For the bride

It's not every day a girl's best friend gets married. That is an occasion that simply must be marked. Yesterday I and the other women in my dear K's life converged on Rhode Island for a shower to celebrate the bride's impending happy occasion. I volunteered to do a little baking and took with me (on the train) some cupcakes with ever-so-melty frosting (do NOT try to make cream cheese frosting in August if you don't have air conditioning) and the olive oil cookies I've been raving about for weeks now. Last time I just quoted cookbook's tweeted recipe, but this time I did some tweaking and will give you a full blow by blow.

Olive Oil Cookies
Ingredients

• 1 egg
• 7 T olive oil
• 5 T wine (this time I used amaretto)
• 1 c flour
• 6 T sugar
• 1/2 t minced fresh rosemary (I used more than that.)
• 1/4 t baking powder
• salt & pepper

1. With a mixer on medium speed, beat the egg, oil, and wine together.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
3. Add the dry to the wet and mix until smooth and doughy. Full disclosure: last time I complained about the dough being too wet, so this time I probably used more like 1 1/2 c.
4. Pinch off and form about 20 cookies. I made them quite small this time and it turned out to be 34. As to the question of "forming" the cookies, I rolled the dough into balls thinking they would spread more or less evenly in the oven. They didn't really spread and, instead, came out as delicious little golden nuggets.
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes at 375° or until golden brown. Be sure not to burn the bottoms.

**Note: the original red wine in the recipe does give the cookies a slightly more complex flavor, but the amaretto makes them more decisively sweet. Consider your preferences and venue and just go with your gut.