My mom taught me early on that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. My parents met because my dad liked the lemon tarts my mom had made and brought to a party. When Q and I first started dating, I would go down to Canter’s Deli on Fairfax and buy black and white cookies for him (they are his favorite). So before his arrival home for his R&R, I wanted to make sure I had some of his favorite treats on hand. I’m going to be honest, one of the many reasons why I love Q is that I sneakily eat the white half of the cookie and put it back on the plate and he never complains and always eats the black half (I know, we are a true match haha).
I also had just signed up for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and thought that I could make enough of these cookies to use for the swap as well as for Q. Instead of making these black and whites their normal size (aka HUGE), I used a smaller cookie dough scoop to make them half their size (about the size of a normal cookie).
The tricky part about these cookies is the frosting. It took me a good 6 cookies before I got in the swing of things and even then there were some causalities. Hint 1: Use an offset spatula. This is a must to help get the frosting on evenly. Hint 2: Let the white frosting fully cool before heating the black frosting. The black frosting was thicker than the white and was harder to spread on the cookie. Hint 3: I kept the black frosting on top of the stove on low heat while glazing. This made it as smooth and thin as possible for frosting.
Black and White Cookies
Makes 52 Cookies
Since we made these cookies half their size, be careful with baking times. Some of our cookies baked at 10 minutes and others at 8 or 12. Keep an eye on them while baking.
Ingredients:
For Cookies:
- 4 cups plain cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
- 1 cup milk
For Icing:
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 1/3 cup water
- 5 cups (20 ounces) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
- For the cookies: Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Either by hand or with an electric mixer (we used a stand mixer), beat the butter at medium speed until creamy, about 30 seconds. Gradually beat in the sugar, increasing the speed to medium high, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the eggs, vanilla, and lemon extract and beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Again, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, alternately add the flour mixture in 4 additions and the milk in 3 additions at low speed until just combined.
- Using a medium cookie dough scoop (holds 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough), place 12 mounds of dough evenly on a baking sheet. With moistened fingers, gently press each mound of dough into a disk 1/4 inch thick. Bake until the centers of the cookies are firm and the edges are just beginning to turn light golden brown, about 9-10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
- For the icing: Melt the chocolate in a medium bowl set over a saucepan of almost simmering water. Remove from the heat and set aside. Bring the corn syrup and the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla until combined. Transfer 3/4 cup of the vanilla icing to the bowl with the melted chocolate and stir to combine.
- For glazing: Place 2 or 3 large wire racks on top of parchment or wax paper. Using a small offset metal spatula, spread about 1 tablespoon of vanilla icing on half of each cookie. Tilt the cookie and run the spatula around the edge of the cookie to scrape off excess icing. Place the cookies on the wire rack and allow the icing to harden, about 15 minutes. If the vanilla icing begins to thicken, stir in hot water, teaspoon by teaspoon. Alternatively if the icing is too thin and runny, whisk in additional confectioners’ sugar, teaspoon by teaspoon until desired consistency. Using the spatula, spread the chocolate icing on the other half of each cookie, tilting the cookie downward and scarping away excess icing. If the chocolate icing thickens and cools, reheat it over a water bath until it is fluid enough to coat the cookies. If the icing is still too thick, stir in hot water, teaspoon by teaspoon. Place the cookies on the wire rack and allow the icings to harden, at least an hour.
Adapted from Baking Illustrated
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
adorbs!! love these
the frosting on these is def tricky! i can tell just thinking about how bad i’d mess em up! haha! great job chica!
Thanks lady! xoxo
My mouth is currently watering!! Hope you guys have had a wonderful time together! Thinking of you
Thank you so much, Koko! These were delicious (yup, we finished them pretty quickly). It’s been a while since I’ve had a black and white cookie and these hit the spot.
So happy they arrived in one piece and you liked them!!!
I loooooooooooooove black and white cookies, but never thought to try making them on my own! The mini size is so adorable
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