Black and White Cookies I

I now make these cookies regularly and wanted to share some additional comments (please read my original under HOOSIER2B as it remains correct at least for my taste and from my memory). I bake these on an UNGREASED aluminum cookie sheet and use an extremely thin metal spatula to remove. I then cool on a rack before frosting. Once cooled, over the sink, I brush off all excess crumbs from bottom of each cookie. This step is necessary, as I find that by the cookie sheet being ungreased, a very fine layer of the bottom of each cookie will adhere to the sheet (being that my memory of New York Black & Whites has always been a completely uncrisp cookie, this serves to achieve that result). Regarding the frosting, I actually make it in 2 batches, white being first: 3 Cups confectioners sugar, 2 Tbsp light corn syrup (for consistency), 1 TBSP butter (for shine), 1 1/2 tsp clear imitation vanilla extract, and enough hot water to achieve desired consistency. I mix with a wire whisk until smooth. I then ice slightly over 1/2 of each cookie and let set until firm (approx. 20 mins.). For black icing: follow recipe for white however add to it 1/4 to 1/3 C. DUTCH processed cocoa powder (believe me, no other cocoa, chocolate or chocolate flavoring will do - I've tried them all!). I frost cookie by spooning on icing, then using a small offset spatula to smooth. If it appears that I am obsessed with these cookies, I am! It may take a few additional minutes longer overall, but I have to sa

Having grown up in Brookyln, NY, I was looking for a recipe that duplicated the taste of those BIG Black & Whites that were gotten from a local Italian deli for only a nickel! Okay, so it was many years ago, but I remember the taste well! After I tried this recipe, I knew that it was on the right track but needed just a few minor adjustments. So, after the third time, here is what I came up with: increase lemon extract to 1 tsp., decrease all-purpose flour to 2 1/4 cups, and increase salt to 3/4 tsp. Also, I initially tried the bittersweet chocolate in the frosting but found that using melted semi-sweet chocolate tasted more like what I was used to. I didn't measure the amount; just added it to taste (I would guess, about 4-5 ozs.!). Rather than dropping batter by tablespoons, I used 1/4-1/3 of a cup, then used the back of a spoon to swirl it into a nicely formed circle about 1" thick. Bake for about 11-14 minutes. This method results in the typical bakery size cookies. Overall, I would give this recipe 4 stars - VERY close to the original!

(History fact- these cookies were originally made from the leftover cake batter at bakeries.) For those of you who are sick and tired of trying to find the recipe for your grandmother's black and white (or half-moon) cookies, THIS IS IT. This recipe is the same as the one from Zabar's and it's wonderful. Some reviewers felt that it didn't taste lemony enough- you MUST use pure lemon extract. It makes a world of difference. You can add a few extra drops if you'd like. I agree with the people who said you should spread/flatten them on your cookie sheet before baking. I use the back of a big spoon to shape and flatten it. Parchment paper helps as well. If you're looking for a fun way to decorate these cookies, use different colors of food coloring for the vanilla frosting side.

These are just like the black & whites in the bakery, if not better! I used hoosier2b's suggestions for the flour, lemon, salt, and chocolate icing adjustments- the cookies were big and baked up fluffy and cakelike, just like they should! WATCH them in the oven-- they're done right around 11 minutes, when the edges are just starting to turn golden. The icing won't bleed or look messy if you apply the white first and let it dry completely before applying the chocolate. Make sure that your icing remains warm while you're putting it on the cookies: it's easier to spread on and will dry shiny, just like the ones in the bakery!

Change the frosting and this becomes a FIVE! Use Powdered sugar and milk with some vanilla extract for the vanilla. Just use enough milk to barely dissolve the sugar. For the chocolate frosting, make the vanilla frosting but add hersheys syrup to taste. You'll need less milk b/c of the syrup. The frosting made this way is absolutely unbeatable. I won't eat anyone else's B & W cookies any more (and they've been my favorite treat for 30 years).

These cookies came out great but I tweaked just a little bit -- I changed the frosting a little bit, I had to double this recipe: 2 3/4 cups confectioners sugar 2 tablespoons light corn syrup 1 drop lemon extract 1/2 teaspoon vanilla 4 to 6 tablespoons water Start with 2 tablespoons warm water then add by teaspoonful as needed. Mix well until a spreadable consistency--split frosting in 1/2 into 2 seperate bowls and add 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder to one half (if doubling recipe double this too!) mix well adding more water as needed. spread onto cookies, allow icing to harden a little before eating. I also reduced the cooking time to about 12 minutes, and reduced each type of flour by 1/2 cup...and acheived perfection!

