Everyone knows to put out milk and cookies for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve, but if you want to leave him something extra special…I’ve got just the recipe for you!

You may remember that back in November I was invited to do an olive oil tasting out at the Oregon Olive Mill. As part of that event, we explored olive oil through food pairings. One of the pairings that I was most impressed with were the Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies sprinkled with Jacobsen Sea Salt. They were absolutely divine, sure to impressed dear ole’ Santa Claus!

Below you’ll find the recipe and pictures of the process, enjoy!

This recipe was adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe and it makes approximately 24 cookies. Big thanks to the Oregon Olive Mill for sharing this recipe with me!

Prep Time ~ 20 Minutes | Cook Time ~ 13-15 Minutes | Total Time ~ 30 Minutes

The Ingredients:

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup + 1 Tablespoon Oregon Olive Mill Arbequina or Koroneiki Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips

The Instructions:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
3. Add both sugars, salt and vanilla to bowl with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and whisk until fully incorporated.
4. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny.
5. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips, giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
6. Using a tablespoon, scoop out as much cookie dough as necessary to make the size of cookies you desire. I did one big tablespoon for each cookie, which equaled to 2-sheets of 12 cookies.
7. Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 13-15 minutes.
8. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; and allow cookies to cool.
9. You can then choose to sprinkle them with Jacobsen Sea Salt.

I’ve had the best luck with this recipe using the Arbequina Olive Oil, but I’m sure with a little patience you could get almost any type of olive oil to work in this recipe.

The one adjustment that I recently made to this recipe was to slightly reduce the amount of chocolate chips. I enjoy the cookie itself and it felt like the recipe may have called for a bit too many chocolate chips.

I’ve experimented adding Jacobsen Sea Salt to the cookies both before and after cooking, and I prefer putting salt on afterwards! It also allows each individuals to decide to add the amount of salt that suits them best. I’m sure Santa Claus would figure it out if you left a little jar of Jacobsen’s Sea Salt near his cookies, I hear he’s quite the “foodie.”

I’ve made this recipe seven or eight times since it was shared with me, and it’s been quite a hit among our friends! The cookies are extremely moist and the salt complements the hit of flavor from the Arbequina Olive Oil.

Santa is sure to love them! Merry Christmas!