Black and White Cookies

I haven’t baked in a while; but, on a recent holiday I was itching to make a dessert I had never made before. My husband has loved black and white cookies since he was a little boy and on this occasion I chose to surprise him.

I must say I found many good recipes; but I settled on one adapted from the fabulous New York food emporium, Zabar’s.

The cookies are large and I placed them in an airtight container after they were completely cool. I planned on icing them the next day. They got a wee bit too soft for me, so I re-baked them for another ten minutes to crisp them up a tad. The cookie is not a hard crisp cookie to begin with: it is more like a semi hard cake; but hard, soft or in-between they were a hit!

Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 -2 1/4 cups cake flour
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing

• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350.Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper.In a medium bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.

Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the milk, vanilla and, lemon extract.

Combine cake flour and all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt; gradually blend into the creamed mixture.

Drop tablespoons of the dough at least 2 inches apart on prepared sheet.

Bake until edges begin to brown; checking in 10 minutes.

Cool completely.

 

To make icing:

Place confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl.

Mix in boiling water one tablespoon at a time until mixture is thick and spreadable.

Transfer half of the frosting to the top of a double boiler set over simmering water.

Stir in chocolate.

Warm mixture, stirring frequently, until chocolate melts.

Remove from heat.

Let both the chocolate and the white icing set up, before using to get the proper spreading consistency.

With a small spatula or the back of a small spoon,, coat half the cookie with chocolate frosting and the other half with white frosting.

Set on wax paper until frosting hardens.