Green and White Holiday Cookies

I’ve come to believe it would probably have been better if Black and White cookies had been named something else. Don’t get me wrong: the name is accurate enough, if you can forgive that, technically, they’re really dark brown and white. It’s just that the name puts all the emphasis on the colors and completely overlooks what really makes these classic, round New York cookies a one-of-a-kind taste experience: their unique, almost cake-like texture.


Just as important (to me, at least), being able to change the colors and shape makes them one of the most versatile baked items for any occasion. Need an Easter cookie? Cut them in to egg shapes and make them pink and purple. Christmas? Try stars, Christmas trees or teddy bears and make them green and red. Valentine’s Day? Make red and white hearts. Your favorite team is playing in the Superbowl? Go with a football shape and the team colors. You get the idea.


Today’s recipe, for obvious reasons, makes green and white shamrocks. They’re all fun, all delicious and, of course, all reduced fat.


Some Cook’s Notes before we begin:
• Cutting the cookies into shapes is easy, but needs to be done immediately after removing the cookie rounds from the oven. Although the cookies have a soft texture even after they cool, the sooner you are able to make the cuts, the cleaner they will be.
• Speaking of cutting the cookies, there’s no need to discard the cut-away scraps. They may not be pretty, but they’re delicious. Save them for yourself to enjoy after the rest of the cookies have all been eaten.
• The dual-frostings on a traditional Black-and-White cookie are chocolate (brown) and lemon-sugar (white). Although, for color reasons, today’s recipe doesn’t include a chocolate icing, feel free to substitute one if that’s what you prefer.


This recipe makes 12 cookies, each roughly 4” across.


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.


In a bowl, combine 1 cup of all purpose flour; 1-1/4 cups of pastry flour; ½ teaspoon of baking powder; and ½ teaspoon of salt.










In another bowl, beat ½ cup of softened butter substitute and 1 cup of granulated sugar together. When the mixture is combined and smooth, beat in 2 egg-substitute eggs, then ½ cup of skim milk; ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; and 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Beat the flour mixture into the butter mixture, a little at a time, until combined into a smooth, creamy batter.


Drop the batter in ¼ cup portions onto a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicon baking sheet.










The batter won’t spread much on its own when you bake it, so use the back of a spoon to spread it into a circle about 3-1/2 to 4” in diameter.






Bake for about 11 minutes until the batter just begins to get firm. (Remember, after cooling, the finished cookie should have a soft, almost cake-like texture.)


If you want the cookies to stay round: let them cool on the baking sheet for a couple of minutes, then remove to a cooling rack until completely cool before frosting.


If you want to cut the cookies into shapes: cut the cookies with a cookie cutter immediately upon taking them out of the oven. Work quickly, since they won’t cut as well after they’ve started to cool.


Move the cut shapes to a cooling rack and let them cool completely before frosting.






As mentioned in the Cook’s Notes above, save any scraps. They make a great snack.










After the cookies have cooled, but before adding the frosting, apply a very thin coating of peach or apricot jam to each cookie. Let the jam dry before applying the frosting.


To frost the cookies:

• In a bowl, mix together 2 cups of confectioner’s sugar; 1 tablespoon light corn syrup; ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; and 3 tablespoons of skim milk. This will be the white frosting.
• Using a small spoon, apply the white frosting to half of each cookie.








• Set aside a small amount (about two tablespoons) of the white frosting to use for any needed repairs after the rest is made into green frosting.

• To the remaining white frosting, add the juice of ½ lemon, and enough green food coloring to get the frosting to be the desired shade. Add two additional tablespoons of confectioner’s sugar to offset the added liquid and keep the frosting thick.

• Using a small spoon, carefully apply the green frosting to the unfrosted portion of each cookie.







Allow the frosting to dry and become firm before serving.














Click here to download a copy of this recipe in .pdf format!


See you next week with another great tasting recipe! Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to kiss the cook. ;-)

Irish Potato Farls Breakfast

A míle fáilte!


With only six shopping days left till St. Patrick’s Day, I thought it would be good to celebrate with something a little more authentic than the usual mid-March atrocities that reduce Ireland’s rich culture to green bagels and paper leprechaun hats.


The solution? An easy, delicious Irish Potato Farls Breakfast.


