Black and white cookies

Photo: Budget Bytes

The New York deli cookie, small enough for a swap. Beth makes her own buttermilk with milk and vinegar and ices the flat bottom, which is the right side.

From Beth Moncel at Budget Bytes · @budgetbytes

A soft cake-like cookie made with homemade buttermilk, iced on the flat side with half vanilla and half cocoa glaze.

You need

• 1/3 cup (80 ml) milk
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups (190 g) all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 7 tbsp (100 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups (270 g) powdered sugar, sifted, for the icing
• 1 tsp lemon juice, for the icing
• 1 tbsp hot water, for the icing
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, for the icing
• 2 tbsp light corn syrup, for the icing
• 2 tsp cocoa powder, for the icing

How to make it

1. Stir the vinegar into the milk and let it sit 5 minutes: that's your buttermilk. Heat the oven to 350°F.
2. Whisk the sifted flour, salt and baking soda.
3. Mix the melted butter and sugar on low. Beat the eggs with the vanilla and add them.
4. Add the flour mixture and the buttermilk in turns, beating on medium, until both are used and the batter is smooth.
5. Chill the batter 30 minutes to an hour so it holds its shape.
6. Scoop 1-ounce mounds onto parchment-lined sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake about 15 minutes, until the edges are barely golden. Cool completely.
7. Stir the powdered sugar, lemon juice, hot water, vanilla and corn syrup into a smooth icing. Split it into two bowls and stir the cocoa into one.
8. Turn the cookies flat side up. Ice half of each with vanilla, let it set 10 minutes, then ice the other half with chocolate. Let them dry completely on a rack.

For a swap: Let the icing dry completely, then stack with parchment.

Written in our own words from Beth Moncel's recipe, with their quantities. The original: Black and white cookies, Budget Bytes.

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