Pink “Black & White” Cookies for Valentine’s Day (from the Shoestring Cookbook!)
Ingredients
FOR THE COOKIE
1 1/4 cups (175 g) high-quality all-purpose gluten-free flour (I used my Better Than Cup4Cup Blend)
Heaping 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum (omit if your blend, like mine, already contains it)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (75 g) sour cream, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg (60 g, out of shell) at room temperature, beaten
5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
FOR THE ICING
1 1/2 cups (173 g) confectioners’ sugar (plus more by the tablespoon)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-2 tablespoons water
Red or pink gel food coloring, to desired color
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with unbleached parchment paper and set is aside.
Make the Cookies. In a large bowl, place the flour, xanthan gum, baking soda, salt, and granulated sugar, and whisk to combine well. Add the sour cream, egg, butter and vanilla, and mix to combine. The dough will be thick. Spoon or pipe the batter by the heaping tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. With wet fingers, smooth the top of each mound of batter into a proper disk. Place the baking sheet in the center of the preheated oven and bake until the cookie tops are puffed and pale golden, about 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Make the icing. The cookies must be completely cool before being iced, or the icing will melt into the cookies. To make the icing, stir together the confectioners’ suar, corn syrup, lemon juice, vanilla and about 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl until completely smooth. This makes the white icing. To make the pink icing, transfer half the icing to another bowl, add the food coloring, and stir very well. As necessary, add water by the tablespoon to thin, or add more confectioners’ sugar by the tablespoon to thicken, both the white and the pink icings separately. The consistency should be such that it dribbles from a spoon slowly and gracefully, like molasses. If it is too thick, it won’t spread. Too thin, and it won’t be visible on the cookie.
Ice the cookies. Once the cookies are completely cool, ice them. Turn the cookies flat side up, and spread the white icing over half, then the pink icing over the other half. The icing should be opaque and not melt into the cookie. If the icing disappears as you spread it, add more confectioners’ sugar to thicken. Serve chilled, so the icing is set just right.
Shoestring Savings:
If you make it: $3.00 for 16 cookies
If you bought it: $16.00 for 16 cookiesAdapted from the book Gluten-Free on a Shoestring: 125 Easy Recipes for Eating Well on the Cheap, by Nicole Hunn. Excerpted by arrangement with Da Capo Lifelong, a member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2011.