I would normally open a post like this by waxing poetic about how easy and simple and fuss-free these cookies are to make. (I do love saying that around here. Fuss-free.) I’d tell you that it won’t be long before you’re making them in your sleep while humming show-tunes and throwing your every care to the wind.
Unfortunately, today, I cannot do that. ‘Twould be a lie.
Well. Maybe I should rephrase that. They’re still cookies, after all, and the actual process of baking them isn’t exactly rocket science. A little of this, a little of that, throw ’em in the oven, voila, the end. They’re positively painless all the way up to the point when the cookies have cooled and the icing’s been made, and you’re standing there holding a delightfully fancy offset spatula and thinking about whether you should adopt a cat.
And then—BAM—suddenly you, a mere mortal, are faced with the task of icing one perfect half of said cooled cookie…and leaving the other completely unscathed.
How??!
Fortunately, it’s at this precise, sugary juncture that you, like me, will also realize that the corn syrup in the icing makes it so incredibly thick that it’s actually pretty easy to line up the two halves of the frosted cookie without having them come into contact at all.
Crisis averted.
These half-moon beauties are a New York City bakery favorite (and particularly infamous over at Carnegie Deli, of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel fame, and also Real People Who Eat Food in Real Life fame). They’re deliciously cakey and feather-bed-y with a thin layer of glaze that firms up to a beautiful matte. And of course I had to spiff them up here with a little pink for no reason whatsoever.
I’ve used several different recipes over the years, and I haven’t come up with one better than Sally’s (for the cookie) and John’s (for the icing). I suggest using those two And if you do, be sure to let me know over on Instagram.
Pink & White Cookies
Icing recipe adapted from Preppy Kitchen. Base cookies via Sally’s Baking Addiction.
What You’ll Need:
For the cookies:
- 1 batch of Sally’s black and white cookies (don’t make the icing!), baked and cooled
For the icing:
- 2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water, plus more as needed
- 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 drop red food coloring
What You’ll Do:
- While the cookies cool, prepare the icing by mixing together the confectioners’ sugar, lemon juice, water, corn syrup, and vanilla until smooth (I prefer to use a hand mixer for this because the icing can get very thick). Though the finished icing *should* be thick, you may need to gradually add more water, a 1/4 teaspoon at a time, to get it to a spreadable consistency.
- Transfer about half of the icing to another small bowl, then stir in 1 drop of red food coloring (or slowly add more until you reach the color you’re after! I prefer a lighter pink. Remember, you can always add color, but you can’t easily take it away—except by adding more of the white icing to the pink bowl.)
- Once the cookies have cooled completely, place them flat sides up, then use an icing spatula to spread white icing over half of each. Let the icing firm up a bit, 10-15 minutes, before continuing the icing process, spreading pink icing over the other half of the cookie. Let the icing continue to firm up for another 15 minutes before enjoying!