Recipe: Crisp Oil Cookies (Tortas De Aceite) for Lil

CRISP OIL COOKIES (TORTAS DE ACEITE)
Source: My Kitchen in Spain: 225 Authentic Regional Recipes by Janet Mendel

"I serve these spicy cookies for breakfast with coffee or tea, for desserts with cheese and fruit compotes, or to accompany a mellow oloroso Sherry on a rainy afternoon with classical guitar music playing on the stereo."

1/2 cup olive oil
1 strip lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. aniseeds
1 Tbsp. sesame seeds
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup honey
2 Tbsp. sugar

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat with the strip of lemon zest until hot but not smoking, about 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the aniseeds and sesame seeds. Discard the lemon zest and cool the oil.

Pour the cooled oil, and spices into a mixing bowl and add the wine. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the oil and wine.

Turn the dough out onto a board (it will not be necessary to flour the board) and give the dough four or five turns, kneading only enough to incorporate all the flour. Cover and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Divide the dough in half. Roll half out between two sheets of plastic wrap to a thickness of 1/2 inch. Use a cookie cutter to cut into 5 inch circles. Place them 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Gather up the scraps and reserve. Roll out the remaining dough in the same way. Press scraps together, roll them out and cut into circles.

Bake the cookies until golden-brown and crisped, about 20 minutes.

While the cookies are baking, in a small saucepan, boil the honey with 3 Tbl. water for 8 minutes. Remove and keep warm.

Remove the cookies when done and immediately use a brush to paint the tops with the warm honey. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies generously with sugar. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 12 cookies