Rachael Ray

My family’s favorite bakery has the most amazing cookies, cakes, tarts and cheesecakes and our favorite treat to get there is the classic black and white cookie. It is a moist, cakey, not-too sweet sugar cookie as big as your hand with yummy icing. They can be pricey though, at $1 each. One year I made the mistake of letting one of my kids bring these cookies in for their class birthday treat and without thinking, I agreed. Well, $50 later, I vowed never again. For a fraction of the cost, I made black and white cookies a few days ago with a recipe from my old friend Joy the Baker’s blog and they were just as good as the bakery’s (and others shared my opinion). Here is Joy’s black and white cookie recipe - be sure to be generous with the icing.

Black and White Cookies (from Joy the Baker)

For the Cookies

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk (I substituted 2/3 cup milk combined with 1 TB cream of tartar)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs

For Vanilla Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

For Chocolate Icing

4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

3 Tablespoons butter

1 Tablespoon light corn syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

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Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk (or substitute) and vanilla in a cup.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add eggs, beating until combined well. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches at low speed (scraping down side of bowl occasionally), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Spoon 1/4 cups of batter about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet (I lined my pan with parchment paper). Bake in middle of oven until tops are puffed and pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack and chill (to cool quickly), about 5 minutes.

To make the icing-

For vanilla icing, in a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of corn syrup and 2 tablespoons hot water, until smooth. For chocolate icing, in a separate bowl, melt the butter and the chocolate in a microwave for about 1 minute. Add the corn syrup and stir until smooth.

Once the cookies are cooled, face them all bottom side up of a clean surface. Spread half of the cookie with vanilla glaze and the other half with chocolate glaze. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set. Store in a sealed container - they last for a few days.

Check out Joy’s amazing website, full of new bakery recipes every day!