Black and White with help

This was inspired (at least for me) by Michael Jackson's song 'Black and White' that my kids(!!!!) now listen to religiously. Well, not really but it made for a really good tie-in.

To say that these cookies look great is stating the obvious. They really are quite sophisticated looking... especially when done perfectly, in a cookbook! Ours didn't turn out quite so 'perfect' BUT I had great help from my 9 year old and I figure that I'd rather have some rather 'runny' looking cookies with a happy kid than have the 'perfect' ones. Perhaps it was precisely because of the 'help' but do keep in mind that these little beauties are MESSY! We had as much icing on the counter and floor as landed on the cookies themselves (and that's not even considering all the icing that mysteriously made it's way around kid #1's mouth!). Great fun though.


There seems to be a little confusion about where the 'true' history of these cookies but it's clear that New York state is the general area. They also seem generally considered a New York City treat. That's all cool but I don't really care. They look good and they taste great! This recipe is another hybrid. Joy the Baker and Martha S again. Martha's Cookies book gave me little bite-sized cookies! Ick! I want cookies! Joy came out right but I realized that it was the same recipe as in the MSCookie book doubled! The icing did change a bit though and I didn't add in the lemon juice that MS recommended - somehow lemon just didn't appeal to me here. The cookie itself came out lovely, cakey and squidgy. Probably too puffy to be considered 'authentic' but delish nonetheless. If you wanted to spend a lot of time to get each cookie just right, they would be quite impressive! We are happy with them just the way there are though...



Black and White cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart Cookies and Joy the Baker)
(made about 38 medium sized cookies)


2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp coarse salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 lg eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup buttermilk


Glaze:
2 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp light corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract


4 oz semisweet chocolate
3 tbsp butter
1 tbsp light corn syrup


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl and set aside.
In another bowl, mix the butter until fluffy and add sugar. Mix both until creamy and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
Mix in egg and vanilla. Mis in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk.
On lined baking sheets drop tablespoon sized balls of dough. Allow room for spreading. Bake for about 10 minutes. Cool completely on a baking rack.




Glaze:
Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Add in the vanilla and corn syrup. Mix and add little bits of water until it's the consistency of thick honey. Done the white stuff.


In a heat proof bowl, melt chocolate butter and corn syrup over lightly simmering water. Set aside to cool. chocolate stuff Done!


On cooled cookies add the white stuff on one side. Rest or refridgerate for about 20 - 30 min. to set. Add the cooled chocolate stuff to the other side and refridgerate or rest for another 30 min. until set.
When storing, put parchment or something in between the layers so that they don't stick!
Enjoy.