A New York City Classic
Hi Barb—
I got inspired to make black and white cookies after being in NYC. Buddy loved them. They are cakey and she loves cake. The cookie part was ok but the glaze wasn’t great. The recipe I had called for making a white glaze, dividing it and then dumping in a bunch of cocoa powder to make the chocolate side. I’m going to try a different recipe that calls for melted chocolate instead. You can see in the photos my less than glorious results. But Buddy and a friend who was over to puzzle hoovered them down.
—Colleen
Here is the link to the recipe I used, it's from Genius Kitchen:
The dough spreads a lot when baking. You can only fit 6 cookies on one baking sheet - I tried to squeeze in a few extra and ended up with a bunch of connected cookies, which I had to sever from each other. I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup sprayed with cooking spray to measure out the dough. I only baked for about 13 minutes and they were fully baked at that point - so pay attention - if I had left them in for 15-17 minutes as the recipe suggest, they would have been burnt.
Also, I didn’t have any buttermilk, so I made my own by adding a tablespoon of lemon juice to the cup of milk (if you don’t triple the batch, that would be 1 teaspoon for 1/3 cup milk). The cookies had a slight taste of lemon but not much.
As I mentioned, the chocolate icing was not the best tasting and if I were to make these again, I might try switching things up.
The white icing was fine in terms of flavor and consistency - I added a little bit more water to get it to spreading consistency. Some other recipes call for milk in the icing instead of lemon juice.
Still others use melted chocolate instead of cocoa - which I think would give better flavor. I think the important thing is to use corn syrup which is what gives the icing its glossy look.
Some recipes suggest you frost the white side, refrigerate for 15 minutes and then frost the chocolate side.
Since my icing was slightly thick, I didn’t have to worry about this. I just did the white side first and then the black and used an offset spatula to spread them.
The white icing was fine in terms of flavor and consistency - I added a little bit more water to get it to spreading consistency. Some other recipes call for milk in the icing instead of lemon juice.
Still others use melted chocolate instead of cocoa - which I think would give better flavor. I think the important thing is to use corn syrup which is what gives the icing its glossy look.
Some recipes suggest you frost the white side, refrigerate for 15 minutes and then frost the chocolate side.
Since my icing was slightly thick, I didn’t have to worry about this. I just did the white side first and then the black and used an offset spatula to spread them.
Some recipes show the domed part of the cookie with the icing - but I think you are supposed to flip them and frost the flat side. That’s how they looked in NYC.
I took some over to a friend and her 13 year old thought they were great even with the little flaws.
Happy Baking!
Happy Baking!
BTW - I watched a past season of The Great British Baking Show while I was making these - which isn’t strictly necessary, but I find it puts you in the right mood for doing things like working with two frostings. That seems TRIVIAL compared to bakers attempting a Paul Hollywood recipe.
----Colleen
Black and White Cookies
(from Genius Kitchen)
INGREDIENTS
FOR COOKIES
1 1⁄4 cups all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1⁄3 cup buttermilk
1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla
1⁄3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1⁄2 cup sugar
1 large egg
FOR BLACK OR WHITE ICING
1 1⁄2 cups icing sugar or 1 1⁄2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon clear corn syrup
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1⁄4 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon water (approx)
1⁄4 cup cocoa powder
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl.
In small bowl or cup, mix together buttermilk and vanilla.
Beat butter and white sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until it's evenly distributed.
Add egg to butter and sugar mixture, and beat until blended.
Gradually beat in flour mixture one cup at a time, and add in buttermilk mixture between each cup of flour, and mix until smooth. It will be necessary to scrape down the sides of the bowl while mixing.
Spoon batter in 1/4 cup size servings onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake on middle rack for about 15-17 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown and spring back when touched. (Check early---Colleen's only took 13 minutes.)
Place on a cooling rack, and allow to cool completely before icing.
Stir together icing sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1/2 Tbsp of water in bowl until smooth.
Place half of mixture into separate bowl and add cocoa powder, and remaining water bit by bit until it is the same consistency as the white icing. If the icing is too runny, add more icing sugar until it is smooth and spreadable. Turn cooled cookies flat side up, and spread icing with pastry spatula, or butter knife. White over one half, chocolate over the other. The icing does not set solid on these cookies, and does not harden, but it dries enough to be wrapped as they are sold in the city. They can be wrapped individually in cellophane, or sealed in a plastic container.