Sweets for the Sweet

With Valentine's Day tomorrow, I thought I better get in gear and make something sweet for the kids. I decided upon my take on the old NY black & white cookie. I love them because they're really not quite a cookie and really not quite a cake, kinda in between. We always enjoy them whenever we get time in NYC--which is rare since the inlaws moved further Upstate.

The traditional NY B&Ws are HUGE, usually enough for one, two, three or even four people to enjoy. They have vanilla icing on one side and chocolate icing on the other. I made mine a lot smaller; and instead of the traditional (perfect harmony) vanilla and chocolate icing, I used a pourable fondant with a speck of almond extract. I also added a little lemon oil to the cookie dough just for a little flavo-flave. They turned out pretty good. The kids are loving them, so that's all that matters.

NY COOKIES ADAPTED FOR VALENTINE'S

• 1 1/4 C all-purpose flour
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/3 C well-shaken buttermilk
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1/8 t lemon oil
• 7 T unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• 1 extra-large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees f. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Stir together buttermilk, vanilla and lemon in cup.
Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until well mixed. Add egg and beat well. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures to this, alternating between each, mix just until smooth.

Drop rounded teaspoons of batter on buttered baking sheet at least one inch apart. Bake 8-10 minutes until tops are puffed and edges are golden. Transfer to cooling rack. (Put wax paper under racks so it will be an easy clean up.)
Pourable Fondant Icing

• 6 C confectioners' sugar, sifted (seems like a lot, but it's right)

• 1/2 C water

• 2 T light corn syrup

• 1 t almond extract

Heat ingredients in saucepan on low heat. Stir constantly until it reaches a temp of 92 degrees f. Mixture should be thin enough to pour but thick enough to coat cookies. If it's too thin, let it cool while you stir.
Turn cookies over so the flat sides are up. (I had to brush off some crumbs to make the bottoms smooth.) Using a big spoon, pour icing over cookies, one at a time, while still on the rack. Excess will drip onto the wax paper.

For my "hearts," I saved a little extra icing in the pan, added some red paste food coloring and reheated. I took a teaspoon and dropped a little in the center of a cookie and used a toothpick to "pull" the red down into a point at the bottom. It cools and stiffens pretty quickly, so only do one at a time. Fun, fun, fun!!!