Rainbow Black and White Cookies

New York's classic Black & White cookies get a rainbow makeover and they are SO much fun! The sweet rainbow heart design on top hints at the colorful cookie inside. And the best part - you can make them at home!!!

First of all, if you aren't familiar with the iconic Black & White, it's a soft, fluffy cake-like cookie glazed with half chocolate and half vanilla icing. What could be better? You don't have to choose your favorite flavor...hello, twist cone! Something about the chocolate and vanilla flavors together make it even better than the sum of its parts. Yes, I always choose the vanilla and chocolate twist cone at soft serve ice cream shops and I love them even more with rainbow sprinkles! And so the rainbow B & W cookie idea was born...

This cookie has a soft, velvety texture, more like a mini cake than a cookie. I love the taste, but find the appearance a bit ordinary, so I often make them more festive by coloring the white icing - pink for Valentine's Day, green for St. Pat's Day, you get the idea. So when I started thinking of ways to up the fun factor even more, naturally making the cookie rainbow colored sprang to mind. Read on and I will show you how to do it.

Cookies:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• gel food colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet

Chocolate Icing:

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder

Vanilla Icing:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• gel food colors

Note: recipe makes 10 large cookies.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Beat the butter and sugar together in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides with a spatula and add the vanilla and egg. Mix until combined. Alternate adding half of the flour mixture and mix on low, then half of the sour cream, followed by the rest of flour and sour cream.

Divide the batter equally into 6 bowls. Add a different gel food color into each bowl and mix to get desired colors.

With a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop, scoop a little of each color, one at a time, to fill the scoop. Mine made a cool rainbow design as shown! Don't worry, it will look great no matter how you scoop it, as long as the colors don't mix together too much.

Release the batter onto the parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Then rotate the pan and bake for another 5-6 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Don't overbake.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

For the chocolate icing, break the semisweet chocolate into pieces and place in a microwave safe bowl. Add the butter and microwave on half power for 30 seconds. Stir the mixture and continue microwaving at 30 second increments, stirring in between, until the chocolate is almost melted. Add the instant espresso powder and stir until all the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

For the vanilla icing, stir powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and cream until combined and smooth. The mixture should be thick, about the consistency of honey.

For the rainbow hearts, put about a tablespoon of vanilla icing into each of 6 small bowls. Tint with gel food colors to desired colors.

To glaze a cookie, turn it upside down so the flat side is facing up. Spread chocolate icing over half of the cookie with a small spatula and let set. Placing the cookie in the refrigerator will help the chocolate to set faster. Repeat with all the cookies.

Next, spread vanilla icing on the other half of the cookie.

Now, the fun part! Immediately, while vanilla icing is still wet, add a small dot of each colored icing right on top of the vanilla icing. You can put each into a small pastry bag or cone if you like. I just released a drop of each color with a spoon, but a pastry bag would be easier to control. Then, take a clean toothpick and run it through the dots to make heart shapes! As the glaze sets, it will smooth out an cover the toothpick marks. Be sure to wipe the toothpick with a paper towel between each cookie.

That's it! Share & enjoy these delicious cookies.

They taste best the day they are baked, but can be stored at room temperature in an air tight container for a few days. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months. But they never last that long at my house!!