The Black and White Cookie Gets a Pretty Pink Makeover

Our final episode of this season of Pastries with Paola closes with a fittingly delightful treat—Black and Ruby Cookies. They're Paola's version of New York City's classic Black and White Cookie, topped with dark chocolate ganache on one side and ruby chocolate ganache (yes, ruby!) on the other. The lesser-known but lovely chocolate has a pink color and fruity taste that contrasts beautifully with the dark chocolate.

"Growing up in the Bronx, I couldn't name a more iconic cookie than a Black and White Cookie," she says. "The pillowy soft layers, that crunchy royal icing, the ganache. It was one of my most fondest memories. Growing up I only ate the chocolate part of that Black and White Cookie because I thought that chocolate taste was so good. So today we're turning our Black and White Cookie into double chocolate, double the fun, and we're gonna be using ruby chocolate and dark chocolate to kick things up a notch."

In addition to going all-in on the chocolate, she also swaps whole milk out for buttermilk in the dough and adds rye flour. Both of these serve a dual purpose—the buttermilk adds tangy flavor and helps ensure a softer cookie, while the rye flour brings a balancing savory flavor and also nods to New York City deli breads. The end result is a cookie that Paola describes as "just perfectly salty and equal parts sweet."

Read on for Paola's step-by-step method and follow along with the video above.

Start with the Dough

Get the unsalted butter and granulated sugar into your stand mixer bowl and beat them with a paddle attachment on low speed until blended; then, crank the speed up to medium and cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg next, and after that, switch the speed to low and blend in a mixture of buttermilk and vanilla extract.

Stir your dry ingredients—all-purpose flour, rye flour, baking soda, and kosher salt—together in a separate bowl and then add the mixture to the stand mixer, beating on low speed until the dough comes together.

Scoop and Bake

Scoop out eight cookies using a two-inch cookie scoop and arrange them spaced at least 1 1/2 inches apart on the parchment lined baking sheets. Bake 'em in the preheated 350°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the edges are nice and golden-brown. Then, transfer them to a wire rack so they cool completely.

Meanwhile, Make the Ganache

As you saw in the Chocolate Party Cake episode, making ganache at home is pretty simple. All you need is chocolate and heavy cream, and Paola adds light corn syrup to the bowl of dark chocolate and salt to the bowl of ruby chocolate respectively, for balance. Heat the cream on the stovetop until it's just about to simmer, and then pour half of it into each of the bowls of chocolate, letting the mixtures stand for one minute. Then, stir the cream and chocolate together and let the mixtures sit once more until they're thick enough to spread on the cookies (about 10 minutes).

Decorate and Serve

Once you're ready to decorate the cookies, get each ganache into a separate piping bag and snip off the tips. Turn the cookies so that the flat bottom is facing up and pipe one half with the dark chocolate ganache, using an offset spatula to smooth it, and then pipe the ruby chocolate onto the other half.

Once the ganaches are on the cookies, let the chocolate set for 20 minutes before eating. If you're feeling fancy, you can use a paintbrush to add gold leaf flakes to each cookie for an extra-special touch.