The other member of my household (and default participant of this project/direct recipient of the Stiller Snacks as I make them) has requested that the next recipe yield some treats. Ask, and yinz shall receive. I also should let you know that what this post lacks in puns, it makes up for in yums.
Yinz probably know this variety of cookie in black and white, as a giant, saran-wrapped pastry at a deli or as featured in that Seinfeld episode. I honestly don't have much of a sweet tooth and more often than not enjoy the baking more than the eating, but I happened to grab some miniature versions of the afore mentioned cookies today from a coffee shop that shall not be named (but can be found on every stinking corner). As I was snacking, it struck me - DOI, I'll make 'em black and gold!
We're going to break out what's left of our Lynn Swann cake flahr from the Maurkice Lime Pound Cake, because these cookies are more like... "cakies," if you will. I made them pretty large too, but you can adjust size and quantity as you see fit. A 2 1/2 inch dollop of dough on the baking sheet resulted in a pretty big cookie - about 4 inches in diameter. While you may prefer smaller cookies, icing these guys was a lot easier with more surface area.
Once you get to the icing step, if you find the chocolate half to be a bit thick and trickier to spread than the gold, bring a little heavy cream (about half a cup) to a boil and whisk into the chocolate. This trick turned my chocolate icing from this:
to this!
De-licious.
Finally, before we bake, I thought we should all take a listen to this. Every so often this version of this song pops into my head. I think it's an appropriate soundtrack for Black & Gold cookie baking.
Black & Gold Cookies
Recipe adapted from The Brown-Eyed Baker
For the cookies
4 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp lemon extract
1 cup milk
For the icing
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
5 cups confectioner sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
10-12 drops yellow food coloring
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, salt and baking soda together and set aside. Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides of bowl and add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating before adding the second. Add vanilla and lemon extract and mix together on medium speed. Add flour alternating with milk on low speed (flour, milk, flour, milk, flour!). Scrape down sides as necessary and mix on low until fully combined.
Spoon dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets in desired amounts (1/4 cup scoops yield 4 inch diameter cookies) about 2 inches apart. Bake for 20 minutes until edges are golden-brown. Remove from oven, let baking sheets cool for a few minutes, then move cookies to cooling racks over sheets of parchment.
Melt chocolate (carefully) in a bowl over simmering water (as a makeshift double boiler) or in the microwave, stir and set aside. Add water and corn syrup to a small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Sift confectioner sugar into a large bowl and whisk in vanilla extract and hot water/corn syrup mixture. Measure out 3/4 cup of the icing and whisk together with melted chocolate in a separate bowl. (If chocolate is too thick, bring 1/4-1/2 cup heavy cream to a boil and whisk in until it reached desired consistency.) Add 10-12 drops yellow food coloring to white icing bowl and whisk to combine.
Frost cookies over cooling rack and parchment paper half with gold icing (using a knife or small offset spatula) and let harden. Frost remaining halves with chocolate icing. Let cookies set and enjoy!
