Black-and-White Cookies
Ahh, black-and-white cookies. This Jewish bakery staple is to many Jews what madeleines were to Proust.
Black-and-White Cookies
Photo Credit : Michael Piazza | Styling by Catrine KeltyThis Jewish bakery staple is to many Jews what madeleines were to Proust. They invoke a lifetime of memories.
From “Long Live the Deli,” March/April 2022
Yield:
about 18 cookiesFor the Cookies
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 ½ teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups cake flour
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup milk
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350° (325° if using convection) and set racks to the upper and lower positions. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside.
In a large bowl, using a standing or hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until truly pale and fluffy, 5 to 7 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides several times during the mixing. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the sides after each addition. Add the vanilla and lemon zest and stir.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Add a third of this mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed just until smooth. Add half the milk and mix until smooth. Repeat these steps with the dry ingredients, then the rest of the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients.
Use a standard ice cream scoop, ¹⁄3-cup measure, or a large spoon to scoop out 2½-to-3-ounce portions of cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, with about 2 inches between them. Bake, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the cookies are firm and the edges are just golden brown, 13 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
Meanwhile, make the glazes:
For the vanilla glaze
Ingredients
1 tablespoon boiling water
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Pinch salt
Instructions
For the white glaze, whisk the water into the sugar and salt. The glaze should be thin enough to spread but not drippy.
For the chocolate glaze
Ingredients
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons boiling water
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
Pinch salt
Instructions
For the chocolate glaze, melt the chocolate and corn syrup together in a double boiler, stirring often. Whisk in the sugar, water, cocoa powder, and salt. The chocolate glaze should have a similar texture to the white. If not, add some more boiling water, a teaspoon at a time.
To glaze the cookies, begin with the white icing. Drop a dollop of icing on the top right side of a cookie with an offset spatula or butter knife, then spread it down the right side, keeping the center line as straight as possible. Clean up any drips on the edges. Repeat with remaining cookies. When the first layer of white icing has set, use the chocolate icing to coat the left sides in the same way, with a straight line down the center. Let that set, then apply a final coat of the white if needed to even out the two sides. Let the icing set, then serve.
