Black and White minis

I love getting the Food 52 Digest on Sundays. It's a rare digest day when I don't find myself drawn to at least one of the recipes for inspiration. Usually, though, I don't see something and have the urge to make it IMMEDIATELY. Today this very thing happened when my eye caught Mini Black and White Cookies!

I'm always on the hunt for a good black and white cookie. There's nothing I hate more than buying a cookie that looks like a black and white only to find it is an Imposter black and white cookie, not a real one. This recipe *almost* makes the cut of excellent black and white. The cakey bottom is spot on - it has the right texture and flavor. My only complaint (which I'm sure I could fix with some research) is that the fondant-like icing was not as creamy/waxy/thick as I like it to be - my test for perfect black and white cookie icing is that I should be able to peel it off in 1-3 pieces and eat it as its own entity if I so choose. Not possible with this recipe, but still a pleasure to make and eat. I honestly made the entire recipe within one hour and was eating cookie after cookie shortly after that.

Here is the recipe, adapted from Food 52:
 1 c all purpose flour + 1/2 c whole wheat pastry flour (or just 1.5 c flour)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
6 T room temp butter
1/2 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla extract
1/3 c buttermilk

Heat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone liner. Whisk together flour, soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, cream sugar and butter. Add egg and vanilla. Mix. Alternate between adding the flour and the buttermilk, in three additions.  Stir until just mixed. Spoon cookie dough by the tablespoonful onto prepared pans, leaving an inch between cookies. Bake 6-10 min, until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and set aside to cool on racks. When completely cool, spread vanilla and chocolate icing (recipe below)
on half of each cookie.

Icing:
1 1/2 c confectioners sugar, sifted
pinch salt
1/2 t vanilla
1 T light corn syrup
2 t lemon juice
2 T water
6 T cocoa, sifted

In a medium bowl, whisk sugar, salt, vanilla, corn syrup, lemon juice, and water until smooth. You're going for spreadable and thick, not runny. If it's too thick, add water by the teaspoon. Too runny? Add more sugar by the tablespoon. Take half of the icing out and put in new bowl, and add cocoa to this bowl. Add water until spreadable. You can also add 1/4 t instant espresso powder to the chocolate but I didn't have any and it turned out fine.