Perfect Black and White Cookies
Updated Feb. 29, 2024
- Total Time
- 1 hour, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:12 to 14 cookies
- 2cups/255 grams all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon baking powder
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼teaspoon baking soda
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters sour cream or whole-milk yogurt
- ⅓cup/80 milliliters whole milk
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- ¼teaspoon almond extract
- ½cup/115 grams unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
- ¾cup plus 2 tablespoons/200 grams granulated sugar
- 2large eggs, at room temperature
- 2½cups/300 grams confectioners’ sugar
- Boiling water, as needed
- 1½tablespoons light corn syrup
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 2½ounces/70 grams unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
- 2½tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
For the Cookies
For the Glaze
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (13 servings)
402 calories; 12 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 70 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 52 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 174 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange racks in top and bottom thirds, and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Step 2
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, vanilla, lemon zest and almond extract.
- Step 3
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Step 4
Reduce speed to low and beat in ⅓ of the flour mixture, then ⅓ of the sour cream mixture. Repeat until both mixtures are incorporated, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. (Mixture will be the consistency of thick poundcake batter.)
- Step 5
Dollop heaping ¼-cup scoops of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. (You should have 12 to 14 cookies.) Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets. Continue to bake until the cookies have firmed up and spring back when lightly pressed in the center, 6 to 9 minutes. (They’ll brown only on the bottoms.) Take care not to overbake, or they will dry out.
- Step 6
Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool for 15 minutes, then transfer cookies directly to racks to cool completely.
- Step 7
While the cookies cool, make the glaze: Place the confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and whisk in 3 tablespoons boiling water, the corn syrup, vanilla and salt. Continue to whisk, adding more boiling water as needed, until you have a thick yet spreadable frosting that is the texture of hot fudge sauce. (Too thick is preferable to too thin.) Flip each cookie over and spoon glaze over half of its flat side, spreading to edges with the back of the spoon. Place on wire rack to set. You will have vanilla frosting left over.
- Step 8
Whisk melted chocolate into vanilla frosting, then whisk in cocoa and enough room temperature water to make a thick yet spreadable glaze. Glaze the bare half of each cookie. Let glaze set for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Dvious
Try using your favorite gluten-free all purpose flour and then YOU tell us! Then stop posting this question for every baking recipe you find on the internet.
betteirene
For those of you wondering about the addition of lemon and almond, please watch the video. You'll learn that it's a Russ & Daughters thing. You'll also learn how to adapt recipes. And please, just trust Melissa.
Sjb
Just use vanilla.
Dom
So, I have just a minor switch, that I think better represents the classic NYC B&W that I remember: Instead of putting the lemon in the batter, I put it in the vanilla frosting, so the vanilla side has that faint yet necessary lemony twang.
Awkandel
I thought it would be funny to note that in Germany, these are called Amerikaners, literally, Americans.
Wendy
I agree. I have never seen almond extract in a black and white cookie recipe.
James Caruso
Great recipe, but I still prefer Half Moons from bakeries in Utica NY. The frosting is more of a buttercream and not sweet like a glaze. Definitely worth trying .
Katie
Yes! We call them Half Moon Cookies in upstate New York.
Emily
I am a huge fan of Melissa's and this recipe did not disappoint. I wish Melissa had included an instruction about whether you should spread the (very thick) batter out and try to make it even and round to end up with perfectly round cookies. The only place where I quarrel with the recipe is at the end. I used unsweetened chocolate but felt the chocolate glaze was too bitter. Semi-sweet would be better and use milk not water to thin the glaze.
planer
Try using the microplane the opposite way than shown in the video. You’ll find that by holding the lemon still, with the microplane upside down, and pulling it across the lemon you’ll have much more control. You will get less pith as you can take a lighter pass. It was designed as a wood working tool and you would never see a woodworker pulling the wood across the plane. Give it a try.
eve and ruth
I have tried four or five different black and white cookie recipes, and this is the best one by a mile. I skipped the almond extract and they were perfectly soft and delicious. Everyone loved them.
