One day I will go to New York. Until then, I will make cookies. For a while I have been curious about these two-toned cookies named after a very famous city that I have yet to (but am terribly excited to one day) visit. What exactly is a Black and White cookie? Are they really famous in New York? I had never heard about them until I came across the recipe in one of my cherished Martha Stewart books. The recipe has been in my possession for over a decade, yet I had not made any further steps to discovering more. My final prompt or push to create these for myself came after watching an episode of Seinfeld, maybe you know the one! Jerry and Elaine are in a bakery and are having a hilariously frustrating time and during this time Jerry buys himself a Black and White cookie on which to snack. OH MY GOODNESS I am finally seeing this cookie "out in the wild" or at least beyond the confines of my Martha Stewart book and I am reminded of it's existence! It is with the assistance and encouragement from my cookie partner (and fellow Seinfeld fan) pictured above that today we bring to you my first attempt at Black and White cookies. I say attempt because I have never actually eaten one before and don't really know what is to be expected. Further research into my bookshelf revealed that I have not one, but TWO recipes for these cookies. Further proof that they are indeed a "thing" out there. I have my tried and true Martha Stewart, and also a rather fancy and trendy book from the homies of Mast Brothers Chocolate. So OBVIOUSLY we had to try both recipes to see which one comes out on top! Martha knows a thing or 2000 about cookies, but also the Mast Brothers are indeed from New York and know a thing about chocolate, so there's got to be some legit business happening here. It is a very fun project to try two very similar but not quite identical recipes for the same thing... My kind of science experiment! Highly recommended way to spend a January afternoon. Then you eat the cookies of your labour while watching Seinfeld, of course. The cookies themselves are more like little cakes, half frosted with vanilla or just plain glaze, and the other half with a chocolate glaze. Glazing the cookies was a messy task, and we realized after doing them all how we could have done it better. But as I always say, it's always good to leave room for improvement... and, learn by doing, am I right?! Because I KNOW you are curious...I will reveal to you... our favourite was from... drumroll please... MAST BROS! Their cake-like cookie was lighter (and Anthony appreciated the bit of lemon zest in there) while I found Martha's to be a bit denser, though still delicious. Also taking the win for the Bros was their chocolate glaze... which makes sense seeing as they are in the chocolate biz. It was made with lots of real actual dark chocolate, whereas Martha's was a bit too-sweet-with-only-a-bit-of-cocoa-powder version (don't worry Martha, you will still forever be my go-to-gal). Next step is to go to New York to find the real thing I suppose. Meanwhile, if anyone can tell me where to find these in Calgary... holla at yo girl! New York Black & White CookiesRecipe from Martha Stewart COOKIES:
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. Cream the butter in a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment for about 2 minutes. Add the granulated sugar and mix for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla. Mix in the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with two additions of buttermilk. (dry, wet, dry, wet, dry) Mix until just combined but do not overman or the dough will get tough. Use a small cookie scoop (or use two spoons) to scoop portions of dough into balls. Place on a lined baking sheet placing 2 inches apart. Bake, rotating halfway through until bottoms of cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. GLAZE:
Spread white icing on half of each cookie's flat side and cocoa icing on the other half. Let stand until set (30 minutes). Cookies can be stored in airtight containers for up to 3 days. New York Black & White CookiesRecipe from Mast Brothers Chocolate COOKIES:
WHITE ICING:
CHOCOLATE ICING:
Add the butter and vanilla, mix until the mixture is smooth. Spread the chocolate icing on the other half of each cookie. ***What we realized after making a giant mess and glazing all the cookies... is that it would be much cleaner looking to glaze half of all of them... then let the glaze set! THEN glaze the second half... Next time. You can learn from my mistakes. You are welcome.
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