Lucky Magazine White House Black Market Photo Shoot Last week, I headed to New York for a collaborative project between Lucky Magazine, White House Black Market and 3 Bloggers (1 of them being me…). The project will be included in the September issue of Lucky Magazine. The photo to the left was me having my hair and makeup done – they had their work cut out for them. I had just come from our Martha’s Vineyard vacation and my skin was a mess – peeling and red!
As a“Thank You” for including me, I sent the both Lucky Magazine team and the White House Black Market team a box of Black & White cookies… Get it – White House Black Market = Black & White cookies. Pretty creative, I know, but ‘hey’ who doesn’t love a box of cookies! The decorating method is below. To see how I packaged them in cellophane bags with kraft paper circle labels, click here. Black & White cookies are a New York classic – they are traditionally made from scoops of leftover cake batter baked like cookies, then glazed with half white and half chocolate icing. In fear of messing up the cake batter version, I made my own versions of cookies with my sugar cookie dough. I hope not too many New Yorkers are offended – my apologies!
I used my Sugar Cookie Recipe and cut the cookies with a scalloped edge 3-inch cutter.
For the “Black” half, I used chocolate ganache mixed with buttercream. Chocolate Ganache Buttercream 3/4 cup of royal icing recipe 1/4 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips 2 tablespoons of butter 1/2 cup of powdered sugar (more may be needed) Place chocolate chips in a small bowl with butter on top. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth. Add royal icing and powdered sugar. Add as much powdered sugar as needed until the correct consistency (spreadable, but not runny) is achieved. 
Make a dam around the edge of half of the cookie. Fill in with icing and smooth with the tip of a knife…
Let the chocolate harden.
Ice the other half with white royal icing.
Royal Icing
3 egg whites 4 cups of powdered sugar
In the Kitchen Aid fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until almost frothy. Add in the powdered sugar and whisk on slow until smooth. You may need to add more or less powdered sugar or water to achieve desired thickness. For sugar cookies, you want the icing to be thin enough that it will fall back on itself and smooth itself out, but not too thin so it will run off of the cookie.
Black & White Cookie Packaging I packaged the cookies in cellophane bags with kraft paper stickers and blue ribbons. See the packaging details here!