Black and white cookie

Black-and-white cookie
Alternative names Half-and-half cookie
Type Biscuit
Course Dessert
Place of origin United States
Region or state Northeastern states
Main ingredients Shortbread, fondant
Cookbook: Black-and-white cookie  Media: Black-and-white cookie

A black-and-white cookie, or half-and-half cookie, is a soft, sponge-cake-like shortbread which is iced on one half with vanilla fondant, and on the other half by chocolate fondant.

Notably, this style of cookie is often seen as a particularly "New York" snack.[1]

Although bearing a superficial resemblance to black-and-white cookies, half-moon cookies, popular in Central New York, are made to a significantly different recipe. The traditional half-moon cookie is a devil's food cake cookie with buttercream frosting, resulting in a cookie that is richer and moister than the black and white cookie. Half-moon cookies are now also available with a vanilla cookie base.[2]

Names

Cookies of this style are collectively known as "black-and-white cookies" or "half-and-halves". In Germany they are called "Amerikaner" (American).[3] On October 19, 2008, Barack Obama dubbed them Unity Cookies at a deli in Hollywood, Florida.[4][5]

History and difference from half-moons

Box of Black and white cookies

The exact origin of the black-and-white cookie is unknown.[6] The half-moon common in Upstate New York and New England is sometimes confused with the black-and-white cookie but is made with a different recipe. Nonetheless, while the two names are often used interchangeably, there are considerable differences between the two; most notably in the textures of the base and the icing, with black-and-whites having a drier, cookie-like base and fondant frosting. And with the cookie also being bigger than most half-moons.[7]

Half-moons most often come with a chocolate cake base, dark fudge icing on one side and buttercream white frosting for the "half-moon" side. Hemstrought's Bakery in Utica, New York, one of the earliest known bakeries to make the half-moon cookie, also made a vanilla cake base with fudge and buttercream white frosting, as well as full "vanilla moons" , "coconut moons," and custom colors with either a chocolate or vanilla cake base. Hemstrought's Bakeries is located in Utica, NY where they still bake half-moons for their customers and local supermarkets. [8]

The typical New York City and Long Island black-and-whites have a vanilla cake base with fudge and white frosting.

In popular culture

Black-and-white cookies are mentioned twice on Seinfeld, set in New York City. In the episode "The Dinner Party", Jerry eats a black-and-white cookie while waiting in a bakery with Elaine. He uses the cookie as a metaphor for racial harmony and that people should "Look to the cookie!"[9] In the episode "The Understudy", the hospitalized Bette Midler asks Kramer for one after she is injured at the softball game, telling him, "If I don't get a black-and-white cookie, I'm not going to be very pleasant to be around!"[10]

Gary Dell'Abate (Babba Booey) of The Howard Stern Show is commonly teased for eating black and white cookies on the air by Sal Governale

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NYC's 5 Best Black & White Cookies". CBS. January 30, 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  2. ↑ "Iconic Food #7: Black & White Cookie". CBS News. March 12, 2015. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  3. ↑ The Black and White Cookie Meets the Amerikaner | Beyond Burgers and Bratwurst Archived September 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Clark, Lesley (21 October 2008). "Barack Obama and the black and white cookie". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  5. ↑ Johnson, Sasha (21 October 2008). "Obama: McCain is 'running out of time' and 'making stuff up'". CNN. Retrieved 30 May 2013.
  6. ↑ Grimes, William (May 13, 1998). "'Look to the Cookie': An Ode in Black and White". The New York Times. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  7. ↑ "What Makes a Good New York Black & White Cookie? Thoughts on the Best". seriouseats.com.
  8. ↑ "Happy Birthday Half Moon Cookies! An Upstate Tradition (But Which Side Do You Eat First?)". CNY News.
  9. ↑ "The Best Black and White Cookies? Half-Moons? Amerikaners?". seriouseats.com.
  10. ↑ Sims, David (July 21, 2011). "Seinfeld: "The Face Painter"/"The Understudy"". The A.V. Club. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
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