Black and white cookie recipe from newyorktimes.com
The black and white cookie!! Also known as the half-moon cookie, many people might not know about this cookie since it is more common in and practically a symbol of New York and the Midwest of the US, but if you DO know it, it’s probably because you’re obsessed with the popular, comedy television series Seinfeld (1989-1998).
“I love the black and white! Two races of flavour living side by sided. It’s a wonderful thing isn’t it.” Jerry Seinfeld (Seinfeld)
These cookies are simple to make and have a light, soft, and delicious taste. It also has more of a cakey texture with a fine crumb that is just perfect! Glazed with both chocolate and vanilla frosting so you don’t have to pick favourites just like Jerry says, “The thing about eating the Black and White cookie… is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate,” and adds, “And yet somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie, all our problems would be solved.” Which is evidentially true in this day and age as well!
This recipe is from the New York Times website by writer Melissa Clark and is super easy to follow and provides great results to these yummy cookies. So, let’s get started with the ingredients!
Ingredients:
For cookies:
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup of sour cream or whole milk yogurt
- 1/3 cup of whole milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest
- 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract or coconut extract
- ½ cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
- 3/4 cup office of caster sugar plus 2 tablespoons to make 200 grams
- 2 large eggs
For glaze:
- 2 ½ cups of icing sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 70 grams of unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
- 2 ½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions:
- Heat oven to 180 degrees. arrange racks by thirds in line with baking paper. You will need two large bowls and one medium bowl
- In a large bowl put flour, baking powder, sea salt, and baking soda, and whisk together.
- In a medium bowl put sour cream, milk, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and almond or coconut extract and whisk together.
- In another large bowl beat together the butter and caster sugar with a hand mixer or electric mixer with paddle attachments for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time until all combined.
- Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and pour in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/3 of the sour cream mixture and repeat until combined. (The mixture should look like cake batter).
- Use a tablespoon or ice-cream scoop to gather the batter onto the baking trays, spacing them 2 inches from each other. The mixture should make 12 to 14 cookies.
- Bake for 6 minutes, then rotate the baking tray and continue to bake for another 6 to 9 minutes until the cookies are firm but spring back when lightly pressed. They should bake only on the bottom, be careful not to overbake or they will dry out.
- After they are done, move the cookies onto a wire rack and let them cool for 15 minutes.
- As you wait for them to cool, you can make the glaze! Yum.
- Put the icing sugar in a medium bowl and whisk the corn syrup, vanilla, and salt, along with 3 tablespoons of boiling water. Keep whisking and continue to add boiling water as needed until it becomes thick yet spreadable (preferably not too thin).
- Flip the cookies over so the flat side is facing up and spoon the glaze over half of the cookie. Place back on a wire rack to set. There should be vanilla frosting leftover to make the chocolate.
- Whisk melted chocolate into the leftover frosting, then add the cocoa and add room temperature water to make it thick yet spreadable. Then glaze the other half of the cookies and let them set for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving.
These cookies are great with a hot beverage like tea, coffee, or hot chocolate for any time of day, but especially dessert! Thanks to New York Times cooking website, you can expand your baking skills and your baking resume with this recipe to experience a great light snack for any time of day, also make sure to check out the other great recipes for dinners, lunches, and desserts on the website: https://cooking.nytimes.com/?action=click&module=nav®ion=logo&pgType=recipe-page
And remember, always look to the cookie!
Clark, M., 2019. Perfect Black And White Cookies Recipe. [online] NYT Cooking. Available at: <https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020254-perfect-black-and-white-coo…; [Accessed 24 November 2020].
