the Bay Area.

We have your new book in our store, The Spanish Table in Berkeley.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 04:23:51 +0000

Christine, I find your technique utterly ingenious. I don’t own a tortilla press, but I’m sure some of our rolling-pin phobic readers might. And what I think is great is you get a perfect, even thickness, which helps in the baking. I’m so glad you sent this to us. Thank you!

By: Christine Houston

Christine Houston — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 00:38:08 +0000

Dear Mr. Leite,

Since I do lurk around on your Culinaria now and then, and have for some time, it came as a big surprise to me that I missed the Portuguese Sweet Lemon and Black Olive Cookie recipe from a couple years ago.

Now I’ve found it and I wanted to share my technique. I hate rolling pins. My idea of pastry dough is something very rustic that bakes atop a lovely tarte tatin. But I like the look of rough edges on a cookie and have solved my problem by using a tortilla press with some parchment squares. Photo attached.

On the cookies: delicious. I used about half as much lemon zest (I wanted the olives to shine) and, after the first batch came out, I sprinkled a few grains of fleur du sel on top, after pressing. Yum.

These are great in the repertoire for when vegan friends come over. If they don’t like olives, they don’t come over.

Thank you very much,

Christine Houston
Long Beach, CA