Pierre Hermé's Olive Sablés

5 April 2012

Confession #1: I suck at cooking. 

Confession #2: My family eats Taco Bell for dinner waaaaaay more than any human should.

Which leads to this....I've joined a cooking group! For the five people that read this blog and know me well, it's not the fill your freezer with pot roast type cooking group you're used to seeing me do. It's an online cooking group called French Fridays with Dorie. This group is currently cooking their way through Dorie Greenspan's book Around my French Table.
Each week we prepare one of the recipes and write about it. How easy is that? Meanwhile, I hope to get into the habit of preparing fresh, home cooked meals for my family and expose myself (and maybe you!) to new foods and flavors, learning some techniques along the way. So, if you are a terrible cook like me, join me in my kitchen adventures. If you are an excellent cook, feel free to laugh at me along with me as I slowly wean my family off the taco habit.

My first assignment?

Pierre Hermé's Olive Sablés
I was surprised by this recipe as I don't think I've ever had a savory cookie before. Some of the ingredients mystified me...potato starch? hard boiled egg yolk?
Hmmmm

Since when do I add THIS to cookies?????

 I took myself down to the local grocery and found a huge can of potato starch for $6. I decided that was too much cashola to invest in something I probably won't use very often. So I subbed in cornstarch and figured if that didn't work I would go back and invest.
The recipe is so simple. Just like the beginning of almost any cookie recipe you begin by creaming the butter. However, that's where all cookie similarities end because the next step is beating in some olive oil (fruity is best) and the yolk of a hardcooked egg. Dorie elaborates that this is a common practice in Austrian baking, but not being familiar with this addition, I thought it was weird!
I removed the dough from the mixer, folding in my dry ingredients and olives just until combined. Within 5 minutes of starting I had a fragrant soft dough. I divided it into thirds, rolled it into logs, and stashed it into my freezer to chill out.

I like to use these Wilton flower formers for frozen dough so it doesn't lose its shape.

 An hour later I sliced and baked one of the logs.
The aroma coming from the oven was so fragrant and it made my mouth water because I love olives.
When I took the cookies out I couldn't help but think "mini chocolate chip cookies." I think it messed with my mind a little bit. I tried to be objective when I ate one, but the image kept popping into my  brain!
At first bite you get immediate sweet shortbread. MMMMMM sweet, crunchy, buttery, my sweet tooth is revving up. But then....salty, trickery! The meaty olives make their presence known and you get their full flavor. 

It's a very interesting cookie, covering the gamet. I think it would be great as an appetizer with some wine, but I might use a stronger olive oil or less powdered sugar so that it's not so sweet.
I was surprised this cookie was a no-go with my olive-loving kiddos. I guess they like their sweet and savory separate. For me it's a winner: it has only a few common ingredients, took 5 minutes to prepare, plus I always love the idea of having something on hand to bake up when someone stops by.


Thanks for hanging with me for my first French Fridays with Dorie! Leave me a comment and tell me what you think!!

 You can find the recipe in Greenspan's book on Amazon or here on the web. If you'd like to see a video for procedure you can find one here