I tried looking for a while about the history of the Half Moon Cookie. I’m going to keep looking and I’ll let you know if I find it. If you have no idea what I’m even talking about, check out this excellent photo of one here. The half moon cookie seems to be a central New York tradition. When I was a kid we shopped at Green Hills Farms and every once in a while my parents would pick up some half moon cookies for us to each have one each (where you can still buy them). Oh, such joy. It is a soft cake cookie, either white or chocolate, with buttercream frosting, one half in vanilla frosting, the other half in dark chocolate frosting. I am a very picky half moon cookie connoisseur having been spoiled by the central New York version, so this is all in my humble opinion.
When I moved around I wasn’t able to find them. Until I came to my present location. And I was in a restaurant with a bakery when I first saw them! So I went up to the counter and asked for one half moon cookie please. The person at the counter had no idea what I was referring to. So I pointed to the cookie. And they said “oh, half and halves!” WTF. Half and halves? They’re half moon cookies. Well, so I ate it, and it wasn’t like the central New York half moon cookie. People, including Martha S. , half moon cookies (also called black and whites by others) don’t have hard icing and hard cake cookies. This photo shows what a hard half moon cookie looks like – ick!
They have *buttercream frosting*, spread on thick, don’t waste my time with a thin layer and don’t waste my time with icing. You shouldn’t be able to wrap them in plastic wrap because the frosting and soft cake cookie would stick to the plastic. Icing on them sucks. Out. Loud.
So I’m on the search for a good recipe for half moon cookies. No problem with the frosting because I have a totally to die for buttercream frosting from my Mom’s old Duncan Hines baking book. But the cake cookie part should be interesting. I’ve spent time online at the Syracuse Post-Standard archives looking for half moon cookie recipes. I’m hoping to have a good recipe in time for Valentine’s Day. Shhhh, don’t tell, okay? And blogging friends, I would be more than happy to send you some each, but like I said they can’t be wrapped if they’re made right. You have to eat them fresh.
An ad I found in the Syracuse Herald-Journal
for half moon cookies at the Mohican store
in the 1940’s for $0.30 a dozen! Mmmmm!
Soooo, have you ever heard of half moon cookies, or [cough] black and whites? Or have you ever tried making them?
Pam, I haven’t heard of half-moon cookies but they sound delicious. In Maryland, there is a cookie company called “Berger Cookies”. They are a soft-cake cookie with loads of chocolate fudge frosting on top. Too rich for me but most people love them. Gina had a box shipped to Michael for Christmas. I hope you find your cookie!
Half Moon Cookies
1 cup sour milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Bake at 350 degrees F. 10 minutes on greased cookie sheet.
I have never heard of them either, but then again, I am fully a G.R.I.T.S (girl raised in the South!), but if I hear of any, I’ll be sure to let you know Pam. I wonder if they are known by another name down this way? :c)
hmm, look good but not sure what half I would eat first!
Mary – mmmm, they are, when they’re made right! The cookie you described kinda sounds like it.
Jayne – LOL! Let me know! I only know of them as half moon cookies, half and halves or black and whites.
Mon@rch – now, there’s a trick to it that I figured out when I was a kid. Take a bite of the white side. Take a bite of the chocolate side. Continue, leaving the mix of the two in the middle, which is also an overlap of the two frostings. That makes for a perfect ending to the perfect cookie!
I love my Half Moons! There are tons of recipes out there but I’ve found one I like. You can find it here. (I hope I did that link right.) You can sour milk with vinegar but for me they have to have real buttermilk! I use the buttermilk in the frosting too.
Found you through Mrs. Mecomber’s place. I’m always happy to find other CNY bloggers.
Funny that you mention Halfmoon cookies. I just bought some tonight from my local market, but then again I grew up in Upstate New York so I can understand what you mean about other people not knowing about them. When I was in Florida my friends didn’t have a clue. Let us know if you find a recipe
You will find a good receipe for black and white cookies in George Greensteins, “Secrets of a Jewish Baker,” Crossing Press 1993. The book can be located on Amazon.com if you cannot find it at your local bookstore.
As with pizza in New York State, black and white cookies (or halfmoon cookies) take on regional differences. I’ve given friends in WNY cookies baked using Greensteins receipe and they have enjoyed them.
My heart did a little skip when I saw the ad for the Mohican…I grew up in Elmira, NY and have been trying to find the recipe for Elmira’s Mohican Market Half Moon cookies..big, soft, chocolate-y, butter cream-y, yummy, cookies that defy description of deliciousness! One thing they are not…they are not NY Black and Whites…they are only Half Moon Cookies and ne’er to be confused with those pale sisters! The search goes on for the recipe here in Ohio!
