Mosaic Monday ~ Bakery Treats!

One of the joys of living in Brooklyn, New York, is that almost every neighborhood has at least one wonderful bakery. I blogged once before about an Italian bakery in Bensonhurst that specializes in Sicilian pastries, and recently I was in the Gravesend neighborhood of Brooklyn, where I encountered the delicious aroma of fresh baked bread wafting in the air outside Nuccio's Italian Bakery located at 261 Avenue U. It was so tempting I went inside and bought a nice big crusty loaf of Italian bread.

Just look at this nice selection of bread that they had:

I also couldn't resist taking some photos of their cakes and pastries, as you can see in the mosaic below. It took a lot of will power not to buy a few!

Please click on to enlarge

In the lower right corner are the iconic large "Black and White" cookies, which can be found in almost any bakery in New York City. They are eaten by all New Yorkers at least once in their lives. I remember liking the chocolate side the best when I was a child, so I'm sure I would have chosen the first cookie from Nuccio's that seemed to have a little more chocolate icing on it.

Black & White cookies are actually more like flat soft cakes, rather than hard cookies, so freshness is absolutely necessary, otherwise they will taste stale and hard. They are very easy to make! Why not try to bake a batch?

Zabar's Black-and-Whites

Adapted from ''New York Cookbook,'' by Molly O'Neill, Workman Publishing , 1992 --recipe published by the New York Times

For the cookies:
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

For the frosting:
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1/3to 1/2 cup boiling water
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, chopped.

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter 2 baking sheets and set aside. Combine sugar and butter in a bowl and beat until fluffy. Add the eggs, milk and extracts. Mix until smooth.

2. Combine the flours, baking powder and salt in a bowl and mix. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches, stirring until combined. Drop soup spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until the edges begin to brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool.

3. To make frosting, place the confectioners' sugar in a large bowl. Gradually add some boiling water, stirring until mixture is thick and spreadable. Place half the frosting in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water; add the chocolate. Warm, stirring until chocolate is melted and the frosting is smooth. Remove from heat.

4. Brush half the cookie with the chocolate and the other half with the white frosting.

Yield: About 24 large cookies.

I'm linking this post to Mary of The Little Red House blog Mosaic Monday event for this week. Please visit Mary's blog to find links for other blog that have joined in the fun. Thanks, Mary, for hosting this wonderful event every week!