Behold the black and white cookie! Big, fluffy, cake-like goodness topped with chocolate and vanilla fondant icing. Or just regular cake-like icing, depending on where you go. With exact origins unknown, it's been an NYC bakery staple dating back to at least 1902 at Glaser's Bakery (updated: now closed) on 87th St and 1st Ave.
The cookies were originally made from leftover cake batter and today still retain a cake-ish quality. Word spread and these little (okay, very over-sized) gems popped up not only all over NYC, but in bakeries across New England and upstate New York, where they're called "half moons."
The black and white was immortalized in a Seinfeld episode when Jerry told Elaine that he loved this cookie because there are "two races of flavor living side by side by side in harmony." And if people would just "look to the cookie, all our problems would be solved." I tend to agree with Jerry that it's a great place to start, especially since after you're done philosophizing, you get to eat it!
Here are some of NYers favorite places to enjoy the black and white cookie:
--Rocco's (in the Village)
--Leske's (in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn)
--Nussbaum & Wu (Morningside Heights)
--Greenberg's (Upper East Side)
Next time you're in NYC, do your taste buds a favor and pick up a black and white cookie. If you can't drop by a bakery, you can order them online. And if you ever find yourself in a heated discussion about world issues, remember Jerry Seinfeld's words, "Look to the cookie!" I do believe he was ::takes bite:: onto something.
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