Black and White Cookies

So this year at work, I’ve been trying to actually leave on time. I get there pretty early in the morning and therefore should leave a little earlier in the afternoon. That doesn’t always work out, but I’m really trying to keep to my schedule. One of the benefits of leaving on time is that I can catch some of the Food Network and Cooking Channel shows when I get home. One afternoon when I had gotten home, an episode Giada De Laurentiis’ show was on and she made these cookies. I thought they looked interesting.

This cookie is different from the black and white cookies that you typically buy at a coffee shop, which are covered with white and dark chocolate. This cookie starts with a chocolate ganache filling. It’s exactly what you would do to make truffles, so that can’t be too bad. You then wrap the chocolate filling with sugar cookie dough. The original recipe called for store bought cookie dough, but I just made my own. This recipe here that I have included makes more dough than you really need, but you can always just bake up some extra sugar cookies.

These take a little bit of time but not too much extra effort for a cookie that looks fun. The center remains a soft chocolate and the sugar cookie bakes up a bit crispy. It’s a cookie of contrasts! This recipe made about 28 cookies, which is a small batch for me! Next time I think I might increase the chocolate to 10 ounces so I could make more cookies. These would be excellent if you added some flavoring to the chocolate, an extract or a liqueur would work; I think hazelnut would be especially good.

Black and White Cookies

1/3 cup cream
7 ounces dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon almond extract
1 egg
2-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
Sugar

In a small pan or in the microwave, heat the cream until almost boiling. Add the chocolate to a medium sized bowl and pour the cream over the chocolate. Allow to sit or a couple of minutes and then stir to combine. Cool the chocolate (in the refrigerator if you want to speed the process along) until firm enough to roll into balls.

Make the sugar cookie dough: in a large mixer bowl, cream the powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Add the flour, baking powder, and cream of tartar. Stir on low until combined. Wrap the dough in waxed paper and chill for about an hour.

Once the chocolate is firm, preheat the oven to 350 degrees . Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Roll the chocolate into ½ teaspoon-sized balls and set aside. Roll a tablespoon ball of cookie dough into a thin log about 4 inches long. Place a chocolate ball on a work surface and wrap a cookie dough log around the chocolate ball and press to adhere. It should look like a cookie version of the planet Saturn. Roll the cookie in the sugar to coat. Use the bottom of a drinking glass to flatten the cookies to about 1/4 inch thick.

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes. Until lightly golden around the edges. Allow to cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Giada De Laurentiis. Sugar cookie recipe from the Betty Crocker Cookbook