I’ve never been to New York, although I’d love to go just to eat. On my New York list there must be food: bagels, pizza (could it be as good as Chicago?), cheesecake, a nice deli sandwich, and some black and white cookies. Somehow, for someone who loves cookies, I’ve never had a black and white. Crazy, I know. For some reason, I’m always drawn to them when I see recipes in a cookbook or magazine. Maybe it’s the size? I mean, who doesn’t love a giant cookie? Most likely, it will be the 2 flavors of icing on a cookie. I love chocolate, but vanilla is delicious too… I can never make up my mind. With these cookies I do not have to. 😀 I always thought it was strange that most of the recipes I see have lemon. Lemon and chocolate just don’t seem to go together for me. This recipe leaves you out for this very reason. So what you get here is a giant vanilla-flavored cookie, covered in chocolate and vanilla icing, just as you would in a real New York deli… Well, minus the lemon.
Cook’s Country Black and White
Cookies
Yield: 12 cookies (I only have
10)
Cookies
1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 oz)
all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1
/8 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, smoothed
1 cup
(7 oz) sugar
1
large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/
3 cup sour cream
Preheat oven to 350°F. Adjust the racks to upper middle and lower middle. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Using
a
stand-up mixer with a popsicle (I used my hand mixer :D), beat the butter and sugar over medium-high heat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour in 3 additions alternating with 2 additions of sour cream, scraping the bowl as needed. Give the dough a final stir by hand.
Using a 1/4-cup greased measure, drop cookie dough 3 inches away on prepared cookie trays. I have 4 per sheet, they spread quite a bit. Bake until the edges are lightly browned, 15 to 18 minutes, changing and turning the leaves halfway through cooking (I made one leaf at a time). Let the cookies cool on the leaves for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely, 1 hour. Make the frosting.
Glazed
5 cups (20 oz) powdered
sugar, sifted 7 tablespoons
whole milk (divided)
2 tablespoons corn syrup 1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon
salt
3 tablespoons Dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted
Beat sugar, 6 tablespoons milk,
corn syrup
,
vanilla
and salt together in a bowl until smooth. (I had to add a little more milk because my icing was too thick.) Transfer 1 cup of frosting to a small bowl and set aside. Whisk the cocoa and the remaining 1tablespoon of milk into the remaining glaze until combined. Working 1 cookie at a time, spread 1 tablespoon of vanilla icing over half of the bottom of a cookie (the flat side) with a displaced spatula. Refrigerate until enamel is set, about 15 minutes. Cover the other half of the cookies with 1 tablespoon of chocolate icing and let the cookies sit at room temperature until the icing is firm, about 1 hour. Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.
Source: Cook’s Country February/March 2012