The cookie recipe was perfect. Just like the black and whites I remember. But the icing wasn't quite right. I used a different icing: more like fondant and much more like a traditional black and white frosting. 1/4 cup corn syrup heated to boiling with 1/2 cup water, and then added to 5 cups confectioner's sugar with 1 tsp. vanilla. Then add 2 oz unsweetened chocolate to 1/2 of the frosting. Thanks for the cookie recipe, Mary Jane.

This is a great recipe! It is worth the time, although I'm not sure if I thought that while I was making them.... But I certainly did after I tasted them! I ran out of confectioner's sugar and ended up melting both white and dark chocolate chips for the frosting, which actually was a big hit. I almost burned the first batch, though. I had to turn the heat down to 325 degrees and only baked them for 9 minutes-they were perfectly golden brown. A must-make!

These took a few hours to make. The next day the chocolate bled alittle into the white frosting. Taste was good though.

The dough needs to be spread over the pan a bit- I used the back of a spoon- or else you get small, high mooncakes. The frosting is a bit of a struggle, too. I found I needed to add more water. Hint: add a tablespoon of vegetable oil to keep the icing shiny!

good cookies, but i added 3.5 cups of cake flour and 1.5 of all purpose to make them even lighter tasting.

I found this recipe and made the cookies yesterday and I felt like I was back in NYC. They came out great. I would make just a few comments. An ice cream scoop was the perfect size with the dough flattened before baking. I found out that you should not make the icing until all of the cookies are completely cooled, since it hardens quickly. I do all of my baking on stoneware and the texture was perfect. Thanks for the memories!!

I remember July 1969. A few good men landed on the moon. I had been looking for a receipe that was as good as the treat I received that evening in 1969... and ladies and gentlemen, this is it! I needed to make moon cookies for my son's third grade class and found this perfect recipe. I know for a few of you, this cookie might be slightly tasteless and not what you might expect, but drink some coffee or tea along with this special treat and you'll find out what I did on that long ago evening in July,1969. Thank you for reading my review.

This recipe was right on for creating cookies like you would get at any New York bakery. My only suggestion is to make more frosting that recommended. We were a little short, I would 1.5 or double it next time. Also, the cookies baked in 15-20 minutes, not the 20-30 that the recipe suggests. And one final suggestion, refrigerate the cookies after you frost them to get the true NY taste!

These tasted great, but I did have to double the lemon,and used 1/2 cup less flour. I baked them for 15 minutes and when I iced them I added 1 Tbsp. vegetable oil to make them shiny.

I didn't really care for this cookie. cookie wise it was similar to the kind you get from the bakery but I did not care for the icing at all. It was very bland and weird tasting. My husband did not like the cookie at all and said it was very dry tasting. I probably will not make this cookie again.

I grew up on Zaro's cookies from NYC (I liked them better than Zabar's). I followed the suggestions of some of the other reviewers, and decreased the both flours by 1/2 cup and used the frosting recipe suggested by LOVECED, and these came out as good as I remember (about 3 weeks ago I had a Zaro's Black and White). I made a half batch the first time and found they didn't take all that much time or effort, I will definitely be making these a lot! Thanks for the great recipe!!

This was super hard to do and they didn't taste at all like I remembered. 20 minutes was way too long- burned the first batch and had to turn the oven down to 350 to get anywhere close to the right finish.

These cookies came out fantastic, both in looks and taste. I used the advice of others and upped the amount of lemon extract in the batter and also added some vanilla to the icing. My first batch came out a bit too big (using the 1/3 cup scoop to drop the cookies as previously suggested). Much better to just use a huge tablespoonful to drop the batter on the baking sheet, using the back of the spoon to swirl the mixture, not flatten. The size was perfect. Came out exactly as I get from our bakery, but with the added love of homemade. Will definitely keep this recipe! Thanks!

