Recipe: Black and White Heart Cookies

Available in nearly every bakery and bagel store in the New York City area, Black and White Cookies are a culinary New York tradition.  In fact, much is to be said about the correct way to eat one. White side first, black side first, or both at the same time? I have always wanted to try making these but on a much smaller scale, this is France after all and a giant cookie the size of your face is just pas cool.  So just in time for Valentine's Day, some little hearts exemplifying the contrasting elements of love. Awwww!

New York Style Mini Black and White Cookies

The dough

175 g plain flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

90 g butter, room temperature

100 g sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

80 ml buttermilk, or plain milk with a few drops of lemon juice

The icing

240 g powdered sugar ( also known as 10-x or icing sugar)

1 tbsp + 1 tsp corn syrup, maple syrup or golden syrup

2 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp cocoa powder, no sugar added

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt with a whisk to break up clumps and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, or using a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and mix in, then add the vanilla extract and combine.  Reduce the speed of your mixer then, using a measuring cup or small bowl, add the flour a little at a time, alternating with the milk.

To make the standard round shaped cookies, you can simply scoop the batter onto a parchment lined baking sheet spaced 2 inches or 5 cm apart.  I used a pastry bag to give myself a bit more control when forming the cookies, and of course if you don't have one on hand you can fill a large sandwich bag with the batter and snip of the bottom corner to make a whole.

Bake the cookies for 10 min.  To make these heart shaped cookies, I used a cookie cutter to cut them right after I took them out of the oven.  Careful! They're hot! Set the cookies on a cooling rack until completely cool.

To make the icing mix all the ingredients shown except the cocoa until smooth.  Seperate half of the icing into a differnt bowl and add the cocoa powder and a little more water to acheive the same consistancy as the white icing.

You can now just use a knife or spatula to spread each side of the cookies with each icing color but I chose to fill a pastry bag with a small tip so I could be more precise.

Now let the icing dry completely and enjoy with a nice cup of cawwfee!