Black and White Cookies and Competitions!

So this year my temple is having a competition for Jewish Desserts. After kind of zoning out during the high holiday's service, this perked me right up. And having wanted to make these for quite some time, the choice seemed obvious. Not exactly a jewish dessert, but it officially classifies. Although, we need 100. Yeah. But just 100 halves, and Zabar's recipe makes like 4 dozen. So we're okay. Just need 2 gallons of icing. But who doesn't want that?

So many cookies!

iced and pretty!

Wish me luck!

Zabar's Black and White Cookies

• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 4 large eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (not juice, extract, it's stronger)
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour (I used soft-silk brand)
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

King Arthur Flour's Black and White Icing

Vanilla

• 3 1/3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 tablespoons hot water
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

Chocolate

• 2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease as many cookie sheets as you want (I used 2). With an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs milk and extracts. In a separate bowl, stir together flours, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to wet ingredients on low speed. Use a cookie scoop, and scoop dough 2 inches apart, about 12 cookies per pan.  Bake for 12 minutes, then let cool completely. Scoop more dough, and repeat the baking process with the rest of the dough. To make the Vanilla icing: put all the ingredients into a bowl. and stir together. It will be very thick. Add more water  by the teaspoon to reach desired consistency. Make the Chocolate icing: Fill the bottom part of a double broiler half way with water, and bring to a boil. place top pot on, and dump in chocolate chips. stir until melted. Mix together all the ingredients, and again add water by the teaspoon if too thick. When cookies are completely cooled, spread vanilla icing on one half of the flat side of each cookie, and chocolate on the other half. If the chocolate icing gets too stiff, zap it in the microwave for a coupe of seconds. Let icings set before eating. Enjoy!

Halloween Cupcakes!

My sister has halloween concert tonight. Of course, i said i'd bake. So here I am, trying to finish an english project and make 24 (although only 22 survived) cupcakes.

And I used my Halloween cupcake stencils!

Owls!

They aren't the prettiest, but they are really chocolaty and the fluffiest cupcakes i've ever made.

Super Fluffy Chocolate Cupcakes

• 2 cups sugar
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup boiling water

I used my fabulous buttercream recipe, tinted orange, which you can find here.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 muffin tins. Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla. Stir in boiling water. Now this is halloween, so it will spook you. It is supposed to be like soup. The batter is thin. Fill liners 2/3 full, not over, and bake for 20-22 minutes. Let cool, and frost any way you want. Enjoy, and 

Happy Halloween!