BLACK AND ORANGE COOKIES

By cecelia26_

Ingredients

• Dough:
• 2 cups cake flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup milk (preferably whole milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• Icings:
• 4 cups confectioner’s (powdered) sugar
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup, plus additional if needed for thinning
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Orange food coloring
• 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from thebakingpan.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare 2 large baking sheets; lightly grease with shortening, or line with parchment paper, or line with a non-stick baking mat.

Dough:
In a medium mixing bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder, and salt; sift or whisk together to mix. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir the milk, vanilla extract, and lemon extract together. Set aside. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, combine butter and sugar; cream together until mixture appears light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula so the mixture blends evenly. Add egg; beat until thoroughly mixed. With the mixer on low speed, add about one third of the flour mixture, mix just until the flour is almost completely blended. Scrape the bowl down, and add about one half of the milk mixture, blending just until mixed. Scrape the bowl down again and continue alternating with the flour mixture and milk mixture, ending with the last portion of the flour, and stirring just until blended. Bake: Drop mounds of dough, about 1½ to 2 tablespoonfuls, and spacing dough 3 to 4 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until cookies are set and the edges are very lightly browned. Remove cookies from baking sheets with a metal spatula and place on a wire cooling rack to cool. Tip: A #40 ice cream scoop holds 1½ tablespoons, and makes a nice size cookie.

Orange Icing:
Sift the powdered sugar into a large mixing bowl. Set aside. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the corn syrup and water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour the hot syrup mixture into the powdered sugar. Add vanilla and stir until completely combined and icing is smooth and free of lumps. Transfer half of the icing, about ¾ cup, to another bowl to reserve for the ‘black’ icing. Set aside. With the remaining icing, add orange food color to make the desired shade of orange. Stir until completely combined. The icing should be thin enough to easily spread over the cookies.

Icing the Orange Half of the Cookies:
Place a large wire rack on top of parchment paper or wax paper to catch drips and make clean up easier. Use a small offset spatula to spread the orange icing over ½ of each cookie. Run the spatula around the edge of the iced half of the cookie to scrape off any excess. Place the iced cookie on the wire rack to allow the icing to partially harden, 15 to 30 minutes. If the orange icing gets too thick to spread easily, stir in a few drops of water until the icing is fluid enough to spread easily.

Black Icing:
In top of a double boiler over hot water, melt unsweetened chocolate. Or, place the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl, use 50% power and stir frequently just until the chocolate is melted; do not overheat as chocolate will burn easily. Set aside to cool slightly. Tip: Create a double boiler by filling a saucepan with 2 inches of water and bringing it to a simmer. Turn the heat off and place a stainless steel, ceramic, or glass bowl on top of the hot water, the upper pan should not touch the water. Stir the melted chocolate into the reserved icing. If the icing is too thick to spread, place the bowl over a saucepan of hot water and stir until reheated and thinned. If the icing still seems too thick stir in additional corn syrup about 1 tablespoon at a time until the icing becomes fluid enough to spread easily.

Icing the Black Half of the Cookies:
Using an offset spatula spread the black icing on the other half of each cookie. Run the spatula around the edge of the cookie to scrape off any excess. Place the iced cookie on the wire rack to allow the icings to completely set and harden, at least 1 hour. Tip: Keep the black icing over the pan of hot water while icing the cookies to keep the icing spreadable, adding more corn syrup if necessary.