This is a great recipe! I use regular salted butter and just omit the 1/2 tsp salt. I recommend using parchment paper instead of butter the sheet. The dough is kind of sticky, and getting it to form a perfect circle can be hard. The easiest way is to put the dough in a piping bag and squeeze it out to form the circles any size you want. To get the really dark color for the "Black" icing, you must use bittersweet chocolate or dutched cocoa power (I like Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa). Just mix the cocoa power with a little melted butter, and then add to the powered sugar icing. As other raters have suggested, you should just make the white icing first and cover half of all cookies, then add the chocolate to the remaining icing. I found I needed more icing than the recipe made, so i just added more powered sugar and boiling water. One additional note: I wasn't able to brush the icing on, mine was pretty thick, which I think is better, so I just spead it on with a little metal spatula.

My family and I liked this recipe. The cookies had the home-made feel, but cost 80% less to make than buy at our local backery. We didn't think they were bland at all. Like others suggested, I reduced each type of flour by 1/2 a cup (four cups total) and increased the lemon to a generous teaspoon. Also, my tablespoon size drops of batter only took 12 minutes to bake. Whoever said to go light with the grease while preparing the cookie sheets was right. Too much grease and the bottoms burn. I used very little and had no problem with the cookies sticking. Because no one seemed crazy about the posted frosting, I made my own recipe. So I can't comment on that. I would only warn that to me (a not very experienced baker) these cookies seemed really labor intensive. It took me three hours to finish them all and I was working the whole time.

This recipe didn't work. They did not flatten as much as I expected. How is a recipe with 5 cups flour, 1 3/4 cups sugar, 4 eggs and 1 cup of milk going to make ONLY 12 cookies if you drop the dough onto the cookie sheet by the tablespoon full? It makes more like 3-4 dozen.

Definitely follow Kathy suggestions..I cut the all purpose flour to 2 cups turned out great..

I followed the suggestion of raising the amount of cake flour. MAKE SURE YOU USE WAY MORE WATER THAN IT CALLS FOR IN THE FROSTING! I didn't figure this out until my last dozen. Those look beautiful. They all TASTE great, but only the last dozen LOOK great! The frosting hardened VERY quickly...especially the chocolate.

I have never tasted these so I can only assume by the reviews that they turned out correctly. The cookie is spongy,light,and cake like. I used a small ice cream scoop that has a release lever and it worked perfect. I did spread them out a bit as past reviews suggested. I baked at 350 for 9-10 min on parchment. The frosting, I frosted all the white portion first using 1 inch pastry brush which worked very well. I then thinned the remaining frosting with additional water and brushed the chocolate on. They make a very pretty presentation and tasted excellent too. A little time comsuming but not too bad.This recipe made 5 doz. 2 1/2 to 3 inch cookies. Thanks Mary Jane!

Lovely! Brought them to a get together, and everyone was raving! I just made 2 replacements. I replaced the lemon essence with the zest of one lemon (had a good lemon flavor, put less in if you don't want to feel the lemon) I replaced the cake flour with regular flour, substituting 2 tablespoons of each cup of flour for 2 tablespoons corn starch. I was worried about the result, since I didn't have a beater and just mixed everything with a potato smasher, and then when I added the liquid to the butter/sugar, it looked all chunky!!!! But, when I added in the flour it mixed in well. No problems. I definitely will be making these again. Who knew they were so simple?

Having been desperate to make black and whites for ages, i was delighted to discover this recipe. the cookie part was great, so was the white icing, but i don't think the chocolate icing is quite right. it's too "brown" - not black and shiny like traditional black and whites. does anyone have any suggestions? apart from that, this is great - next time i make it i think i'll half the recipe, cos you get loads and they don't stay fresh for very long.

Growing up in NY, these were and still are my favorite cookies. Using this recipe as a starting point, I've modified it to be just right. Check out my recipe which I'm sure you'll find to be a tad better and more authentic.

My husband grew up with these Deli cookies and loves the ones I made even more! I did follow a previous reviewer's suggestions on the frosting. Turned out great!

Less flour! They were good in that--they tasted good, they did not run while baking...but the cookie was very dense. It was not spongey like a NY black and white always looks and tastes. It's good though! I was out of lemon extract and used orange...gave it a good flavor. Use less cake flour...maybe cut out the last half a cup...and if it seems too runny, use all-purpose to bring the dough together more so it doesn't run while baking.

This cookies is a bit bland but it does have the exact texture of black and white cookie. I didn't use this frosting - I found a recipe that called for vanilla and a hint of lemon in the white frosting and cocoa in the chocolate frosting and it worked really well. But this cookie is a great base.

