Black and White Cookies

Ingredients*

Cookies:

  • 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • 1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk

  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 5 1/3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

  • ½ cup granulated sugar

  • 1 large egg

Icing:

  • 1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar

  • 1 tablespoon light corn syrup

  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

  • ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

  • 1-2 tablespoons water

  • ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder  

Instructions*

  1. Put a rack in middle of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit 

  2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl 

  3. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup

  4. Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until it is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes

  5. Add egg, beating until well combined

  6. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture

  7. Spoon ¼ cup amounts of batter about 2 inches apart onto a buttered baking sheet

  8. Bake until the tops are puffed and pale golden and cookies spring back when touched, 15-17 minutes. Transfer to rack to cool

  9. Stir together confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl until smooth

  10. Transfer half the icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water ½ teaspoon at a time to thing to the same consistency as the white icing

  11. Turn cooled cookies upside down

  12. With a small spatula, spread white icing over half of each cookie and then spread chocolate icing over the other half

  13. Let cookies stand still until icing is set, about 2 hours

*Reichl, Ruth, editor. The Gourmet Cookbook. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004.

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