I grew up in Upstate NY and I ate halfmoon cookies ALL the time, we got them at Green Hills Grocers all the time. I love them, and now living in Ohio, you cannot find them. No matter what they look like, they are by far one of the best tasting cookies of all time….and lets not forget salt potatoes!
I also grew up in Syracuse right near Green Hills. Now I live in the mid-west and whenever we get back there which isn’t often, we make a trip to Green Hills to get some authentic half-moon cookies. Our mom used to make them too and they were pretty good. When we visited Manhattan last year several of the deli’s sold “black and white” cookies but they were not as good as Green Hills’. We also found some fairly good ones at a Wegmans in Dewitt.
I wonder if Green Hills would ever ship them? hmmmm.
Did you ever find the recipe? I’m now in SC and grew up in LaFayette and know exactly what your talking about. My parents just came down and brought some down from Mimi’s Bakery in Syracuse. Unfortunately they are no where near as good as they use to be, but it is the true fluffy frosting rather than that glaze junk. There is a recipe in one of Martha Stewats Baking Handbook for the cookie, but never found a good frosting recipe.
Good luck finding your cookie recipe.
I’d give my eye teeth for the Mohican Market’s DATE NUT BREAD recipe I remember from the 30’s and 40’s!
Could anyone help me please????????
I found a recipe at Recipelink.com. Have not tried it yet. It is described as
Hemstrough Bakery chocolate half moon cookies. They sound right. And you are quite right, those pale imitation black and white cookies are NOT the same.
I grew up in rome, ny and the greatest half moons where made by Hemstroughts bakery. You can get the recipe by going to: http://www.recipelink.com/msgid/1423841
I have tried this and it is just like buying them at the bakery. It does take a little work but if you want the real thing it is worth it.
I’m from Syracuse, right behind Green Hills store. I have a recipe for half-moon cookies that my Syracuse (then) sister-in-law gave me, in 1973. I can buy Black ‘n Whites here in Tallahassee that are pretty good copy cats of the Syracuse half-moons, so I don’t make them but I will post the recipe here for you later today (8/6/08). And you are right, these cookies cannot be covered with plastic or stored on top of one another, successfully.
Half Moon Cookies
1 cup sour milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1/2 tsp.salt
3 cups flour
1tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking
1 tsp. soda
1 tsp. vanilla
Cream sugar and shortening; add eggs; beat well. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add soda to the milk. Add this alternately with the flour mixture; add vanilla. Drop by good-sized tablespoons onto sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes. Frost each with chocolate and vanilla frosting.
Cheryl Haver
I just found a recipe for half-moons in my Moyer’s Corners FD auxiliary cookbook (circa 1987) . It includes a recipe for butter frosting for the cookies. If you want to e-mail me at tallahaver@comcast.net I can send it to you. I can’t figure out how to display it here.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/25371466@N00/2747192370/
Here is a photo of the real thing… From Hemstrought’s in Utica. I grew up in WNY, but plenty of family from Utica. Lots of Half-moons in my childhood, and when we go to the family reunion. My mom took this photo at the reunion in ‘07 to rub it in, I couldn’t go. This year there were no half-moons. I’m sure other places in CNY make them, but Hemstrought’s is apparently closed for good, and they are no longer available at Walmart or BJs were they were being sold (that’s the rumor anyway).
I’ve already downloaded the recipe that andrew links to above, and will try to make some here in Houston.
These are looking like the real thing. The big question is what is the real thing recipe? I’m from Syracuse and didn’t have the pleasure of the Hemstrough Bakery. I did…3-4 years ago find a gal who actually made the cookie mix, and shipped it. They were 65%, my half-moon from SYR. I am happy to know you, Houston, I’m in Tallahassee.
I grew up in Rome, but have lived a couple hours north for the past 25+ yrs. I own a restaurant & bakery, and have been imploring my bakers to make half moons. My main baker is from the Albany/Saratoga area, and she made a black & white… (eh, well, some of you have very accurately described the disappointing ‘comparison’) I couldn’t seem to convince her what a fabulous treat a real half moon was, and despite the extraordinarily wonderful creations she produces, try after try, she just didn’t get the half moon – leading me to believe it was just going to be left as an old happy memory. I finally came upon this and several other websites about half moons… YEAH!!! I’m so excited that others share the passion, and that it was, in fact, a pretty regional thing! I, too, came across Hemstrought’s recipelink.com recipe. Whether it is the actual recipe or not, its pretty darned close, and it gave us enough insight to get it right! Between yours and others’ descriptions, we finally have the half moon of my childhood! If anyone visits Potsdam, NY, stop in to Scoopuccino’s and have a half moon!
I’m looking for a half-moon recipe too! It has to be a rich chocolate cookie with fluffy frosting. As I remember I had one and it use sour milk too! I’ll try the one listed above. Many bakeries in Cortland, NY had them when I grew up. I remember the Home Dairy and they had everything!!