I made these this weekend and didn't change the ingredients. I baked the first batch @ 375 for 15mins and they seemed to brown to me so I decreased the oven to 350. Then they were fine. I did make the frosting according to the Hoosier review. Both white and chocolate turned out well. Chocolate actualyy tasted like a melted hersheys candy bar to me. Cookies were well received.

Very close to the black and whites in NY. I used 1 1/2 tsp lemon extract, 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips. I also used skim milk, b/c it is all I had. I will definately make again. I will try other's suggestion and cut the all purpose flour by 1/4 cup. Update: I should have noted before, use a teaspoon to scoop, a tablespoon is too big and puffy. The rounded teaspoon is perfect. I baked them about 15-18 minutes since they were a little smaller. They were much better with 1/4 cup less all purpose flour. This time they were just like the cookies in NY. YUM!

I'm "the baker" in the family, and when noone said anything about the cookies I could tell they liked them as little as I did. They just are plain, hard to make, and NOT good. I threw away this recipe after I made it once. Sorry.

These are great. I'm glad I read the reviews, however, prior to making them. Sperad whatever quantity of dough (tablespoon? never heard of one) on the cookie sheet into large circles before baking. I made the frosting a bit on the runny side before making the chocolate frosting. I found if the white base is too thick, the chocolate becomes more like fudge and doesn't spread that well....still tastes great, tho.

These cookies taste delicious but I just can't get them to rise up and form the wonderful upside-down bowl shape that the pros create at bakeries.

I made these last night, and my family has eaten all but four of them! Great cookie if you're looking for something that's not overbearingly sweet. My only alteration to this recipe was that I only needed to cook them for 8 minutes rather than the suggested 30. When I cooked them for 30, they came out rock-hard and burned. It may have been because I used a tablespoon to measure out my cookies, so they were smaller. Overall, LOVE THEM!

They were... good, but did not taste like the black & white cookies that I know from the bakery. I think they were too lemony and I had a hard time keeping the two colors/flavors of the icing from bleeding together.

I took these to work with me today, and they were gone in no time! I used Kathy's review recipe for icing, which adds butter and corn syrup, along with unsweetened cocoa for the chocolate icing. They came out really well! I can't imagine using icing from a tub for these. As for shape, once you drop the cookie dough on the cookie sheet, it's a good idea to flatten it out a bit. They still end up with rounded bottoms, but not so thick.

Made these!! Ok, doubled the recipe. On error I only added 3 cups of all purpose flour instead of 5 cups (Remember I doubled the recipe.) Baked a batch like this at 375 for about 12-15 minutes. They spread out a little bit too much, BUT they were spongy, soft and had a lite texture. Realizing my mistake, added flour back in. Cookie came out tasting more like a biscuit than a cookie. Added more liquid to make a softer dough and started over. Came out much better. So, Cut the flour down for sure. Forget the icing recipe. Didn't do anything for me. I suggest using your favorite frosting recipe and adding chocolate to half of the icing. I Will make these again, but will cut way down on the flour and use a different icing.

I was overall not impressed. They took a large amount of time, and in the end it was not worth it. The actual cake was dry and crumbly and the frosting didn't stick. It was very messy, and painful to frost every single cookie. An okay flavor, but I would not make these again.

These turned out EXCELLENT! I followed suggestions from others. Tasted just as I remembered growing up in NY. My grandbabies couldn't get enough!

Loved them!!! My family can't wait till I make them again.

These were pretty good. I followed advice of other reviews and added more lemon extract and cooked them for much less time. I also used a basic white frosting instead of the glaze because I'm used to softer frosting on my black and white cookies. I will definately make these again.

I'm giving this a 4 star rating but with some notes. DO NOT use butter to grease the cookie sheets, it will smoke at 375 degrees! I used shortening but I'm sure you can use cooking spray as well. The first batch burned using the butter. So I switched to the shortening and turned the oven back to 350 degrees. DO NOT bake these for 20-30 minutes! All of mine turned out very well after only 11-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Cookies turned out a little heavy, not spongy at all. Cut back on the flour, add more lemon extract. Use an ice cream scoop or 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter per cookie. Anything smaller might burn or get hard. Chocolate icing needs more than 1 square of chocolate. I used semi sweet because bittersweet wasn't available. I also added a bit of vanilla extract to the white icing. Not hard to make at all, will taste better once the recipe is perfected to your own tastes.

