Black and white cookies are an iconic NYC dessert everyone forgets about! You don’t hear many tourist visiting NYC exclaiming, “Oh, I must get a black-and-white from Zaro’s while I’m here!”

New York bagels, pizza, even cheesecake get all the fan fare. But black and whites were actually created in NYC, so why are they so much less celebrated?

Maybe because they’re too sweet? Chocolate on one side, vanilla on the other, these massive cakey cookies look like full moons. The icing is ever so sweet, the cookie much subtler. Traditionally the icing is fondant, I just learned today. Like most people with taste buds, I hate the fondant that covers extravagantly decorated cakes. However, whatever version of fondant they put on black-and-white cookies, I’m into it. It’s mandatory in fact, I won’t touch a black-and-white with goopy frosting.

I’ll eat a bagel outside of New York City, and you bet I’ll eat pizza (and be a snob about it). But I only eat black-and-white cookies in NYC. They’re an extravagant treat, a cookies as big as my face, and easily shared. Some people take sides, highly preferring chocolate or vanilla. Zaro’s Bakery caters to this and now makes “All Black” and “All White” cookies… which seems sacrilege (and a fraught choice for today’s political climate…).Me? I bite my massive black-and-white cookies right does the middle. I’ll break off pieces to combine the black with the white in different ways.

Do you take sides? Which is your favorite? Or do you find black and white cookies too sweet? Never had one?

I got this black-and-white cookie from Zaro’s Bakery, one of the three places to claim inventing this dessert- AM New York wrote an article all about this origin story if you want to check it out: Black-and-white cookies a longtime specialty of Zaro’s Family Bakery.