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Friday, October 28, 2011

It's Black, It's White!: Recipe

I was home earlier than usual from work and needed a project to calm my brain after a very looooong week...what better than a baking project with the kids? These cookies are a throw back from my own childhood - images of diner-brunches or bakery-runs with my father.

My two kids helped me with these and it was a lot of fun to do together - I think they enjoyed it because they could conceptualize the outcome!  I've just finished eating one and to be honest, they are really delicious.  Mind you, I don't really like chocolate so I always eat the chocolate side first so I can savor the vanilla half.

You know, some things are really great to remember and then there are some things that are great to remember AND recreate.

Oh, I also made my favorite pumpkin bread - and since I purchased 15 cans of pure pumpkin in the last 2 weeks, I figured I'd better start using it! Spiced Pumpkin Bread

Enjoy the black and whites...

Black and White Cookies
makes about 10 cookies

For Cookies -
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup (5 1/3 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg

For Icing
1 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp. vanilla
2 Tablespoon water
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.  Stir together the buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large electric mixer bowl until pale and fluffy - about 3 minutes. Then add in the egg, scrape sides of the bowl, and mix again for another minute. Mix in flour and buttermilk in alternate turns - starting and ending with the flour. Mix until smooth - about 1 1/2 minutes.

Using an ice cream scoop, spoon out 10 scoops of batter about 2" apart onto a cookie sheet fitted with parchment paper. Bake in the middle of the oven about 15-17 minutes. Remove and allow cookies to completely cool - about 1/2 hour to an hour.

In a medium bowl stir the confectioner's sugar together with the corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 1 Tablespoon of water until glassy and smooth - you may need a bit more water - add by tiny teaspoons and mix very well before adding anymore.  Icing should be smooth and of medium thickness - if it's too runny, add more sugar.

Put half the icing into another bowl and add in less than the 1/4 cup of cocoa and again mix well and add water, as needed.  Chocolate icing should be the same consistency as the white - glassy and of medium thickness.

With a small spatula, coat the flat sides of the cookie in one half white and allow to dry slightly before coating the other side in the chocolate icing.  Drying time - about 1 hour. They can be eaten well before that!

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