Black and White Cookies

Iconic Black and White Cookie

I'm not going to lie. I was humming Ebony and Ivory as I iced these cookies.

They are iconic in ways I was unaware until I was sharing with my work friends. I got more than one "like on Seinfeld" or "Starbucks used to have these!"

They are really cake like. Very soft, but not too delicate. I can see why the world loves them.

They are totally beautiful. The recipe is pretty fantastic too. The only thing I'd do differently is make them a wee bit smaller. They were actually too much cookie to eat in one go. I used a blue scoop, which is 2 ounce. I'd go with a 1.5 ounce scoop if you have one. Some folks say draw circles on the underside of your parchment. I'd rather scoop two - 3/4 ouncers on top of each other because that just has to be easier. If you don't have at least one cookie scoop it's a great gift to ask for from Santa.

Black And White Cookies

5 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1.75 cup sugar
4 eggs
0.25 teaspoon lemon extract
0.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
0.5 cup milk

Icing
4 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons corn syrup
0.5 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate chopped finely

Preheat oven 350 degree. Prepare two baking sheets with cooking sprayed parchment.

In a large bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt.
In a different bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs one at a time. Add the extracts. Add 1/3 the flour, mix. Add 1/2 of the milk, 1/3 the flour, the last of milk then the flour; mixing and scraping between each addition. (Is there an easier way to describe that?)

Form the cookies on the sheet. Try for consistent sizes. Shoot for 22-24 cookies. I got 18 from the too large ones. Flatten the cookies while keeping their roundness as best possible. They do spread some while baking. Bake for 20 minutes. Rotate halfway through the baking time if your oven bakes unevenly. Allow cookies to completely cool.

For the icing mix the sugar, water, syrup and vanilla in a microwaveable bowl or a bowl you can heat on a double boiler. Using a small spatula, flip the cookie over, ice half of each cookie. Catch the drips. Heat the remaining icing and add the chocolate, stir it in. Ice the second half of the cookie. Allow to set 30 minutes. They will dry firm and not sticky.

All the pretty giant cookies.

These do terrifically in plastic wrap and frozen. You know, if you had to.

Disher size and color chart

The size and colors correspond and are universal. I remember when I learned that and I thought it was super clever.