by: Kate McMillan
Cook Time
14 minutes
Prep Time
20 minutes
Yield
8 cookies
Total Time
14 minutes
Prep Time
20 minutes
Yield
8 cookies
summary
These cakey cookies are a New York City staple—so much of their charm is in the dual black and white frostings. We’ve given this beloved baked good a holiday update by adding peppermint extract into the batter and crushed candy cane on top. These cookies are traditionally large, but you can certainly make them smaller if you prefer.
ingredients
- Cookie Ingredients:
- 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon peppermint extract
- ⅓ cup low-fat buttermilk
- ½ cup crushed candy canes or crushed peppermint candies
- Icing Ingredients:
- 1½ cups confectioners’ sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1 tablespoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder
directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter for 30 seconds. Add the sugar and continue to mix until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla and peppermint and stir until combined. In three batches, add the flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating between the two.
- Lightly spray the inside of an ice cream scoop with non-stick cooking spray. Scoop the cookies loosely so they mostly fill the scoop. Place the scoops of cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet about 4 inches apart. Bake until lightly golden on the bottom, about 14 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To make the icing, stir together the confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice and water in a mixing bowl. The icing should be very thick, but if you need to thin it out add ½ teaspoon of water at a time. Transfer half of the icing to another bowl and stir in the cocoa powder. If you need to thin the chocolate icing out, add ½ teaspoon corn syrup.
- Using an offset spatula, spread white frosting on half of every cooking and black frosting on the other side. While the frosting is still wet, sprinkle crushed candy canes on top of each cookie. Allow the frosting to dry completely and serve.
notes
Dutch-processed cacao powder is much darker than natural cocoa powder and will give you a blacker icing.
This is a rather wet cookie dough, so lightly coating the inside of the scoop with non-stick cooking spray keeps the dough from sticking to the scoop.
Be sure to leave enough room in between cookies on the pan, as they spread quite a bit when baking.
Icing is tricky. You really only need to add just enough liquid to get an icing, but if you make the icing too runny it will not stay on the cookie. You want a consistency that looks like glue.
If your icing is too thin, add more confectioners’ sugar.
