If I had to choose between a mango fresh from
the Caribbean and an authentic dessert from somewhere around the world, I’d have to go
with the latter.
If you buy a box of sticky baklava from a bakery in Istanbul, it's
going to taste amazing because they've got that craft nailed and heck; it's
from Istanbul and not Sainsbury’s.
Cue my attempt at recreating an American Classic on top of my MDF counter
kitchen tops.
Black and white cookies are totally a New York thing. I am getting
on a plane to New York with my boyfriend nine days before Christmas. This is
definitely a thing that is happening in just over two months. To contain my
excitement I made a cookie in true Yorkian style, with maple syrup because who
doesn’t love maple glaze? Also maple is one of those comforting flavours that
tastes even better at this time of the year.
To be honest, I’m not sure why this is called a cookie, its kind of
like eating the bottom half of a whoopee pie. Its soft and if you only bite
from the center you get the best ratio of lemony sponge, maple and chocolate
icing. Once the center has been demolished, I like to sandwich the corners
together and shove the whole thing in my mouth. After doing my research (eating
six in one day) I can conclude that there really is no other way to eat this.
The thing that keeps this cookie from drying out in the oven is the
buttermilk. The ingredients read like a sponge cake recipe, without the buttermilk,
I think you could end up with 18 cookies that look & taste like you forgot
to add baking soda to them. My local supermarket ran out of buttermilk, so I
went homemade for this one, this is something that is dead easy to do and
produces the exact same results. All
you need to do is add 1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice to one cup of milk, let
it sit for 5 minutes until it looks like runny cottage cheese and that’s it.
I think my cookies are close to the real deal, but I’ll have to wait
until December to find out if this post was a complete waste of time. Have you
ever been to the Empire State? If you have, and if you discovered the most epic
bakery/café/restaurant/market/pop up/old guy selling cornhusks on 5th
avenue pleeeeease let me know!
Maple Black and White CookiesAdapted from Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented
Ingredients:
For the Cookie:
198g unsalted butter, cool but not cold
1 + 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 medium egg + 1 egg yolk
3/4 cup buttermilk
3 cups + 2 tbsp plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp lemon zest (optional)
For the Frosting:
3 3/4 cup icing sugar
3 tbso double cream
4-5 tbsp whole milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
The Method:
Preheat the oven to 180 C and line to
baking sheets with baking parchment.
Add the dry ingredients to a large bowl and
‘plump’ up the mixture with a spoon (alternative to sieving).
Cream butter and sugar for 2 minutes.
Scrape down the bowl and add eggs &
yolks one at a time whilst mixing.
Add the buttermilk and flour mixture in
thirds, alternating after each and ending with the flour mixture. Scrape down
bowl again, add vanilla, maple and lemon rind.
Scoop the cookies onto the baking sheets, 3
inches apart, using an ice cream scoop. If you’re using a regular sized scoop,
only fill it half way otherwise you will end up with huge cookies. Bake for 12
minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.
Make the icings. Add the icing sugar, cream
and milk to a bowl and whisk until smooth. Add milk by the teaspoon if the
icing is too thick. Add half the icing to a separate bowl. Add the cocoa powder
to one bowl, and vanilla & maple syrup to the other. If the cocoa icing is
thick, add more milk.
Cover the cookies. Set the chocolate icing
aside. Take a piping bag fitted with a small round tip and outline the half the
circle. Repeat with each cookie. Flood each cookie with icing once the outline
has set. Repeat with the cocoa icing. Store in airtight containers, cookies
last up to 3 days.
Love Em xx
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