These high altitude black and white cookies, also known as “half moon cookies” are soft, cakey cookies iced with half vanilla icing and half chocolate icing. An iconic treat in New York City bakeries!
You might also love these high altitude recipes for chocolate chip skillet cookie, raspberry almond linzer cookies, and iced walnut poppy seed cookies.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Easy to Make. Black and white cookies are actually surprisingly quick and easy to make. A stand mixer is helpful for making the cookie dough (although a hand mixer will also work). But the dough requires no chill time before baking the cookies. And the icing is a simple powdered sugar glaze that you can mix up by hand.
Soft for Days. These NYC bakery cookies are typically very soft and cakey cookies, not crunchy or chewy. Stored at room temperature, these were still soft even several days after baking.
High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.
See the recipe card at the end of the post for the full ingredients list and instructions.
Ingredients
- Unsalted Butter.
- Sugar. You’ll need granulated sugar for the cookies, as well as powdered sugar for the icing.
- Egg.
- Vanilla Extract.
- Sour Cream. The acidity in the sour cream will help to keep the cookies soft, moist and cakey.
- All Purpose Flour.
- Baking Soda.
- Salt.
- Meringue Powder. The meringue powder isn’t absolutely essential, but it does help to make a more stable icing that sets quickly, rather than remaining sticky.
- Light Corn Syrup. Gives the glaze a pretty sheen.
- Cocoa Powder. Use Dutch processed cocoa powder (not natural) for a darker color. If you want them to be super dark, replace half of the cocoa powder with black cocoa powder.
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using an electric mixer (I prefer a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), beat the butter and sugar for about 3-5 minutes on medium speed, until fluffy.
- Scrape the bowl down and beat in the egg, vanilla and sour cream, until smooth and well combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt, and mix until the dough is well combined.
- Use a large cookie scoop/ice cream scoop with a release lever (2 1/2 – 3 tbsp capacity) to scoop the dough onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches in between each.
- Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. The baked cookies should spread out like little cakey pillows.
- Cool on the baking sheet for several minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add the corn syrup, vanilla, and 1 1/2 tbsp of the water. Stir until smooth and spreadable; it should slowly drizzle off the spoon into the bowl, but still thick enough that it can be spread onto the cookies. Add a little more water as needed, to get the right consistency.
- Turn the cookies over so that you’re icing the flat bottom. Use a small offset icing spatula and frost half the cookies with the vanilla icing. Use the side of the spatula to “cut” across the cookie, creating a straight, defined edge. Don’t worry if some of the icing drips over the edges of the cookies. Set the pan in the refrigerator for a few minutes to set the vanilla icing while you make the chocolate icing.
- Once you’ve finished icing half of all the cookies with vanilla icing, add the cocoa powder to the bowl of vanilla icing, along with the rest of the water (a little at a time), stirring until smooth and spreadable.
- Ice the other half of the cookies with the chocolate icing, using the spatula to gently push it right up to the center line so that it meets the vanilla in the middle.
- The surface of the icing will set fairly quickly, but will remain soft underneath.
Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!
Frequently Asked Questions
Store leftover iced cookies in a single layer in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
The meringue powder helps to set the icing so that the surface isn’t too sticky. If you don’t have any, you can leave it out, but I recommend keeping some on hand. I use it in many of my icing and buttercream recipes for added stability.
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High Altitude Black and White Cookies
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Electric Mixer (Stand or Hand-Held)
- Large Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (2 1/2 – 3 tbsp capacity)
Ingredients
Cookies
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- â…“ cup sour cream
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
Icing
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp meringue powder
- 1 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 4 tbsp water, divided
- 3 tbsp unsweetened Dutch processed cocoa powder
Instructions
Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using an electric mixer (I prefer a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), beat the butter and sugar for about 3-5 minutes on medium speed, until fluffy.
- Scrape the bowl down and beat in the egg, vanilla and sour cream, until smooth and well combined.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt, and mix until the dough is well combined.
- Use a large cookie scoop/ice cream scoop with a release lever (2 1/2 – 3 tbsp capacity) to scoop the dough onto the baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches in between each.
- Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes, until golden brown. The baked cookies should spread out like little cakey pillows.
- Cool on the baking sheet for several minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
Icing
- In a bowl, combine the powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add the corn syrup, vanilla, and 1 1/2 tbsp of the water. Stir until smooth and spreadable; it should slowly drizzle off the spoon into the bowl, but still thick enough that it can be spread onto the cookies. Add a little more water as needed, to get the right consistency.
- Turn the cookies over so that you're icing the flat bottom. Use a small offset icing spatula and frost half the cookies with the vanilla icing. Use the side of the spatula to "cut" across the cookie, creating a straight, defined edge. Don't worry if some of the icing drips over the edges of the cookies. Set the pan in the refrigerator for a few minutes to set the vanilla icing while you make the chocolate icing.
- Once you've finished icing half of all the cookies with vanilla icing, add the cocoa powder to the bowl of vanilla icing, along with the rest of the water (a little at a time), stirring until smooth and spreadable.
- Ice the other half of the cookies with the chocolate icing, using the spatula to gently push it right up to the center line so that it meets the vanilla in the middle.
- The surface of the icing will set fairly quickly, but will remain soft underneath.
Notes
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