Black and White Cookies - NYC Style
What a fun recipe! I wanted to make these New York City Style Black & White Cookies for a while now and I decided today was the perfect day.
If you know me, you may already know that my wonderful, kind, and loving partner, Mark, is having to undergo an infusion treatment every month. The nurses and staff at the Cancer Center are phenomenal and we are so appreciative of them. Well tomorrow is infusion day so I thought that bringing them Black & White Cookies would be a fun treat to show our appreciation.
I had not made black and white cookies before, but I found this recipe from a terrific site called “Preppy Kitchen” which has a lot of tasty recipes. I did double his recipe though, so I’d have enough for everyone.
After baking the cookies, make sure to cool them completely before icing. Also, you ice the flat side of the cookies, not the top. I knew this ahead of time. I’d even read it several times, in fact. Still, I mistakenly started icing the tops of the first few cookies before I realized what I was doing. The reason is clear though; the icing drips off the top too much but the bottom is flat, so the icing stays in place.
I iced the vanilla part first. Then waited about 20 minutes for it to set before icing the chocolate part. You can also place the cookies in the fridge to speed up the cooling process.
These cookies are a little extra work and a bit time consuming - but well worth it. Each cookie has chocolate, vanilla, and a bit of lemon. Totally yum!
Black & White Cookies - New York Style
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 6 Tbsp butter - softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup buttermilk
- 2 cups confectioner's sugar
- 2 tsp fresh lemon juice (1-2 lemons)
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 Tbsp light corn syrup
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 Tbsp cocoa powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Add in eggs one at a time and then the vanilla and buttermilk. Mix until well blended.
- With mixer on low, slowly mix in the flour mixture until well incorporated.
- Use a medium sized ice cream scoop, leveled off, to place about 1/4 cup size of cookie dough on the prepared cookie sheet. Place cookies far enough apart that they won't spread into each other, about 3 or more inches apart.
- Bake about 15-20 minutes depending on size of cookies. Cookies are done when light to medium golden brown.
- Place on a cooling rack and let cool for about 30 minutes or more. Make sure cookies are completely cooled before icing.
- Make the Icing: Combine the confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, water, corn syrup, and vanilla in a bowl and stir until smooth. Add more water if needed. If too thin, add more confectioner's sugar.
- Place half of the icing mixture into a separate bowl and sift in the cocoa powder. Add a couple more tablespoons of water. Stir until fully dissolved and incorporated.
- Flip the cookies upside down (flat side up) and start icing the vanilla half of each cookie bottom. Let set for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Ice the other side of the cookies with the chocolate icing. Let the cookies set for another 20 minutes before serving.
- Store cookies in plastic wrap at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Sifting the cocoa powder is an important step as cocoa tends to clump.