Black & White...

My mom gave me a great cookbook for Christmas.  It's a Good Housekeeping cookbook that has cookie recipes only.  Mmmm, cookies!  While flipping through the book I noticed a recipe for Black & White cookies.  This immediately sparked a memory from a Seinfeld episode where Jerry & Elaine are stuck in line at a New York Bakery for hours waiting for some kind of special bread that ends up being sold out, of course.  But, in the duration of their wait they have a debate about the black and white cookie and which side is better to eat.  When I saw this recipe I KNEW I had to make them for myself so I could see what all the hubbub was about!  They were super easy to make, and just a little time consuming.  But they were something different to try and really, quite good.  I took them to my post-Christmas work party and they seemed to be popular!  Here's the recipe:

Cookie batter (very soft):
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
10 tbsp butter/marg softened (this is equal to 1 1/4 sticks of marg)
1 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Buttermilk (easy to make by adding 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar to 1 cup of regular milk - let stand for 5 minutes to bind)

Icings: (keep in mind these ingredients are for BOTH icings)
1 3/4 cups icing sugar
2 tbsp corn syrup
8-10 tsp warm water
1/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 350*
In small bowl stir flour, baking soda and salt together.
In large bowl (I used my mixer) beat butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Reduce speed and add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. 
Drop batter by 1/4 cup spoonfuls onto cookie sheet leaving 3" gaps between cookies (I did 6 per sheet just to be safe)
Bake until edges begin to brown and tops spring back when lightly touched.  15-17 minutes.  Once baked transfer to cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

Prepare Glazes:
Start with white glaze: mix 1 1/4 cup icing sugar, 1 tbsp of corn syrup, and 5-6 tsp water, 1 tsp at a time.  Mix to good consistency, not runny, but still thin.  Once cookies are cooled, using metal icing spatula, ice the BOTTOMS of each cookie with white icing on half the cookie bottom.  Allow to set for 15-20 minutes.
Chocolate glaze:  mix remaining 1/2 cup icing sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, remaining tbsp corn syrup, and 3-4 tsp water, 1 tsp at a time.  Ice other half of cookies. 

Once completely iced, let them set for a good hour. 
These cookies get very soft if stored in plastic.  It's best to eat em' all, or freeze right away.  The above recipe makes only 12 cookies (or so) so I doubled everything and made a double batch.