Gourmet's Best Cookies: A sweet goodbye.

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Since this last November, Gourmet magazine has shut its presses.  This tragedy in the world of food journalism is both a telling sign of the times and a chilling reminder of Bon Appetite's monolithic presence as the cold indifferent journalistic face of big-agro and big-food-services(well....maybe not so much).  Anyways, to relive this magazines historic journey and explore the ever evolving American palate, they have posted a journey through the best cookies of the past 70 years.  Because of my particular geography, I am deciding to single out the black and white cookie as a recipe to post.

MINI BLACK-AND-WHITE COOKIES

MAKESABOUT 5 DOZEN COOKIES

• ACTIVE TIME:1 HR
 
• START TO FINISH:1 1/2 HR

DECEMBER 2005

The unofficial cookie of New York City is shrunken down to dainty proportions just right for the holiday dessert tray. Using a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch tip, pipe rounds 2 inches apart.

This is just one of Gourmet’s Favorite Cookies: 1941-2008. Although we’ve retested the recipes, in the interest of authenticity we’ve left them unchanged: The instructions below are still exactly as they were originally printed.

FOR COOKIES

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg

FOR ICINGS

• 2 3/4 cup confectioners sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 to 6 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

• 
  

  SPECIAL EQUIPMENT: 

  a small offset spatula
  
  

MAKE COOKIES:

• Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 2 large baking sheets.
  
  
  
  
• Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.
  
  
  
  
• Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add egg, beating until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture, and mixing just until smooth.
  
  
  
  
• Drop rounded teaspoons of batter 1 inch apart onto baking sheets. Bake, switching positions of sheets halfway through baking, until tops are puffed, edges are pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 6 to 8 minutes total. Transfer to a rack to cool.
  
  

MAKE ICING WHILE COOKIES COOL:

• Stir together confectioners sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl until smooth. If icing is not easily spreadable, add more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time. Transfer half of icing to another bowl and stir in cocoa, adding more water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, to thin to same consistency as vanilla icing. Cover surface with a dampened paper towel, then cover bowl with plastic wrap.
  
  
  
  

ICE COOKIES:

• With offset spatula, spread white icing over half of flat side of each cookie. Starting with cookies you iced first, spread chocolate icing over other half.
  
  
  COOKS’ NOTE: Once icing is dry, cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper or parchment, in an airtight container at room temperature 4 days.
  

An Audio Representation:

Black and White World - Elvis Costello

Chocolate Chip Cookies by Jaques Torres

I am reprinting the recipe for supposedly the "best" chocolate chip cookie around (according to renowned pastry chef Jacques Torres) . Really there are two things that make these cookies special, one is that the dough is refrigerated for 24 hours to promote some kind of chemical reaction in the dough that I don't know about. The second is that this recipe calls for a special expensive french style of chocolate chip (its really more of a disk) that you can only find at specialty stores, Whole Foods, or the like. I'm not sure what difference it makes but these cookies are undoubtedly the shit, and taste like they came straight from a professional bakery.

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons

(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.