Comments on: black and white cookies

By: Kat

Kat — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 18:05:12 +0000

Thanks so much Laura for the advice- I hope it worked for you! I’ll definitely try that next time!!

By: Laura in Milwaukee

Laura in Milwaukee — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 19:39:06 +0000

@Kat, I would wait for Deb to weigh in on this but my gut says that using ALL all-purpose flour could make a VERY big difference in the cookies. In the future, you can make your own cake flour by measuring the amount called for in the recipe into a bowl, then removing two tablespoons of flour per cup (just dump it back in your bin) and replacing those two tablespoons with cornstarch. That’s what I did for this recipe and they’re in the oven now. Here’s hoping it works!

By: Kat

Kat — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:55:32 +0000

Not good at all- I tried to make this recipe and they turned out disgusting. They had the taste and thickness of pancakes and looked bad. However, this may be my fault not the recipes. I only used all purpose flour, not that and cake flour. Is that a problem, or are the two interchangeable? :(

By: Jackie

Jackie — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 14:44:40 +0000

Do you need to use corn syrup in the recipe? Is there something that you would recommend replacing it with?

By: cindy

cindy — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:05:43 +0000

So does it taste more cake-like, than a cookie?

By: Katie

Katie — Sat, 17 Sep 2011 00:36:22 +0000

I’m a native New Yorker who got displaced to Chicago. I am so desperate for a black and white cookie. I can’t wait to try making these right now (and by right now, I mean after I run out to the grocery store!)

By: Catherine

Catherine — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:11:50 +0000

I made these just last night and they are FABULOUS. Admittedly, I also had a wee issue getting the butter, sugar, milk mixture smooth, so I whipped it to death with a whisk attachment (yikes), then slowly added the flour mixture anyway (it promptly smoothed out into a gorgeous batter). Extra salt and vanilla are a must in the batter (double it), and I replaced lemon extract with the zest of an entire lemon. For those of you who want extra “black” chocolate glaze, add a large pinch of black powdered food coloring- it yields the perfect contrasting hue to the stark white without ruining the texture. Thanks, Deb!

By: Sarah

Sarah — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 01:34:00 +0000

I have made these cookies many times and they are always well received. I am thinking about making them again for an upcoming birthday celebration and was wondering if you think it would be possible to adjust the recipe/cooking time to bake giant cake-sized cookies?

By: eve

eve — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 20:31:01 +0000

For those who weren’t impressed, I recommend a few alterations: double the salt, quadruple the vanilla, add some orange blossom water, and use cultured butter. In particular, the extra salt may really help (I added this change the second time I made them, and they were way better, at least to my taste; if you really like salt, you could probably add even a touch more). I also added a drop or so of lemon extract, some vanilla, and some orange blossom water to the icing. My taste testers (who claim to know all about authentic black and whites from NYC) approved the first batch and loved the second.

For those who had trouble mixing, I added the milk and dry ingredients alternating to the butter/egg/sugar mix, which works fine. Also, you can safely double (or more) the baking powder without any of that nasty taste, which probably helps get them fluffy, especially if you’re doing it by hand. I did this even though I was using a machine.

By: lu

lu — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 01:36:29 +0000

i had SO MANY PROBLEMS with these! first, the liquid ingredients would just not come together. i whisked for at least 10 minutes, no luck. i finally just ended up combining them with the dry anyway, and the dough seemed fine! then when i baked them, they domed up like CRAZY. that might have been all that whipping, actually, so maybe that was my fault. then when i went to ice the backs, the white frosting went on fine, but the chocolate was so dry that i had to keep it on the stove so i could ie more than 3 cookies at a time. and they really did not taste too good :/

i piped little hearts on and i needed to wrap them so i actually left them out overnight covered, and they taste way better! so these weren’t a total bust. anyway, not gonna be making this recipe again >_< too bad, cos i usually love your recipes! D: