NYC Black and White Cookies

Taste the best of both worlds with these black and white cookies.

5 from 2 votes

These classic NYC Black and White Cookies are the best of both worlds! They have a soft cake-like cookie base that's topped with both vanilla and chocolate icing! These New York City staples are soft, light, sweet and utterly delicious. If that wasn't enough, they're gluten free, nut free, eggless and can easily be vegan!

Prep Time35

Cook Time15

Chill Time25

Total Time1 10

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Diet: Gluten Free, Vegan

Servings: Cookies

Calories: 264kcal

Author: Lee

Ingredients

For the Black and White Cookies

1 ¼ cups multipurpose gluten free flour (I use a gluten free multipurpose flour with xanthan gum already in it)
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup milk
½ tablespoon white vinegar
2 rounded tablespoons cornstarch mixed with 3 tablespoons of water
⅓ cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick , room temperature (5 ⅓ tablespoons)
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Chocolate and Vanilla Icing

1 ½ cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 plus tablespoons of water
2 tablespoons cocoa powder (I use 1 tablespoon of Dutch and 1 tablespoon of dark)
2 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips , melted

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

For the Black and White Cookies

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1 ¼ cups gluten free flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon baking soda and ½ teaspoon kosher salt. Set aside.
In a large measuring cup, measure out ½ cup of milk. Add in ½ tablespoon of the white vinegar and stir. Let sit 5-10 minutes and it will appear chunky. That's normal.
In a small bowl, using a spoon, mix together the 2 rounded tablespoons of cornstarch and the 3 tablespoons water until thin and watery. It will be thick and tacky at first. Set aside.
In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and ⅓ cup unsalted butter or vegan baking stick together until soft and creamy. About 2 minutes.
Slowly beat the cornstarch water mixture and the ¾ teaspoon vanilla into the creamed butter and sugar. It will look chunky and that's normal.
Starting and ending with the gluten free flour mixture, with the mixer on low...pour in some flour then some buttermilk then some flour. You want to start and end with the flour mixture.
Once it is all combined, turn off the mixer and use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl. You don’t want to over mix this. Just make sure everything is fully combined. Mix until combined and smooth.
If you have piping bags, put the batter into the bag with a Wilton 2A piping tip.
If you don’t have piping bags, put the batter into a zip top bag and snip the corner off.
Slowly pipe a tight 3-4 inch spiral on the baking sheet starting with the center of the cookie and moving outward. Pipe no more than 5- 6 cookies about 3-4 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheet.
Once the cookies are piped, take a tiny knife, dip it in a glass of water and then shake it off. You want the knife a tiny bit wet to help smooth the sticky batter.
Smooth the cookie so you can't see the spiral anymore.
Bake the cookies for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. The tops of the cookies will puff up into nice domes and the bottoms will be golden brown.
Once out of the oven, immediately transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. Once cool, flip the cookies over so the flat side is up.
You can pop the cookies in the fridge for 15 minutes to cool and then flip them over when you take them out.

For the Chocolate and Vanilla Icing

In a medium bowl, whisk together the 1.5 cups confectioners sugar, 1 tablespoon light corn syrup, ½ teaspoon vanilla, the 1 pinch of salt and 1-2 tablespoons water until smooth.
Separate the vanilla icing equally into two bowls.
Whisk in the 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and more water, (½ teaspoon at a time) until the chocolate icing is the same consistency as the white icing.
Place the 2 ounces of chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat in 11 second increments, stirring after each time until completely melted.
Whisk the melted chocolate chips into the chocolate icing and add more water, (¼ teaspoon at a time) until once again the chocolate icing is the same consistency as the vanilla icing.

Assemble the Cookies

Spread the vanilla icing on half the flat side of the cooled cookie. Repeat with all the cookies and place cookies on a cooling rack. Pop in the fridge for 5 minutes until icing is set.
Once the vanilla icing has hardened, spread on the chocolate frosting. Pop the cookies in the fridge again for another 5 minutes or until the icing is set.

Video

Notes

Vegan: Use a dairy free gluten free flour, vegan sugar, vegan baking sticks, a non dairy milk and vegan chocolate chips.

All Purpose Flour: I cannot test this due to celiac disease, but use 1 ¼ packed cups of all purpose flour (210 grams).

Storing:Once the icing has hardened, store the cookies in an airtight container (in a single layer) at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Freezing: Place cookies (not stacked) on a parchment lined baking sheet and pop in the freezer uncovered. Freeze for 10-15 minutes or until the cookies are completely frozen. Once frozen, you can store them in a freezer safe airtight container or zip top bag in the freezer for up to 1 month. To defrost, take the container out and leave at room temperature until soft. 1-2 hours.

Make sure the cookies are not stacked when defrosting.

Nutrition: The info below is a generated estimate and is not guaranteed to be accurate.

Nutrition