I've made these cookies over and over and although they do take some time, they are entirely worth it! They taste like the bakery cookies and i'm a new yorker so i would know!

This was ok, but The Best Rolled Cookies from this site beats this one in taste and simplicity. Just add 4-5T milk and the zest from one whole lemon to that recipe, then follow the tips here for frosting.

I have been trying to please my Queens born husband ever since we moved from NYC 8 years ago. I read the reviews and the suggestions from HOOSIER2B were good. However, my husband disagreed on the lemon and only wanted 1/2 a teaspoon and said that it was perfect that way. Thanks for all the good hints.

These cookies were AMAZING! The only changes I made were that I put 1 teaspoon of lemon extract instead of 1/4 (it still had a very mild lemon flavor) and I used twice the amount of bittersweet chocolate when making the chocolate frosting. Overall a great recipe!

very good recipe, especially after I made the changes Kathy suggested, definitely needed less flour than recipe called for, I think next time I will decrease flour even more though, maybe to about 2 cups of each. The dutch cocoa worked well for the chocolate icing, nice and chocolatey, my daughter who is a chocaholic loved these! Husband raved about these too! Next time I might try making icing with milk instead of water though, kinda wanted icing a little less flat, but overall really happy with this recipe. Stores here sell these for a $1 a piece!

Ok, so I thought these were ok, not great. Now it's been a long time since I had a black and white cookie from a bakery, so I had nothing to compare them to. Maybe I was expecting more. First off, this recipe makes a ton of LARGE cookies. I wish I would have made half a batch. They were very time consuming and they were ok in flavor. The icing is almost overpowering for the flavor of the cookie...I added corn syrup to add a shine. I also think that the extracts should be increased to a tsp each for such a large amount of dough. I will find out what my family thinks later today, since I made them for my cookie tray.

Excellent! They reminded me of sitting in Grand Central Station.

I made these for the first time and was very pleased with the cookie part, although I didn't read the reviews before I baked and didn't know to spread out the dough -- I'll do that next time. The white part of the glaze was fine, but I needed MUCH more than 1/3c of boiling water, so make sure you have more than 1/3 to work with. Also, I used 2oz of chocolate instead of 1 in order to get the color I wanted. I left the chocolate over the boiling water as I iced (I did the white part on all the cookies first) and the chocolate started seizing towards the end. I think I'll try cocoa powder next time. Overall, this is a very good recipe.

These are time consuming but totally worth it!

I was craving an authentic black and white cookie but didn't want to go all the way to the bakery, so I made these. They came out perfect! A little time consuming, but well worth the effort.

I think I did something wrong with these cookies. They were very dense and dry. They tasted good but were too "floury". I think I will weigh my flour next time instead of measuring it in a dry measuring cup. Since this got so many 5 star reviews I will try it again. I am only giving it three stars now because of the way they turned out for me. I will rate them again and hopefully they turn out better after some adjustments. P.S. - If someone makes these and they really love them please let us know if the dough is sticky when you drop them on the baking sheet. Also is it better to refrigerate the dough awhile before baking? Thanks!

The only problem I had was the bake time is TOO long if your baking these at 375. I had to cut baking time down to 15 minutes. Otherwise, great recipe.

Excellant recipe! I made the adjustments suggested by others and I used a #20 disher to place 6 cookies on a 1/4 sheet pan and they baked up perfectly in 20 minutes to 5" circles about 3/8" thick. Since I only baked one pan at a time, I kept the dough refridgerated before making the next sheet pan. Total yield 19 cookies. Thanks again!!!!

These cookies are called 'Amerikaners' in germany. thats where i first had them and they are absolutely delicious. i finally found a recipe to them and i can wait to try them!

This is a very good cookie. It is great with the black and white frosting but is also great as a plain cookie. To me this is the mark of a good cookie, when it does not need the extra stuff on it to make it good.

It came out perfect, born and raised in New York, always have the house stocked up of black and whites, now I know how to make them, perfect!!

these cookies came out wonderfully! Brought me back to my childhood. I did make some minor changes, i used 1 3/4 cup AP flour and used white chocolate chips for the white frosting.

