Citrus Olive Oil Shortbread with Sea Salt

I love shortbread cookies and wanted to share a spin I put on my lavender cookies from an earlier blog.  The olive oil adds a bright, fruity note but they still maintain the rich, buttery texture.  I lieu to the blood orange extract, you could also use an infused olive oil.  

Citrus Olive Oil Shortbread with Sea Salt

Ingredients:

3/4 stick of room temperature, unsalted butter

1/8 olive oil

1 teaspoon blood orange extract

1/4 cup demerara sugar (white sugar will also work)

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup of corn starch

1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 tablespoon flake sea salt 

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees 

- Cream your butter in a stand mixer for 3 minutes to incorporate air pockets, then add olive oil, orange extract and demerara sugar

- In a small mixing bowl, combine flour, corn starch and salt

- Add vanilla bean paste to the butter mixture and continue to mix on low speed

- Slowly incorporate your dry ingredients 1/4 cup at a time until well combined into a sticky dough

- Turn out the dough onto a silicone pastry mat and gently kneed to incorporate any dry pockets 

- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and form 1 1/2 inch balls, smoothing the surface of each

- Press each ball to about 1/4 inch thick and sprinkle with flake sea salt 

- Bake for 18 minutes or until cookies are lightly golden brown at the feet (all ovens differ to watch your first batch carefully)