Black and Whites

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1. 1Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. In a separate cup, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla. Set aside.
2. 2Step 2: In the bowl of a standing mixer or with a handheld beater, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy and light yellow for about 3 minutes. Add the egg and continue to beat until well combined. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately at low speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Mix until all of the ingredients are blended and the batter is smooth.
3. 3Step 3: Using a small ice cream scoop or 2 tablespoons, scoop cookies 2 inches apart on a large, greased baking sheet. You can adjust your scoop to get 6-7 large or 12-13 medium sized cookies. Place baking sheet in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Cookies will be puffy and golden and will spring back when you touch them. Transfer cookies to a wire rack with a layer of wax paper underneath it (to catch the excess frosting) to cool before icing (about 10 minutes).
4. 4Step 4: Mix the Confectioner's sugar, milk, lemon juice and corn syrup and milk together in small bowl until smooth. Put half of the icing into a separate bowl and add the cocoa, adding 2 more tablespoons (or more) milk, if needed to obtain the same consistency as the white icing.
5. 5Step 5: To frost the cookies (you are frosting the flat side), use an offset spatula to frost one half of the cookie first. I like to frosting the vanilla side first, letting it set for five minutes and then frosting the chocolate side. I then go over the vanilla side again, lightly, while the cookies are lying flat on the rack and the chocolate is setting. A second layer of vanilla frosting allows the vanilla frosting to be a little more opaque, but this is optional. Store in an airtight container to keep fresh (up to 3 days).