They need to be spread out A LOT before baking in order to make them look right. Also, they were too floury. If i made them again i'd probably use about a half cup less of each flour.

these cookies came out great! the only thing is the chocolate icing was to dry so i just added a little more boiling water

Good cookies, my husband loves black and white cookies and ate them all in a weekend. I accidently put in 1 teaspoon of vanilla but thought it added flavor. I used canned frosting for the chocolate instead based on reviews. I had muffin top pans which helped shape the cookies.

These cookies were excellent. I made the changes that Kathy suggested, and they came out perfect. The only problem I had was that I could not stack them without messing up the icing. I let them sit out for about an hour until the icing set, but the problem was the unfrosted side of the cookie. It was so moist that it stuck to the icing when stacked. Does anyone have any suggestions?

If you are looking for a Black and White cookie recipe I would start here. Recipe was very very good. Cookies were a little dry the day after, however it is suppose to be a cookie and they were still delicious. (just not as good as when I first took them out of the oven :-) ) I followed Kathy's alterations (another reviewer) and was very pleased with results. The extra lemon, the reduction in flower all contributed to a better cookie. Her icing was spot on, however I did not use Dutch chocolate but rather another brand and it work just fine. I did add a few more drops of vanilla to the chocolate spread to mellow it out a little.

This was THE BEST recipe! It tasted just like New York black and white cookies. My dad and I made for our neighbors and they loved them. Thankyou for the recipe! It was scrumptous...

If it weren't for my daughter patiently icing each half of each cookie...but delicious!

This recipe tasted exactly like the cookies from dean and Deluca in New york. My husband was amazed. On my second batch, I used a little less flour and little more lemon lavoring, to make them a little more moist and with a little more flavor.

Well, they tasted like the bakery cookies, but I found them hard to make. It made way more cookies than the recipe said, and DON'T drop them in heaping tablespoons as they do not spread. The second batch I flattened a lot and they were better. The icing was hard. Next time I will make easier frosting if I make them again.

Made recipe as is. Nice cake like big cookies. Just like the bakeries sell as far as taste and bigness goes. I made 6" diameter cookies and this recipe made 15 cookies. Love the history on these and knowing that originally they were made from leftover cake batter.

Very good. I used semi-sweet chocolate instead of the bittersweet, just out of preference. However, my husband didn't like the glaze ontop of the cookies and I agree that the next time I make these I will use a buttercream frosting. I was a little apprehensive about using the lemon extract but it worked! These taste as if you bought them in a bakery, seriously! I was so pleased, and so was my daughter, they are her favorite!!

Living in London where you can't get Black and White cookies, I was desperate to find this childhood favourite recipe!! I thought the consistency was good, and it tasted nice, but not the true Black and White cookie taste.

I gave this three stars because I am a far better cook than a "baker" so it could have been operator error somewhere along the line. I did take other reviewers advice, and decreased the white flour, but that was the only adjustment that I made. They tasted like little flour hockey pucks. I'm glad that I tried the cookie before I went to the trouble to make the frosting. I slapped some store bought frosting on them to see if it improved the taste of the cookie, sadly, it did not.

Like many other bakers I used the ingredient and procedural modifications suggested by the Kathy and hoosier2b postings. My outcome was fantastic!! The crumb of the cookie and flavor were perfect as was the presentation! I yielded about 13 4" to 5" cookies by using the 1/4 cup scoop. HOWEVER, does anyone have a suggestion as to how to store the cookies so that the surface is not damaged?? Otherwise a great recipe that will be duplicated! Thank you!!

the rating is an average for the cookie (about a 4) and the frosting (about a 2), however I used the frosting suggestion from another reviewer (with the corn syrup; the chocolate half tasted fine, the white...not so much)! Anyway, the cookies came out well: good size, good shape, good taste. I made very few changes to the recipe: used salted butter and omitted salt from the recipe, and increased the lemon extract to a generous teaspoon. The cookies look terrific with the icing but the taste with the icing is NOT terrific! I'm not sure what to do with these very nice looking not so great tasting cookies... I would suggest trying this recipe with the icing as written.

Now i don't have to wait to go to New York to buy them they are great joema

I have never had NY Deli Black and White cookie, so perhaps these are identical. However, I and my family found them dry and tasteless, kind of like stale cake. Very disappointing.

The best B&W cookies I ever had!

These came out pretty good. I took a reviewers comments and added more lemon extract...should have stuck with the original recipe, it tasted too lemony. Other than that, they had the right consistency, and tasted very close to what I remember from my childhood. I now live in Florida and the bakeries here just can't seem to get it right. I will make these again using less lemon extract. Very good.

not very flavorful at all

The icing really makes you regret the whole endeavor

Love these cookies...came out perfect on my first try. Definitely a keeper!

