Yesterday would have been perfect for Halloween. It was cold, dark, and the wind howled all morning. Later in the afternoon, the sun came out and kids walked home from school to find Halloween decorations strewn all over lawns and garbage pails overturned — perfect weather for a night of trick-or-treating. Too bad Halloween is still a week away.
To stay in the Halloween spirit, I’ve made some “Black & Orange” cookies. I found the idea in Food & Wine magazine but used a recipe from Epicurious. After reading the reviews carefully, I followed various suggestions and made the cookie batter with one bowl. I also doubled the icing. The cookies are very good and not unlike traditional black & whites. The icing, which has no extra fat, sets well. I think I’d like to try another version with a richer icing, but these were perfect for today.
I took this picture rather hurriedly and apologize for that. I also iced the cookies wrong! Traditional black & whites are iced on the flat side.
Easy Black and Orange Cookies
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup buttermilk or lite sour cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
Icing:
3 cups confectioners sugar
2 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice (optional)
½ teaspoon vanilla
2-4 tablespoons water (you might need more)
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
Red & yellow food coloring
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or non-stick foil….or just grease it. These cookies don’t spread too much.
With an electric mixer or a wire whisk, beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and beat just until combined. Mix in baking soda and salt, making sure there are no lumps of baking soda. Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla, then add the flour and stir until it is well mixed.
Spoon 1/4 cups of batter about 2 inches apart onto baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until tops are puffed and pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature.
Make Icing.
Stir together confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons water. Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water slowly until you get a nice spreading consistency.
Dye the remaining white icing orange, using yellow food coloring a tad of red.
Ice the cookies ½ orange and ½ white. Traditional black & whites are iced on the flat side rather than the rounded side, but I iced it on the rounded side.
Allow icing to set before serving cookies.
Makes about 8 cookies
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Anna,
You may have already seen it but the Women’s Day magazine issue for Nov 1(pumpkin cheesecake on cover) has some great Halloween party ideas(starts on pg 123). I checked their web site and none of the recipes are there! Let me know if you want me to stick it in the mail to you or drop on your doorstep.
Kelly
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for the heads up! I have to go to the store later and will pick up a copy.
Anna, I’m curious about the effect of the lemon juice on the chocolate part of the icing. Does the lemon flavor come through? Chocolate and orange is wonderful together; maybe lemon could work too, but I’ve never tried it.
Lisa, the original version used even more lemon. I reduced it slightly and it’s not really noticeable. I don’t even know why it’s there, in fact. Some reviewers said to just leave it out.
I just had another one of these cookies (Fuzz likes them. Hooray!) and think the cookie part is really good. The icing is just okay, but in my opinion, traditional black & white icing isn’t all that great.
Love black and whites…so why wouldn’t I love orange and blacks?!?
I really want that orange part to be peanut butter.