My Great Grandma’s Holiday Honey Fritter Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2
  
  cup sugar
  
• 1/8
  
  cup unsalted butter, softened
  
• 1
  
  tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  
• 3
  
  large eggs
  
• 3/4
  
  teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 3
  
  cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out cookie dough
  
• 1/2
  
  teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1/4
  
  teaspoon salt
  
• 1/8
  
  cup milk (lowfat is fine)
  
• 2
  
  cups vegetable oil
  
• 1/4
  
  cup good honey (I used local wildflower honey)
  
• 1-2
  
  tablespoons water
  
• 
  
  Confectioners sugar for sprinkling over top of cookies
  

Directions

1. In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream sugar, butter and olive oil until well mixed, about 2-3 minutes. Mixture will look a little crumbly. Add vanilla and eggs one at a time, blending on medium-low speed until incorporated. Add salt, baking powder, and one cup of flour at a time, blending on low speed, until flour is dispersed into the sugar, butter and egg mixture. Add milk, then blend until dough starts to form a ball.
2. Take paddle attachment off mixer and replace with dough hook. Knead dough for 1-2 minutes, until it has formed a smooth ball. (You can quickly knead the dough by hand instead, if you prefer.) Remove dough from bowl — it will feel a little sticky — and cut dough in half. Wrap one piece of the dough in plastic wrap and sprinkle the other piece of dough with flour.
3. When dough is rolled out, cut dough into 8 inch strips, about 3/4 inch wide, with a sharp knife or ravioli cutter (my favorite tool because it gives a pretty scalloped edge). See if you can lift each strip up. If any of the strips are sticking to the wax paper, a little bit of flour and a metal spatula should loosen it.
4. Now you are ready to form the cookies. The directions may seem involved, but there really is not a right or wrong way to do this. No matter what you do, the cookies will be beautiful! Working with one strip at any time, gently twist it as though you are twisting crepe paper for a child’s party. Then bring both ends together. Cross the ends of the dough so that they form an X. (There should be about 1 1/2 inches from where the X forms to the end of each piece of dough.) Wrap one end of the X over and under the other end of the dough, as if you were starting to tie a shoe. Press your thumb gently, where the dough is now joined together. Place cookie on a baking sheet sprinkled with flour. Continue forming cookies until you have used up all of the strips. Remove the plastic wrap from the remaining piece of dough, and roll it out, following above directions. Cut into strips and form strips into cookies. Place all cookies on the cookie sheet.
5. Now you are ready to fry! In a large skillet, heat vegetable oil until a candy thermometer registers 300 degrees. Working in batches, carefully drop each cookie into the hot oil. Oil will sizzle and bubble. If it is splattering furiously, turn heat down. If bubbling is not really detectable, turn heat up. Fry cookies for about two minutes on the first side. When they have turned a golden, caramel color, turn cookies over with a slotted spoon or spider. Fry cookies on the second side for about 1 minute or until second side is a lovely golden brown. Keep a careful eye on the cookies. They can burn in an instant. When cookies have finished frying, remove to a wire rack fitted over a baking sheet. Let cool.
6. Last step — adding the honey glaze: In a small saucepan, heat honey and 1 tablespoon water over low heat just until honey warms. If consistency, looks too thick, add a little more water, a teaspoonful at a time. When honey is warmed (but not hot!), take a silicone or pastry brush, and gently brush warmed honey over all surfaces of the cookies, until they are coated with honey and look beautiful and shiny. Just before serving, sprinkle cookies with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.
7. Enjoy with a hot cup of Earl Grey tea or a mug of strong black coffee. I strongly recommend dipping them! Note: Cookies can be made in advance and frozen for a couple of months or kept at room temperature for a week. It is best to add the honey glaze just before serving because the honey will soften the cookies a bit.