Black Tie Cookies Recipes

Steps:

• To heat the flour, place it in a microwave safe bowl and microwave in 30 second increments, stirring after each, until an instant read thermometer stuck into a few different spots of the flour reaches 180 degrees F. Let cool.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together 3 cups of the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, cream cheese and granulated sugar until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the applesauce and mix until combined. Mix in the vanilla and almond extracts. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Divide the dough among 3 bowls and add food coloring, keeping the colors separate. Wearing disposable gloves, knead in the color by hand, or stir it in with a spatula, until homogenous. If you don't have gloves, you can use a zip-top plastic bag.
• You can play with and bake the dough now (dust with a little more flour if it gets sticky) or you can put it in an airtight container and refrigerate for an hour or overnight to play with and bake later.
• Roll each batch of dough into a log about 2 1/2 feet long and 1 inch wide. Line up the three logs of dough and cut each into 6 equal portions. Twist one portion of each of the colored doughs together and roll into a ball to create the desired tie-dye pattern. Roll in sanding sugar, place on the prepared baking sheet and gently press down using your hand. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing the finished cookies an inch apart. Bake until very lightly browned on the bottom but still gooey on the inside, about 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool slightly and enjoy!

Steps:

• Make the cookies: Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350˚ F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl until combined.
• Beat the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, beating well after each addition.
• Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture until just combined. Beat in the sour cream, then beat in the remaining flour mixture.
• Using a large ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure, scoop mounds of dough and place 3 inches apart on the baking sheets (6 cookies per pan). Bake, rotating and switching the pans halfway through, until the cookies are puffed and the bottoms and edges are just starting to brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on the pans, then remove the cookies to a rack to cool completely.
• Make the icing: Sift the confectioners' sugar into a large bowl. Add 3 tablespoons milk, the corn syrup and vanilla and whisk until smooth and very thick but still spreadable. Remove half of the icing (about 1/2 cup) to a separate bowl and stir in the cocoa powder until smooth, thinning with up to 1 tablespoon milk, if needed.
• Turn the cookies flat-side up. Using a small offset spatula, spread the white icing on half of each cookie, making a straight, clean line in the center of the cookie. Return the cookies to the rack, and let sit, preferably in a cool place, until the icing is firm with a matte finish, at least 30 minutes. Spread the chocolate icing on the other half of the cookies. Let the icing set at room temperature, at least 2 hours and up to overnight.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Mix flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.
• Cream sugar and butter together in a large bowl using an electric mixer for 3 minutes. Add eggs and beat for 30 seconds more. Add lemon zest, vanilla extract, and lemon extract. Mix together. Add flour mixture and milk gradually in equal 1/3 proportions, mixing batter well after each addition until fully incorporated.
• Spoon cookie batter out 1/4-cup portions onto the prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges just begin to turn golden brown, 13 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
• While cookies cool, melt butter for vanilla icing in a double boiler over medium heat. Stir in confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and salt. Add water gradually until vanilla icing comes together. Heat over the double boiler until icing falls off the back of a spoon in thick ribbons, 2 to 4 minutes. Set heat to low.
• Frost 1/2 of the golden brown underside of each cooled cookie with vanilla icing using a rubber spatula. Allow excess to dribble back into the double boiler. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, set the double boiler back to medium heat and add confectioners' sugar, semisweet chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, corn syrup, butter, vanilla extract, and food coloring to the remaining vanilla icing. Mix well, adding water until icing is combined. Heat until icing falls off of the back of a spoon in thick ribbons, 2 to 4 minutes. Set heat to low.
• Frost the other 1/2 of the cooled cookies using a rubber spatula in the same manner as before. Let cookies cool until icing sets, 1 to 2 hours. Serve.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush 2 baking sheets very lightly with oil.
• Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl.
• Whisk the buttermilk and vanilla together in a liquid measuring cup. Set aside.
• Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and continue to beat at high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs and yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the wet in 2 parts, beginning and ending with the dry to make a smooth batter.
• Evenly mound 2 tablespoons batter per cookie onto the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 2-inches apart. (A small cookie scoop or ice cream scoop is ideal for this.) Bake until the cookies are golden brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.
• For the chocolate icing: Put the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan; pour over the chocolate. Shake the bowl gently so cream settles around the chocolate; set aside until the chocolate melts, about 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth, taking care not to incorporate too many air bubbles. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small tip with about half of the chocolate icing.
• For the white icing: Whisk the confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice and warm water together to make a smooth icing. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small tip with about a quarter of the icing.
• To Decorate:
• For tuxedo cookies: Set the cookies on a rack over a rimmed cookie sheet. Pour the white glaze over the whole cookie to cover; set aside to dry. Pipe a bowtie and tuxedo lapel with the chocolate icing.
• For a little black dress and pearls: Pipe an outline of a woman's dress with the dark chocolate and fill in with more icing. Pipe white icing pearls around the top of the cookie. Add silver dragees or candy pearls to dress up, if desired.
• Let cookies dry completely, about 20 minutes. Serve.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a separate mixing bowl, cream together sugars and butter. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth.
• Add flour mixture and chocolates, and blend until just combined. Drop by the tablespoonful onto an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 12-15 minutes.
• Cool slightly before transferring to a cool, flat surface.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange racks in top and bottom thirds, and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, vanilla, lemon zest and almond extract.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
• Reduce speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/3 of the sour cream mixture. Repeat until both mixtures are incorporated, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. (Mixture will be the consistency of thick poundcake batter.)
• Dollop heaping 1/4-cup scoops of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. (You should have 12 to 14 cookies.) Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets. Continue to bake until the cookies have firmed up and spring back when lightly pressed in the center, 6 to 9 minutes. (They'll brown only on the bottoms.) Take care not to overbake, or they will dry out.
• Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool for 15 minutes, then transfer cookies directly to racks to cool completely.
• While the cookies cool, make the glaze: Place the confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl and whisk in 3 tablespoons boiling water, the corn syrup, vanilla and salt. Continue to whisk, adding more boiling water as needed, until you have a thick yet spreadable frosting that is the texture of hot fudge sauce. (Too thick is preferable to too thin.) Flip each cookie over and spoon glaze over half of its flat side, spreading to edges with the back of the spoon. Place on wire rack to set. You will have vanilla frosting left over.
• Whisk melted chocolate into vanilla frosting, then whisk in cocoa and enough room temperature water to make a thick yet spreadable glaze. Glaze the bare half of each cookie. Let glaze set for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving.

Steps:

• Mix cream cheese and cookie crumbs until blended. Shape into 12 (1-inch) balls, using a level tablespoon for each. Place on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Freeze 15 minutes.
• Microwave semi-sweet chocolate in microwaveable bowl on HIGH for 30 seconds; stir. Microwave 30 seconds more; stir. Continue heating and stirring in 10-second increments until completely melted.
• Dip each ball in melted chocolate using a fork, letting any excess drip back into the bowl; return to baking sheet. Refrigerate 15 minutes or until chocolate is firm.
• Melt white chocolate as directed on package; pour into a resealable plastic bag to make decorating easier. Cut a small corner off the bag; use to drizzle chocolate over the cookie balls. Top with sprinkles. Insert wooden pop stick into each cookie ball. Refrigerate 15 minutes.