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1
Preheat oven to 400 degrees .
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2
Put all ingredients except the olives into a large mixing bowl and mix with your fingers to form a dough.
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3
Knead the dough until it is uniform in color and consistency (there will be some red speckles from the cayenne but otherwise it should be an even orangey-beige).
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4
Drain the olives.
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5
Lay several paper towels on a plate, pour some olives out onto it, cover with more paper towels, and rub gently to dry them (they dont need to be bone dry, just not really wet).
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6
Do more of these as needed.
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7
Pinch off a small amount of dough.
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8
(You want just enough to cover the olive but no more maybe about 1 1/2 tsp per ball.
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9
Youll get the feel for how much is enough after you do a few.)
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10
Make a depression in it with your thumb, fit the olive into the depression, bring the dough around to seal it in, and then roll it between your palms to make a nice round ball.
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11
Set on an ungreased light-colored (ideally insulated) cookie sheet.
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12
Continue until you run out of dough, spacing the balls about one inch apart (they wont spread much).
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13
You should have enough to just fill two cookie sheets.
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14
Bake for until golden brown (about 12 20 minutes depending on the oven and the type of cookie sheets), checking frequently after the first ten minutes to make sure the bottoms arent burning.
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15
Rotate the cookie sheets partway through so they bake more evenly.
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16
If some start getting too dark, take them out and keep baking the rest until all are done.
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17
Cool on a wire rack and theyre ready to eat.
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18
If you have any left over the next day (I rarely do!
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19
), theyll get a bit soggy but can be reheated nicely in a toaster oven.
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20
Enjoy!
