Black and Whites

Whenever Brandon is in a show, I tell him to put all the cast members names in a hat, and draw one out. Whoever he draws, gets to pick a treat for me to make the cast. (last time is was the Suessical cake) This time a girl requested Black and White Cookies (also called Half Moons). I had never heard of these before, and the girl said that she remembered them from being in New York and has never been able to find them since. I looked up several recipes on line, and the common theme was that they are from New York bakeries, and must be really hard to duplicate the original taste. Most of the comments I found were of people reminiscing about these cookies from when they were little, or when they lived in NYC, and that although the taste was close, it wasn't quite right. Well, I have no idea if I am remotely in the ballpark but here is the recipe I used (I tweaked and combined a few different recipes):

Cookies:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt

1- Cream butter and sugar together until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and beat in between each egg. Add the milk, vanilla, and lemon. 

2- In a separate bowl stir together cake flour, all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. 

3- Add dry ingredients to the egg mixture gradually, mixing well between each addition.

4- Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup (maybe a little less) to spoon batter on a greased cookie sheet and flatten slightly. You want them to be about an inch thick. (These cookies are a little on the bigger side)

5- Bake at 375 for 11-14 minutes or until edges JUST start to turn brown (they are very easy to burn, so watch them)

6- Use a THIN metal spatula to remove from cookie sheet, and cool before frosting.
 

White Frosting:

•  3 Cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 Tbsp light corn syrup 
• 1 Tbsp butter 
• 1 1/2 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract
• Enough hot water to achieve desired consistency.

1- Combine ingredients and whisk until smooth
2- Frost half of the cookie with white frosting and wait until set before frosting the other half with the black frosting.

Black Frosting:

• Follow the same recipe as the white, but add  4 oz semi-sweet chocolate. 

1- In a double boiler, melt chocolate and add to the frosting.
2- If you want a richer taste, add more chocolate.
3- You will probably have to use more hot water than the white frosting to get the right consistency.
4- Frost the other half of cookie, and enjoy.

**Amy's Notes**
*These are very simple tasting cookies (remind me of a fortune cookie) with a thick/dense texture, with a hint of lemon. They are not crispy at all, and are more cake-like.
*For the frosting- if you want to spread the frosting on with a knife, leave it a little thicker.
*However, if you want a really smooth and shiny finish, add more hot water and make the frosting a little on the thin side.  Use a piping bag with a fine circular tip to make a boarder first and allow to dry. Once you have the boarder, fill in with the middle and allow to set/dry. This way there will not be any marks/streaks and the frosting will dry very smooth. (this is what I did) It took a while longer, but it looked nice.