Half-and-Half Cookies

These cookies are yummy! And they will stay soft for a long time if you keep them in a tupperware or plastic bag. Also, the icing is delicious, I think it is the addition of yogurt to the recipe...anyways use it on other cookies too. Enjoy!

Half-and-Half Cookies
Recipe from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook
Pictures by Caroline

Cookies:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ cup shortening
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups sugar
2 large eggs
4 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream or plain or vanilla yogurt

Preheat oven to 400°F

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, zest, salt, and vanilla. Beat in the sugar, then the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients alternately with the sour cream or yogurt, beginning and ending with the flour and adding the sour cream or yogurt in three additions.
3. Using a muffin or ice-cream scoop, drop ¼ cup dough-balls onto parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheets. Flatten each ball to a circle about ¼ inch thick and 4 ½ inches across. Leave 2 to 2 ½ inches between each cookie.
4. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes, until there’s a hint of brown at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Cover them with a dish towel while they finish cooling to keep them soft. When the cookies are completely cool, seal them in a plastic bag so they stay soft. Let the cookies rest for at least an hour before frosting.

Icing:

8 tablespoons butter
¼ cup yogurt
1 teaspoon clear vanilla (or regular; the clear vanilla will keep your icing a pure white while regular will tint it slightly)
4 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, plus ¼ cup
½ cup chopped unsweetened chocolate

1. To make the icing, melt the butter in a large saucepan, over low heat. Remove from the heat, and then stir in the yogurt, vanilla, and 4 cups of the confectioners’ sugar. The icing will be soft and runny. Immediately separate it into two halves, 1 cup each. Add the remaining ¼ confectioners’ sugar to the one-half of the white icing, and the chopped unsweetened chocolate to the other half. Stir to melt the chocolate icing in a pan of hot water, or in a saucepan over very low heat, to keep it spreadable.
2. Dip one side of the top half of each cookie into the white frosting and put on a rack to drip and dry. As soon as you can handle the cookies without leaving fingerprints in the frosting, dip the other half of each cookie in the chocolate frosting. (Or, if you are me, spread the frosting with a spoon.)

-Caroline