Black & White Cookies

Did You Know? "Back in the day, black and white cookies were actually made by bakeries from their leftover cake batters, with just a little extra flour mixed in so the cookie didn’t spread all over the place. Sometimes called Amerikaner Cookies, they’re also occasionally referred to as "half-moons" Upstate and in New England. However, with a chocolate cake base, not the traditional vanilla/lemon one, they’re not the same thing..." Deb of Smitten Kitchen.

This next recipe comes from a favorite of both myself and Caitlin. Whenever we're in search of an authentic recipe, Smitten Kitchen usually finds itself to the screen in front of us. Ever since her last post, Caitlin has been researching recipes for her next. After a lunch break spent browsing through the archives of our beloved recipe journal, Cait decided these cookies would be our next baking endeavor together. These two-toned delights have always been a favorite of my brother's and her boyfriend's (one and the same), so we knew we had to get a great recipe to impress him by. After reading Deb's thoughtful post, we were convinced these were the real deal. And now that I think of it, my sister has always had a true fondness for these cookies. Although she likes to keep hers to a 100-calorie portion.

We were unsure of what size scoop to go for with these cookies. We wanted a pretty traditional feel, so we knew they were going to be on the large size. After a few trials, we settled on the standard ice cream scoop. Flattening them out a bit after dropping them onto the sheets, we were pretty satisfied with the outcome. The lemon/vanilla base was just what we were hoping for, truly capturing the cakey texture that you would find in a bakery.

Black & White Cookies
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 cups confectioners’ sugar (I used about 6)
1/3 to 1/2 cup water
3 ounces very bitter or unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon light corn syrup.
1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper.

In large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Mix by machine or hand until fluffy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix until smooth.

In medium bowl, combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed. Add dry mixture to the wet in batches, stirring well after each addition. Using an ice cream scoop, place heaping spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Flatten slightly with a spoon. Bake until edges begin to brown, 8 to 12 minutes. Cool completely. *The original recipe says to bake for 18-20 minutes, but I found that far too long. Most of mine were in the oven for not even 10 and were perfectly pale gold at that point.

Boil a cup or so of water in a small pot. Place confectioners’ sugar in large, heat-safe mixing bowl. Gradually stir in enough boiling water to the sugar to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Err on the side of caution because a too-thin frosting is hard to undo. Leave remaining boiling water on the stove.

Flip the cookies over, and spread frosting on half of the flat side of each cookie. Once all cookie halves have been frosted, place the bowl of the remaining frosting over the hot water and bring it back to a simmer (creating a double-boiler). Stir in the bitter or unsweetened chocolate until melted, as well as the light corn syrup. At this point, if the chocolate frosting is not "black" enough, you may want to add a tablespoon or so of cocoa powder.

Ice the remaining half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. If the frosting gets to dried out, whisk in an extra teaspoon of that hot water from time to smooth it back into a shiny frosting. I definitely didn't smooth my frosting out enough, as you can see in the photos. I ended up using probably double the amount of confectioners sugar, as we opted for a more caked on look.

*These cookies will last no more than a couple days, stored in an air-tight container. Their cakey texture goes stale much quicker than your average cookie.

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Iced Meyer Lemon Cookies

Did You Know? Lemon trees bloom and produce fruit year-round. Each tree can produce between 500 and 600 pounds of lemons in a year.

I asked my mom to clean my bathroom the other day, and in return, I promised her a batch of these Iced Meyer Lemon Cookies. Pretty fair trade right? We were browsing through different recipes that would use up some Meyer lemons, and I am so glad we settled on this one. Just because it's the season of perpetual dieting, doesn't mean we all don't deserve a break. These cookies are so light and refreshing. They remind me of a spritzer, not that I have ever had a spritzer cookie, but the name just seems right, don't you think?

I made two variations of these. Both use all the same ingredients, I just played with the baking time on each, and the thickness of the cookie. Now usually I am a big fan of the cookie that stays soft for days, but with these, I must admit I loved the crispy version. I flattened the dough out really thin, and baked them a few minutes longer so that the edges got nice and golden. They were unbelievable! Hot from the oven, or cooled and iced, they were a really nice accompaniment to my Nutcracker Sweet Tea.

Everything about these cookies was so bright and tasty, and a much needed pick-me-up from these cold, snowy days. Flecked with bits of Meyer zest, and drizzled with lemony-fresh icing, they filled my head with memories of Summer. So if you, like me, are in need for a brief moment of sunlight, make these cookies, I promise you'll love them!

Iced Meyer Lemon Cookies
Dough
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 tablespoons finely grated Meyer lemon rind (3 lemons)

Icing
2 tablespoons Meyer lemon juice
1 tablespoon finely grated Meyer lemon rind (2 lemons)
1 cup powdered sugar

Mix butter on high speed until fluffy, then add the sugar and egg. Continue mixing on medium speed adding vanilla extract and 1 1/2 tablespoons lemon rind.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Mixing on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture until blended, scraping the sides of the bowl occasionally. Gather dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

While the dough is being chilled, juice the lemons you removed the zest from earlier. Add the remaining lemon rind to the powdered sugar, then slowly add the lemon juice. You want the icing to be thick enough to form stripes, but runny enough to drizzle out of a baggie (leave it on the thicker side if you're unsure - you can always add more lemon juice or water).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees at some point before the dough is done chilling.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, and using a mini ice-cream scoop, scoop the dough balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten the cookies with a glass or measuring cup, coating the bottom of the glass or cup with sugar between flattening. The flatter the cookie, the crispier they will be. I made both crispy and cakey to suit either preference (but like I said crispy was better).

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown. If you want really crispy cookies, don't pull them out of the oven until the edges are really nice and brown. Remove from the oven and tranfer to racks to cool completely.

When ready to frost, pour the icing mixture into a plastic baggie. Snip the corner off of the plastic bag and pipe stripes along the cooled cookie tops. Let the icing harden fully before transferring to storage container. The original recipe said it made around 24 cookies, but I made 45 using my mini ice-cream scoop.

...REMINDER...

Don't forget to send me your links for all those lemon recipes you have stashed away! I've already received so many, and I can't wait to show you all. Thanks again to everyone who has participated, and if you don't know what I'm talking about, read the end of this post.