Black. White.
Chocolate. Vanilla.
Cake. Cookie.
My favorite cookies, ever.
Yes. I can have it all.
I insist on eating down the center of these cookies. When the center is devoured, I simply stuff the remainder of the chocolate and vanilla sides into my face. It’s the only way I know how to approach one of these cookies.
Simon asked me to choose.
If I could only have one side of the cookie for the rest of my life, what would it be: chocolate or vanilla?
Impossible. That’s exactly why the black and white cookie was invented, so I wouldn’t have to choose!
I won’t choose. I refuse. I can’t enter your world of black and white choices. Nothing is that simple. AND I live in a world where I can have both. BOTH! I want both, and I don’t mind being a brat about it.
Thanks Simon for these killer cookie shots.
Black and White Cookies
makes about 16 large cookies
adapted from Gourmet Cookbook
and don’t forget Red Velvet Black and White Cookies
For the Cookies
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large egg
For Vanilla Glaze
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Teaspoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
For Chocolate Glaze
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
3 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
To make the cookies-
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk 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. 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 glazes-
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. That’s your vanilla glaze.
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. That’s your chocolate glaze!
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. And…Yum!
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Love your cute ring! And the cookies look yummy too!
Awesome cookies! I eat the vanilla side first, save the chocolate for last! Everyone has their own way with a B &W :)
I love your photos-especially of the icing dripping down the sides of the cookies! I’ve never had these before but your rave reviews have convinced me to add these to my recipe box. Thanks for sharing!
These make me homesick for NYC where they’re sold in every deli. But those cookies aren’t nearly delicious and drippy yummy looking as yours look! Happy Holidays, Oh Joy that you are.
Those would look really neat as Tao symbols! (Not really a Christmas concept I know, but it’s what came to mind.)
Oh wow!!! These cookies look dangerous!
I can not even tell you how great the things look on your site. Great blog….now i am hungry
Love, love, love black and white cookies….hands down my favorite cookies.
Confession. I’ve never actually had a black and white cookie. I know. I should be taken out back and shot. I honestly think I’ve always been so unsure of my eating strategy that I just never tried. I’m absolutely ashamed of myself.
I can never resist one of these little cookies when I’m waiting in line at starbucks. Dangerous!!
I’ve seen some weird recipes for black & whites lately. I even saw one that used yeast!! This looks safer. Now I can’t wait to try them!
LOL – re Kristen’s comment – I saw that yeast one too and was a bit weirded out (even if I love the source). Your cookies look great! I have a favorite B&W on my blog, but the texture of these ones look great! I will definitely try these.
BTW – I made the chocolate chip pancakes (immediately) and LOVED them!!
Oh, those look sinfully delicious!
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i just found your blog through a random series of clicks and i am hooked! baking is my passion too and i can’t wait to try several of your recipes.
I found your blog through somebody’s comment in another food blog…. and I instantly fell in love with the pink layout and the perfect pictures… I love baking, and finding your website with so many great recipes and specially insights from you made my day!!! I already went trough all 7 pages!!! That’s right!!….and also watched your podcast!! You are very good in front of a camera!!! And I can’t wait to try all your recipes, well, maybe some of them….
Thank you….have a lovely start to you work week!!!
Really? Favorite cookie ever? I’ll have to try them, although I admit I have never been tempted before.
My mom and I made these for Christmas and they were wonderful. They taste just like the ones in the good NY bakeries – which are 3,000 miles away from us.
Thanks so much for sharing the recipe.
These are my utter favorite, you can never find them down here in the south. Cannot wait to try and make them myself.
I just tried your black and whites after trying another recipe last week. Yours is the best! They are light and fluffy, and the icing is great, too. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks for posting this recipe, Joy! I just had my first black and white cookie when I visited NYC over the summer, and I wanted to share this wonderful cookie, as well as part of my experience in the city, with my family. Your recipe allowed me to do that and was just as good as, if not better than, what I remember!
I have to break the cookie and half and then eat them both evenly, a bite out of one half, a bite out of the other, and so on. I’m wierd, I know! ;)
I am currently in the process of opening my own Salon. The colors are Black n White for the signage and business cards. I am going to make these for my grand opening..! Thanks for posting and sharing…K
i think it’s the cutest thing that you’re so obsessed with these delish cookies! and you know why? because they’re very popular in germany, you can get them at every corner and now guess what they’re called…?! “Americans”!!! =)
Joy, which are your favorite- the red velvet or the original?
Here where I live, which is in Central New York, they are called Half Moon Cookies. In NYC they are known as Black and White. STILL I agree.. best cookies ever! Our relatives that live in California, always request for these cookies when they come home for a visit.
I made these they turned out Awesome!!! I can’t wait to make again! Yum!!!
i made these (twice) and they were a disaster! the cookies turned out runny and flat, not puffy and beautiful like yours. (baking soda is fresh, i checked.) where did i go wrong? any suggestions?
my moms always makes little cookies with coconut centre and cover with chocolate one side and pink the other…
commonly referred to within the cape malay community as “twee gevrietjies”
Just made these today and they turned out great! Only thing is that the white glaze was extremely thick and hard to spread w/out breaking the cookie. Any suggestions for then next time around to make it more the consistency of the chocolate glaze?
They still taste amazing though! Thanks Joy. :)
more corn syrup!
Just discovered your blog. Am smitten generally and specifically, in part due to your appropriate love of the black and white cookie. But what’s this? A Red Velvet Black and White? I shall click through! Alas, the link is dead. DEAD?!?!? Please, PLEASE PLEASE help remedy this sorrow and horror!!!
make the black and white cookies today. wow very good. needed to add a little more hot water to vanilla glaze, it was too dry with only 2 tablespoons of hot water.
these were so delicious ! made them and the red velvet version for our family holiday party. huge hit ! thanks.
The best of both worlds. They remind me of that Seinfeld episode…
Hi Joy! I made yours and two other b/w cookie recipes over the new year’s weekend. I used my own glazes though as to be swayed from the awesome cookie below them (and to keep all things fair in my taste testing; which was extensive, btw!). Yours, by miles and miles and miles was the most wonderful! Totally a keeper! Thanks for sharing and bringing this childhood staple right into my very own kitchen.
Question…for the vanilla glaze. In the ingredients list you have 1 teaspoon of corn syrup, in the recipe directions it has 1 Tablespoon. Which is right?
Thanks!
Anna
so sorry anna! one tablespoon.
I just got back from NYC yesterday, googled black and white cookies for a recipe like the one I’d eaten there, came across these and made them today. They are so good! And I’m so glad I won’t have to go without those wonderful cookies from new york. Thank you for this recipe, I will definitely be making these many more times!
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