Why You Should Put Olive Oil in Your Cookies

A letter, a reminder to have an open mind, and a reason to put olive oil in your dessert.

Dear Dash,

You know when you looked me up and down last week and said Mom. What happened to your face. Is that lipstick? And then you laid into me about my chipped black fingernail polish and faux-ripped black jeans and you said I don’t recognize you, mom. And then you took on my double-chocolate olive oil cookies: Butter is better. Olive oil is for salad dressings. Why would you do that to a cookie?

Well, dude, give me a break. I’m in a new phase. 

Do you know about the sympathetic nervous system? It’s what kicks in when you’re trying to run away from lions, tigers, and bears. For me, the early parenting years felt like one long fight-or-flight lockdown. I was all revved up to kill. But it turns out there was no monster to destroy.

Picking up the phone made my heart race. I said no to walks with friends. No to dinner parties. My external world needed to be predictable. Regulated blandness kept me safe. I needed cinnamon toast with butter, the Goo Goo Dolls, and lots of Grey’s Anatomy.

I did what I was supposed to do: I pinned you down as meltdowns unfolded into tantrums. I caught you before you fell out of windows, grabbed you as you climbed over fences, prevented the ingestion of bleach and peanuts and flame retardants. 

I was scared you would die. I was scared I would mess you up. I was scared that I would never ever fall in love with you.

But I was wrong. You did what you were supposed to do: You learned to walk, to talk, to jump down the stairs ten at at time. 

Last night, when I couldn’t sleep and I found you diagonally draped across my legs, I didn’t nudge you awake and away, instead, I held your strong bony shoulder for an hour-and-a-half and I swear I could feel your skin growing under mine. And I felt safe. 

I have been watching you. The way you struggle and stumble and fly right back up to try it all again. You are the reason I am trying to be brave. Now you are teaching me.

Just pretty please try not to shut down and judge. And have one bite of a salted double-chocolate olive oil cookie. Come on. You know you want to. 

Love,
Mom

Salted Double-Chocolate Olive Oil Cookies

Makes 21 cookies

2/3 cup non-alkalized unsweetened cocoa

2/3 all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (mild)

2 tablespoons salted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup dark or light brown sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips

1 to 2 tablespoons Maldon sea salt (to sprinkle on top before baking)

See the full recipe (and save it and print it) here. 

Photos by Phyllis Grant