Nobody does breakfast like the Irish. Northern Ireland, for example, has the Ulster Fry, the ultimate in heart-attack-on-a-plate decadence, consisting of two eggs, two sausages, two slices of bacon, two slices of black pudding (a mixture of onions, pork fat, oatmeal, spices, and pig blood), and two of the aforementioned potato farls. (To keep all of this from becoming unhealthy, some cooks add a tomato.)


Having dedicated my culinary life to making reduced fat food taste good, we’re going to put aside most elements of the Ulster Fry and concentrate on the potato farls, a delightful potato pancake that’s crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. (New Yorkers might be reminded of a knish.) The name comes from “fardel,” a Gaelic word meaning four parts. (As you’ll see, the rolled out potato dough is cut into four parts for cooking.) There are other varieties besides the potato kind: soda farls (an Irish soda bread dough flattened and cooked in a pan or griddle instead of being baked in an oven); wheaten farls (similar to soda farls but made with whole wheat flour); and treacle farls (made with treacle, which is similar to molasses).


In this recipe, we’ll make a hearty breakfast by serving the potato farls with eggs topped with onions, herbs, chopped turkey sausage, and Irish cheese; turkey sausage with mustard; and a bit of fresh fruit. (If you want black pudding, you’re going to have to add that on your own.)


Some Cook’s Notes before we begin:
• Thanks to dear friend Sheila, she of “Norn Iron,” for starting me thinking about farls in the first place.
• Traditional potato farls are made without the onion, rosemary and thyme used in this recipe. To season them for the American palate while still respecting Irish culture, I’ve added these items which, while not ordinarily found in farls, are often found elsewhere in the cuisine. Similarly, farls are generally made with boiled potatoes; I prefer to bake them for a little deeper flavor.
• Farls are best eaten soon after cooking. Saved overnight, the outsides lose a lot of their crispness, and they’re just not the same.


This recipe makes eight farls. (One is a good portion for most people; big eaters might want two.)


On a griddle, cook enough turkey sausages to have two whole links per serving, plus one diced link to top each serving of eggs.




Grate some Irish cheese to top the eggs you’ll be cooking.








Bake 2 to 2-1/4 pounds of potatoes until tender. (Baking them in the microwave is recommended; otherwise, bake as you ordinarily would to serve baked potatoes.) After the potatoes are baked, cut them into pieces. As much as possible, do the remaining steps with the potatoes warm to hot.


Put the pieces through a ricer or food mill. (You can use a masher, but the ricer or food mill will give a better texture since it doesn’t repeatedly beat up the starches in the potato the way a masher does.)


Stir in 1-1/2 cups of all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoons of melted butter substitute, 3 tablespoons of minced onion, 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary, 1 teaspoon of dried thyme, ½ tablespoon of salt (more or less to taste), and ¼ teaspoon of fresh ground black pepper (more or less to taste).


Mix until well combined into a dough-like consistency, adding up to ½ cup of additional flour if necessary to get the right texture. When the dough is mixed, knead lightly for a minute or two.


Cut the dough ball in half. Roll out one of the halves to a circle about ¼” thick. (Tip: when rolling the dough, putting wax paper on top of the dough makes clean-up easier.)


Cut the rolled-out dough into four wedges.










Place the wedges on a lightly oiled hot griddle and cook till golden and slightly crisp on the outside, about three minutes per side. If you want to top your eggs with some additional chopped onion, you can place it on the griddle and cook it at the same time as the farls.


Place the cooked wedges on a plate and cover with a clean towel while you repeat the rolling, cutting and cooking with the other half of the dough, and complete the remaining steps.




Cook your eggs in whatever style you prefer, and top with the cooked onions, diced sausage, a bit of the rosemary and thyme, and some of the cheese.


On each plate, put one or two farls, the eggs, two sausage links with mustard, and some fresh fruit as pictured above.


Now that’s what I call a hearty breakfast, and just in time for St. Patrick’s Day. (On any other day of the year, too!)


You can download the recipe by clicking here.


Hope you enjoy this special treat. Hope, too, that you’ll be back next week for another fun, delicious recipe. (Why not also tell a friend who you think might enjoy what we do here!) Till then, stay well, keep it about the food, and always remember to póg an cócaire. ;-)