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French Black and White Cookies

June 08, 2021
Photo: Dan AllenPhoto: Dan Allen

When Rachael Fox—who was making pastry at the Behind the Bookstore coffee bar on Martha’s Vineyard—was growing up in Los Angeles, she loved the black-and-white cookies at Canter’s Deli. “There was a bar/music venue next to Canter’s called the Kibbitz Room,” she told me as I tasted her version of the iconic New York cookie at her little café in Edgartown, Massachusetts. “After dancing all night, we would go to the deli for some matzo ball soup and grab a black-and-white cookie on the way out.”

Featured in: How To Make a New Kind of Black-and-White Cookie

Ingredients

For the dough

  • 1 ¾sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾cup sugar
  • 1egg yolk
  • 1teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½teaspoon coarse kosher salt
  • 2cups unbleached all-purpose flour

For the frosting

  • 2 ½cups confectioners’ sugar
  • 1tablespoon corn syrup
  • ½teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 2teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 4tablespoons high quality unsweetened cocoa powder
Yield: About 20 cookies

Preparation

To make the dough

  • Step 1

    In the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter with the sugar, egg yolk, and vanilla on medium speed. Add the salt and flour, mixing on low until just incorporated, adding a tablespoon or so of cold water if the dough does not come together. Cut into 2 balls, cover with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours or overnight.

  • Step 2

    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

    Bring the dough almost to room temperature and roll out into a large rectangle about 1/8 inch thick and cut with cookie cutters about 3 inches across. Put on the cookie sheets, leaving about an inch between the cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until slightly golden brown on the edges, rotating the sheets halfway through. Remove from the oven and let cool.

  • Step 3

    Meanwhile, make the frosting. In a medium bowl whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, 1 teaspoon of the vanilla, and 3 tablespoons water in a bowl, adding more water a teaspoon at a time if needed to make a smooth, spreadable but not too runny frosting. Spoon about half of the frosting in a small bowl and stir in the cocoa powder, and a teaspoon or so of water, to make a spreadable frosting. Add the remaining teaspoon vanilla to the other bowl.

  • Step 4

    Once the cookies have cooled, using an offset spatula or a kitchen knife, spread half of each cookie with the white frosting and the other half with the cocoa frosting.