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Black-and-white cookie

Alternative names	Half-and-half cookie
Type	Cookie
Course	Dessert

A black-and-white cookie, half-and-half cookie, or half-moon cookie is a round cookie iced or frosted on one half with vanilla and on the other with chocolate. There are regional differences: a black-and-white cookie is flat, has royal icing on a denser cake base, and is common in New York City, while a half-moon cookie is slightly dome-shaped, has frosting on a fluffier cake base, and is common in Central New York and Boston. Often one side is frosted higher than the other. Black-and-white cookies may also be found with fondant instead of frosting. In Italian-American bakeries in New York City, a thin layer of apricot jam is sometimes present below the fondant.

History

Designs with contrasting light and dark parts were popular at the turn of the 19th century, including on baked goods and desserts. Cookies with cake bases also became popular at the time. Culinary historian Stephen Schmidt sees black-and-whites and half-moons as a straightforward convergence of the two trends, and compares them to teacakes served in the Southern United States. The black-and-white cookie in New York City is commonly traced to Glaser's Bake Shop, founded in 1902 by Bavarian immigrants in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan. The black-and-white cookie was among the original recipes used by the bakery. Half-moon cookies can be traced instead to Hemstrought's Bakery in Utica, New York, who started baking half-moons around 1925.

By the post-war period, black-and-white cookies had become part of American Ashkenazi Jewish culinary repertoire, deeply rooted in the Jewish communities of New York City and elsewhere around the United States. The cookies are a fixture at many Jewish bakeries, including Moishe's Bake Shop and William Greenberg’s Desserts.

There is a German cookie called the Amerikaner, which is often decorated like the black and white cookie, but can be frosted entirely in vanilla instead. The origin and name of Amerikaner in Germany is unclear, as is their possible relationship to black-and-white cookies. It is sometimes claimed that the cookie was introduced or reintroduced by American GIs serving at US military bases in Germany during the 1950s. Another theory proposes a corruption of the word Ammoniumhydrogencarbonat (ammonium bicarbonate, a leavening agent): in the former East Germany, due to anti-American sentiment, the name Ammonplätzchen (Ammonia cookies) was used.

In Popular Culture

In the 1994 Seinfeld episode "The Dinner Party", Jerry eats a black-and-white cookie while waiting in a New York City bakery with Elaine. He uses the cookie as a metaphor for racial harmony, saying the chocolate and vanilla represent black and white people living together and if they mix together well on a cookie they can do the same in society, suggesting the answer to poor race relations is to "Look to the cookie!" Barack Obama dubbed them Unity Cookies when visiting a deli in Hollywood, Florida while campaigning in the 2008 United States presidential election. However, African-American Rabbi Shais Rishon wrote that the cookie, with its cleanly separated black and white sides, better represented racial segregation.

See also

• Cuisine of New York City
• List of shortbread biscuits and cookies
• Neenish tart
• Roze koek

Notes

1. Not to be confused with the village of Yorkville near Utica in Central New York.
2. Hemstrought's began business in 1920, but does not appear to have baked half-moon cookies before 1925.

References

1. Sietsema, Robert (May 19, 2015). "New York in a Dozen Dishes". Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 279–290. ISBN 9780544453630.
2. "The History of the Half Moon / Black and White Cookie". Driving Inertia. February 19, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
3. "Halfmoon Cookies". Saveur. October 13, 2000. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
4. ^ Spataro, Joanne. "The Real History of Black and White Cookies". VICE. Vice Media Group. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
5. Sietsema, Robert (June 2, 2014). "The Black-and-White Cookie's Curious History". Eater NY.
6. D'imperio, Chuck (April 14, 2015). A Taste of Upstate New York: The People and the Stories Behind 40 Food Favorites. Syracuse University Press. pp. 69–72. ISBN 9780815653233.
7. "Utica Bakery Home to the Original Halfmoon Cookies Celebrates 100 Years". spectrumlocalnews.com. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
8. ^ Salzhauer, Rebecca. "An ode to the black and white cookie". The Forward. The Forward Association, Inc. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
9. Clark, Melissa. "Black-and-White Cookies". 100 Most Jewish Foods. Tablet Magazine. Retrieved November 19, 2021.
10. ^ Khushbu Shah. "WW2 Black and White Cookie". thrillist.com. Retrieved September 1, 2017.
11. Honnen, Peter (2008). Alles Kokolores? Wörter und Wortgeschichten aus dem Rheinland. Cologne: Greven Verlag. p. 10. ISBN 978-3-7743-0418-5.
12. Martin, Ahrends (1986). Trabbi, Telespargel und Tränenpavillon. Das Wörterbuch der DDR-Sprache. Munich: Heyne. p. 18. ISBN 978-3-4530-2357-4..
13. Roberts, Sam (2016). A History of New York in 101 Objects. Simon and Schuster. p. 137. ISBN 9781476728797.
14. Clark, Lesley (October 21, 2008). "Barack Obama and the black and white cookie". The Miami Herald. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
15. Johnson, Sasha (October 21, 2008). "Obama: McCain is 'running out of time' and 'making stuff up'". CNN. Retrieved May 30, 2013.
16. MaNishtana (November 11, 2015). "Black and White and Not All Right: These Cookies Must Stop!". Tablet Magazine. Retrieved November 23, 2021.

v t e City of Utica, New York
Metropolitan area Oneida County New York
Parks and recreation	Utica Zoo Utica Parks and Parkway Historic District Roscoe Conkling Park T. R. Proctor Park F. T. Proctor Park Memorial Parkway Val Bialas Ski Area
Education	Higher Utica University Mohawk Valley Community College SUNY Polytechnic Institute St. Elizabeth College of Nursing PrattMWP College of Art and Design Empire State University Oneida Institute (defunct) Utica School of Commerce (defunct) K–12 Utica City School District Thomas R. Proctor High School Utica Free Academy (defunct) Notre Dame Junior Senior High School
Transportation	Union Station Griffiss International Airport Oneida County Airport (defunct) Interstate Routes 90 790 New York State Routes 5 5A 5S 8 12 49 840 Central New York Regional Transportation Authority (CENTRO)
Economy and culture	Sports Adirondack Bank Center Boilermaker Road Race Utica Comets (AHL) current season Utica City FC (MASL) current season Utica Curling Club Cuisine Chicken riggies Utica greens Half-moons Tomato pie Penne alla vodka Matt Brewing Company Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute Stanley Theater Hotel Utica Utica Children's Museum Utica Psychiatric Center Adirondack Scenic Railroad National Distance Running Hall of Fame (defunct)
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People	Horatio Seymour (1810 – 1886) Roscoe Conkling (1829 – 1888) James Schoolcraft Sherman (1855 – 1912) Rufus Elefante (1903 – 1994) Edward A. Hanna (1922 – 2009) People Mayors Demographics
Category Media City of Utica, New York travel guide from Wikivoyage

• American desserts
• Ashkenazi Jewish culture in New York City
• Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine
• Cookies
• Chocolate desserts
• Cuisine of New York City
• Cuisine of the Mid-Atlantic states
• German-American cuisine
• German-American culture in New York City
• Jewish American cuisine
• Jewish cookies
• Jewish desserts
• Shortbread
• Utica, New York
• Yorkville, Manhattan