Thirty savory cookies studded with green olives and parmesan, bound with a butter that already tastes of lemon and olive oil. These are aperitif cookies in the French sense: small, salty, made to sit next to a glass of chilled white wine rather than a cup of coffee. The dough comes together in one bowl, there is no chilling and no rolling, and they bake in 20 to 25 minutes. Bordier's Lemon-Olive Oil butter is what turns a plain cheese biscuit into something that tastes like the south of France.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Easy (Bordier rates it facile)
- Serves: Makes 30 cookies
- Active time: About 20 minutes (our estimate)
- Cook: 20 to 25 minutes at 180°C (350°F), gas mark 6
- Key ingredient: 75 g (2⅔ oz) Bordier Lemon-Olive Oil Butter
Why this works
A savory cookie has a small margin for error. There is no sugar to keep it tender and no egg wash to hide a dull crumb, so the fat carries almost all of the flavor. That is why the butter choice matters more here than in most bakes. Bordier's Lemon-Olive Oil butter, made in 2009 for a chef, is churned with lemon-infused extra-virgin olive oil. Baked into a dough, the olive oil reads as savory depth and the lemon reads as brightness, which is precisely what green olives and parmesan need against them.
The technique is the classic well method: dry ingredients mixed first, a hollow made in the center, then the wet ingredients worked in from the middle out. It keeps you from overworking the dough. Olives go in last, sliced rather than chopped, so they stay visible and you get a distinct salty bite instead of a uniformly olive-flavored biscuit. Spooning the dough in rough piles and flattening them with the back of a spoon gives the ragged edges that crisp first.
Ingredients
Use good green olives, drained well and pitted. Two kinds of thyme are called for, lemon thyme and common thyme, but either alone will do.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Wheat flour | 300 g | 10½ oz, about 2⅓ cups |
| Green olives, drained and pitted | 140 g | 5 oz |
| Bordier Lemon-Olive Oil Butter, softened | 75 g | 2⅔ oz, about ⅓ cup |
| Parmesan | 2 tbsp | 2 tbsp |
| Milk | 65 ml | About ¼ cup |
| Whole egg | 1 | 1 |
| Baking powder | 1 packet (about 11 g) | About 2¼ tsp |
| Lemon thyme and common thyme, leaves removed | 5 sprigs | 5 sprigs |
| Salt and pepper | To taste | To taste |
Method
Step 1: Mix the dough and fold in the olives
Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F), gas mark 6. Combine the flour, parmesan, half the thyme leaves, and salt and pepper. Make a well in the center and add the egg, the softened Bordier butter, and the milk. Work it into a dough. Slice the olives and fold the slices through.
Step 2: Shape and bake
Line a baking sheet with parchment. Using a spoon, drop small evenly spaced piles of dough onto the sheet. Scatter the remaining thyme leaves over them. Flatten each one slightly with the back of the spoon and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Cool on a rack and serve warm.
Tips from our kitchen
- Weigh the flour, do not scoop it. Bordier's page lists 300 g as 1¼ cups, which does not match: 300 g of wheat flour is closer to 2⅓ cups. The metric figure is the one to trust. If you have no scale, spoon the flour into the cup and level it rather than dipping, and hold back the last few tablespoons until you see how the dough comes together. That guidance is ours, not Bordier's.
- Baking powder "packets" are a French measure. A French sachet of levure chimique is about 11 g, roughly 2¼ teaspoons. American baking powder tins are stronger than some European blends, so if your cookies taste soapy next time, pull it back to 2 teaspoons.
- Soften the butter, do not melt it. The recipe says softened, and it means pliable at room temperature, around 65°F. Melted butter will make the dough slack and the cookies will spread into one sheet. Take the block out of the refrigerator about 40 minutes ahead.
- Drain the olives properly. Wet olives will make the dough sticky and the cookies gummy in the middle. Pat the slices dry on paper towel before folding them in.
- Do not overwork it. Once the flour is hydrated, stop. Savory cookies with developed gluten come out tough and bready. A slightly shaggy dough bakes better than a smooth one.
- Watch the bottoms, not the tops. These do not brown much on top. Lift one at 20 minutes: the underside should be golden and the edge should feel firm. Twenty-five minutes gives a crisper cookie that keeps better.
How to serve it
Warm, in a bowl, with a cold glass of Sancerre or a dry rosé, thirty minutes before dinner. They also do well on a cheese board next to something soft and fresh, where the olive and thyme cut the richness. If you are building the rest of the aperitif spread, the tinned seafood in our La Brújula conservas guide sits naturally alongside them.
Where to buy Bordier Lemon-Olive Oil Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Lemon-Olive Oil Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): hand-churned butter blended with lemon-infused extra-virgin olive oil, created in 2009 for a chef.
To see the rest of the flavored range, browse the Maison Bordier collection.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier butter do I need for this recipe?
One block covers it. Bordier blocks are 4.4 oz (125 g) and the dough takes 75 g (2⅔ oz), leaving about 50 g. If you want to bake two batches for a party, buy two blocks.
Can I use a different Bordier butter?
Roscoff Onion butter is the best alternative for a savory cookie and works well with the parmesan. Espelette Pepper butter gives you heat instead of citrus. Salted butter is the neutral fallback, though you lose the lemon that lifts the olives.
How long do these keep?
Three or four days in an airtight tin at room temperature. They soften over time, so refresh them for five minutes in a 300°F oven before serving. The raw dough freezes well in spooned portions.
How should I store the butter?
Refrigerate it, wrapped, and use it by the date on the pack. It freezes tightly wrapped for up to three months, though it is best fresh.
Does Bordier butter need to be refrigerated?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Refrigerate it as soon as it arrives, then bring out only the 75 g you need to soften.
Can I use black olives instead?
Green olives are what Bordier specifies and their brine is sharper, which suits the lemon. Black olives will work but read sweeter and softer, so add a little more thyme to compensate.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- La Brújula Spanish Conservas
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.