ANF
Whenever I have to travel on Amtrak via the Penn Station I try to stop at Zaro's Bread Basket for a blackberry and white cookie. Theirs is of the cakey variety with a little lemonade in the batter. Yummy. Their bagels are pretty good too, topped with tuna salad. Makes a good lunch on the train.
Seán
I make these more often than other cookies, and I still follow this recipe almost exactly as-is. The almond and lemon are subtle and make all the difference in the base flavor of the cookie. I have some tremor, so glazing/icing these is stressful to do cleanly. If you find this too, let the vanilla cool and harden before glazing with the chocolate. You can overlap the two and then clean the lines up and it'll hide things nicely.
Ben Keisler
Watch the video!
Yeil
I wanted to know how the cookie would turn out if I wrapped and chilled the batter before baking. They were a bit more plump than the ones made by Melissa. Still really delicious though!
barb
Wow! These are so good! For those wondering about the almond extract, it just gives it a depth of flavor to me. I loved the light texture of the cookie and the subtle lemon flavor. Does anyone know how to make this a giant round cookie like bakeries do? Do I just use a round cake pan? Or will it stay in shape if I pour onto a cookie sheet and shape with a spatula?
Donna C.
Spectacular recipe! I needed to double the frosting to adequately ice all. Keep to 3T water with the vanilla icing otherwise it will appear too transparent on the cookie. It should be spreadable not pourable.
Peter Rochin
As a native New Yorker, but now in Rhode Island, the B&W cookie is something I miss the most. Zabars, Russ & Daughters, Greenbergs, all outstanding; however, Melissa Clark has captured the ethereal essence in this combination. I followed the recipe exactly and I think this is the best B&W cookie I have ever eaten or made. The tell for me was that the batter tastes exactly like the finished cookie. Thank you Melissa, as usual and like all of your other recipes and tips, this is phenomenal!
CAllen
I haven't had these in years! This is a great recipe as written. I kept the chocolate glaze over a double boiler to keep it pliable and shiny.
Anna
Thank you for the video tutorial! It's very helpful, especially when it comes to the icing.
Elaine Silverstein
Sorry, but the perfect black and white cookie cannot contain dairy. It must be light, cakelike, and delicious yet parve (neither dairy nor meat). That's its great virtue. This is not traditional.
Janet H.
Alexa, I have an idea. I was pleasantly surprised I was at all the helpful notes (including yours) from those who actually made the recipe, and their results, instead of the usual comments about excess calories, or "how their mom always made the dish". I read your review just as i was assembling the ingredients, and decided instead to scrape some vanilla beans into the glaze instead of using extract. The specks were visible, (who doesn't appreciate genuine vanilla bean?) and the glaze white
Elizabeth
It makes me happy just to see the photo of this recipe again - they came out perfectly (and I've tried many recipes in the past). I'm so grateful to see it again!
Angela
These were great. I didn't have lemons on hand so I added just a tiny drop of lemon extract. I found it helpful to cover my glaze with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out/hardening while waiting for my vanilla glazed cookies to set. I would definitely make these again! Thank you, Melissa!
alexa
Is there any way to make the white side of the glaze a bit whiter? The vanilla extract made the glaze have a tanish hue
harknessa
Added yellow food coloring to the vanilla for the perfect solar eclipse celebration cookie!
ann
Delicious!!! Light and wonderful lemon hint. Made these for the 2024 eclipse. And glazed them with progressively more chocolate. The first cookie in the line is all vanilla until the dozenth cookie which is all chocolate.
franchi
these are good and really easy to make. only issue i have with them is they’re way too sweet for me. would it drastically change the texture if i reduced the sugar quantity?
SpringPansy
Yes. You could probably get away with cutting a tablespoon or two, but it still makes a difference, even if it's small. Whether it bothers you or not, that's the question.
Marymac
Can these be frozen?
SBB in the Kitchen
This recipe was fantastic. I am now living in the Pacific Northwest and cannot even remotely find a black-and-white or half moon. This recipe definitely fits the bill. I don’t love the taste of corn syrup in my frosting, that being said, the consistency of the frosting is amazing. It sets very nicely if anyone has any alternativevanilla frosting recommendations I would gladly welcome them. Thank you, Melissa.
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