Today marks day 1 (of 5) of the #EVOOChallenge. This challenge, in which we make foods with the only cooking fat being olive oil, was issued by Spartan Olive Oil. The goal is to highlight the benefits of using olive oil over its less healthy counterparts, I’m looking at you butter and vegetable oil. Search the hashtag on social media to see more great recipes!

While both olive oil and vegetable oil have 120 Calories and 14 grams of fat per tbsp, olive oil has 10 grams of monounsaturated fat (the good fat) whereas vegetable oil has only 3 grams of monounsaturated fat. Monounsaturated fat is actually good for your health; it reduces bad cholesterol and provides vitamin E. (Source: American Heart Association)

This unfiltered extra-virgin olive oil is made from the olives of 700 year old trees in Sparta, Greece. The flavorful oil has a rich golden color and smooth texture. I wanted to highlight the nutty, fruity flavor of the oil in my recipes this week.

To kick off I’m sharing Olive Oil Crackers. As I was rolling out the dough my husband jokingly asked if I was making gingerbread crackers, after all it had finally snowed! I said that actually wasn’t a bad idea and pulled out an airplane cookie cutter that I’ve had for 6 years and never used. My 18 month old had fun helping me press the cutter into the dough. Unfortunately, that first batch ended up burnt so I ended up with less than 10 airplane crackers. (The majority of the dough was cut into squares because it was much less time consuming!)

Originally, I followed the recipe directions to sprinkle the herbs over the crackers before they go into the oven but they simply didn’t adhere. My husband had another good idea to roll the herbs into the dough. It definitely worked and tasted better, too! Having the herbs and salt baked in the cracker brought out the beautiful flavor of the olive oil.

These crackers are perfect for dipping in hummus!

Olive Oil Crackers

Ingredients:

• 3 C flour
• 2 tsp Kosher salt, divided use
• 1 C warm water
• 1/3 C olive oil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried thyme

Steps:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook combine the flour and 1 tsp salt. Slowly add in the water and oil while mixing at medium speed. Mix dough until it comes together, it will be a little tacky.
2. Divide dough into 8 balls, cover and let rest 45 minutes.
3. In a small bowl combine oregano, thyme, and 1 tsp Kosher salt.
4. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
5. Roll each ball dough out as thinly as possible, cut crackers, poke with a fork, and place on prepared cookie sheet. Options: Sprinkle cut crackers with seasonings or roll seasonings into the dough before cutting.
6. Bake 8 minutes until crispy – keep an eye on them, they’ll burn quickly.

*This recipe is adapted from Lacey at http://www.asweetpeachef.com/snack/olive-oil-herb-crackers/*

Disclaimer: By participating in this 5 day challenge I received a bottle and pouch of Spartan Olive Oil.