Half Moon Cookie Recipe

Don’t call me a Black and White or an Americaner, I’m a Half Moon cookie, thank-you-very-much!

Being from Central NY, a good Half Moon cookie is a treat that I miss! I have had ” Black and Whites”, I have had  the German version called the ” Americaner”, but nothing beats a good, cakey Half Moon! During  my Half Moon cookie recipe research, I discovered that the cookie originally comes from a bakery in Utica called Hemstrought’s. And here I thought it was a Harrison Bakery from Syracuse original!

The downstate version is typically a white cookie while a half moon is typically a chocolate cookie, although you’ll also find it as a white  cookie as well in several bakeries. A B&W has a different type of frosting/icing as well.  The German version, well, its just not close to either. It tastes like a day old cake with paper as frosting. I wish they’d change the name….

I tried several of the recipes I found online and found the one below, tweaked slightly, was the closest to my Half Moon taste-bud memory. I shared them with a fellow CNY-er and she agreed!

Cookie recipe

• 4 cups  ( 500 g)flour
• 1 1/2 tsp.  ( 7 g) baking powder
• 2 tsp.  ( 10g) baking soda
• 2  cups ( 400g)  sugar
• 16 tbsp. ( 2 sticks)   ( 228g) butter , cut into pieces
• 3/4 cup  ( 85g) cocoa, sifted
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups ( 375ml)  milk

Mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.  Cream the sugar and butter until fluffy. Add the cocoa ( I usually use Dutch processed)  and salt mixing until just blended. Add the eggs one at a time. Alternately add the milk and the dry mixture starting and finishing with the milk.

Drop 3 inch mounds onto  parchment lined baking trays with 2 inches between each. Bake at 350F ( 180C) for 15 minutes  minutes. Allow them to cool completely before frosting.

Make sure you frost the “wrong” side.

For the chocolate frosting:

• 3 1/2 oz.  ( 100g) bittersweet chocolate
• 3 1/2 oz. ( 100g)  semisweet chocolate
• 1 tbsp.  ( 14g) butter
• 2 tbsp corn syrup **
• 4 1/2 cups  ( 500g) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 6 tbsp. boiling water

Melt both  chocolates and butter in the top of a double boiler over medium heat. Add the confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup**, vanilla,  and 6 tbsp. boiling water and mix to a smooth consistency with a hand mixer.  If necessary, thin the icing with up to 8 tbsp. more boiling water.  Make this as soon as you want to frost and keep the frosting warm while working on the cookies. ( I learned this the hard way)

**I can’t get corn syrup in Germany so I use Grafschafter Karamell which you can usually find in the aisle with jams.

For the butter cream frosting: ( This is the full recipe, I halved it and it was still plenty)

• 7 cups  ( 750g) confectioners’ sugar
• 16 tbsp.  ( 228g)room temperature butter, cut into pieces
• 1/2 cup  ( 95g) vegetable shortening ( I used Palmin Soft)
• 7 tbsp. milk

I simply put all the ingredients in my stand mixer and let it mix!

Can’t get any easier than that!

This recipe is based on the Hemstrought recipe I found online.  I changed the amounts of some ingredients.

©2011stella-lily’s