Taste just like I remember growing up. I did use half&half in place of milk, for additional moisture, and added nutmeg. Once cooled, flip the cookie upside and frost the flat side. Much prettier. Even if the bottoms of your cookies are a little ugly, no biggie...the frosting will cover it. And I used store bought frosting, as we like that much better.

After watching an episode of Seifnfeld and after having never tried a black and white cookie I was at dean and Deluca nad decided to try theirs. I was pleasantly surprised after biting into the white icing to find it reminded me of the thumbprint icing from my favorite childhood cookie that i've been searching for all my life. After finding this recipe have been able to duplicate that icing and the rest of the cookie was good too! If this thumbprint cookie sounds familiar I'd love to know the recipe- its base was more savory with nuts.

These were... okay. Kind of bland to my taste though. And how in the world are you supposed to make frosting by mixing sugar, water, and melted chocolate? The chocolate seizes EVERY time! The frosting definitely needs work - but this is a good base recipe to start with.

Super recipe very much like original. For cake flour if you dont have substitute 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour. Remove 5 Tablespoons Flour and add 5 Tablespoons cornstarch.

Great tasting cookie. Better than the actually ones you get in the deli and easy to make!

Black and White Cookies are the absolute best!! I grew up in New York and always went to the bakery to get Black and Whites. Thank you soooo much for this recipe!!!!!

They came out to dense and bland. They didn't spread out enough. I used a convection oven, so I lowered the temp to 350 but they still baked way quicker then 20-30 minutes.

I loved them! I am totally making them again ASAP.

This recipe came out ok for me, but not as good as the store. Someone else mentioned that they thought the cookies came out tasting too much like flour. I felt the same thing too. Maybe it could use more cake flour and less regular flour? Two other comments. I think it could use more lemon extract. The cookies did not really come out with that nice lemon smell. For the chocolate frosting, using the confectioners sugar and the melted chocolate made it lumpy and hard to spread. It came out much better when I just used the melted chocolate.

Previous reviews were extremely helpful. All other recipes I've found were exactly the same as this one (for once!). I added 1.5 times the lemon extract (yes, use pure). I used 1/2 c less cake flour. I used more water for the frosting, still came out slightly fudgy, needed to add more. I considered using a little corn syrup- maybe next time. I baked them 9 minutes- no way would this work baking 20-30 minutes! The only note I could add is to frost the flat side. We did the first few on the rounded side and the frosting, especially extra watered, was very drippy and ran off the cookies. The flat side helped hold the frosting better. Also, you may want to consider using an implement besides a pastry brush. I lost a few brush hairs on the cookies and had to be very careful. Maybe a spatula? Also- there's a fine line between letting the cookies sit out for the frosting to set vs. the cookie underneath becoming too dry. I left them out too long, since I was sending them in the mail and wanted the frosting very well set, but the cookie part wasn't as soft as it should have. But every taster-tester I had said they were just like the bakery.

Couldn't be happier growing up on the east coast I grew up on black and whites! Been a long time since I found a recipe that even comes close.... This is it! I followed HOOSIER2B's alterations and they are spot on! Thanks

Tastes just like the black and white cookies at Einstein Bagels where I used to work! I cooked the first batch for 20 minutes and when the timer went off they looked overdone, so I put in the second batch for only 15 minutes just until the edges started to brown. Between the two batches, I prefer the one that cooked longer. The texture is just perfect. I am so thrilled to have this recipe now! The only thing I changed was to use dark chocolate chips instead of the bittersweet chocolate just because that's what I had on hand. I will definitely make these again!

Amazing--these cookies were EXACTLY like the ones I remember getting as a kid! I did reduce the butter to 3/4 cup, I used Splenda sugar blend and also used Egg Beaters. Seriously, I didn't miss the calories or fat. I've been looking for a good recipe, and I've found it =]

I liked the consistency of these cookies, but I didn't think the overall taste was that great. I will try them again and add more lemon extract and probably a bit more sugar next time. I like the lemon flavor in Black & White cookies and I didn't really taste any in these.

I didn't cook the cookies for 20-30 minutes, actually not even 15. I added a touch more of lemon. Everything else was great. It reminded me of home. I will definitely make again.