Thank you all so very much for the recipes! I’ll have to try them! We got out to Green Hills a few weeks ago and I bought half-moon cookies for a picnic (I should have taken a photo) and they were devoured rather quickly! Green Hills is so smart – they put the price label on the bottom of the container so nobody would flip the container over and ruin the frosting. It would be so nice if they would ship them, but I don’t think they’d make it through the shipping in good shape!
Aine – My aunt had a to die for recipe for date nut bread, and I even made it with her once, and when she passed away the recipe passed with her. I will search for the Mohican Market recipe! I love a good date nut bread – there’s nothing like it!!
I stumbled across this website while looking for a real half-moon cookie recipe. I grew up in Ithaca, NY and have great memories of Home Dairy’s half-moon cookies and fried cinnamon rolls. Nice to know that others out there know what a real half-moon is….the black and white cookie just won’t do!
You haven’t had a half-moon cookie until you have one from Harrison Bakery also in Syracuse New York. I wish I could find their recipe. Now that was a half moon cookie. There was also Snowflake Pastry Bakery, but that is no longer there. Man thinking of half moons make me hungry.
WOW! I go looking for a simple Half Moon Cookie recipe and find all this nostalgia. I grew up in Poughkeepsie and haven’t had a Half Moon cookie in about 50 years since I was forced to move to Oklahoma. My Mom bought them for us at Mohican’s and I always got them when I was back visiting in NY (Cortland, Syracuse, and LaFayette – cousing lived there). And I have always eaten them the same way Monarch does – black bite, white bite, etc. and zip right down the middle. Now, which recipe do I use???
I’m so glad I’m not alone! Another from CNY/Rome here (now in Ohio) who grew up with Hemstrought’s and MAN I miss them! The only version of “black and whites” resemble the above picture. Awful. Thanks for all the leads to recipes! =)
Half Moon cookies are so delicious! I haven’t had one in over 27 years though =( I’m originally from Waverly, NY and my grandparents always had Half Moon cookies in the house. Thanks for your post and the great memories.
-Sean
I’m originally from Liverpool, but have lived in Texas for 15 years. I occasionally look for a recipes for half moon cookies and until reading the blog, Ididn’t realize they were a CNY thing. That explains why I have not seen the cookies or recipes anywhere. I’m looking forward to experimenting with a few recipes and introducing my husband and daughter to one of my childhood favorites.
I am also from Ithaca and grew up with the Home Dairy’s half moon cookies. Have never found anything that came close and was absolutely devastated when I went home to visit one year and found they had gone out of business. please let me know if anyone finds the perfect recipe to the perfect half moon cookie.
HALF-MOON COOKIES (HEMSTROUGHT’S BAKERY)
Source: Saveur Magazine, March 1999
MAKES ABOUT 30
Hemstrought’s Bakery generously shared its recipe with us, but we had to adapt the quantities: The original makes 2,400 cookies!
FOR THE COOKIES:
3 3/4 cups flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
2 1/4 cup sugar
16 tbsp. margarine, cut into pieces
3/4 cup cocoa, sifted
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups milk
FOR THE FUDGE ICING:
3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate
1 tbsp. butter
4 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 tbsp. corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
Pinch salt
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM ICING:
7 cups confectioners’ sugar
16 tbsp. room temperature butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
7 tbsp. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
Pinch salt
FOR THE COOKIES:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, baking powder, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside. Put sugar, margarine, cocoa, and salt in bowl of standing mixer and beat on medium speed until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and continue to beat. Add half the milk, then half the flour mixture, beating after each addition until smooth; repeat with remaining milk and flour mixture. Spoon or pipe batter onto parchment-lined baking sheets, making 3-inch rounds 2-inches apart.
Bake until cookies are set, about 12 minutes. Allow to cool, then remove from parchment.
FOR THE FUDGE ICING:
Melt bittersweet and semisweet chocolates and butter in the top of a double boiler over simmering water over medium heat. Add confectioners’ sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, salt, and 6 tbsp. boiling water and mix to a smooth, stiff paste with a rubber spatula. Thin icing with up to 8 tbsp. more boiling water. Icing should fall from a spoon in thick ribbons. Keep icing warm in a double boiler over low heat.
FOR THE BUTTERCREAM ICING:
Put sugar, butter, shortening, milk, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer. Beat on low speed to mix, then increase to medium and beat until light and fluffy.
TO FROST THE COOKIES:
Using a metal spatula, spread about 1 tbsp. of warm fudge icing on half of the flat side of each cookie. Spread the other half of each cookie with 1 heaping tbsp. buttercream icing.
Hello there!
I Just wanted to let you know that my father owns Gingerbread Bake Shop in New Hartford, NY. We make the world’s best halfmoons, hands down. I can personally guarantee that.
We use white icing (buttercream) and dark chocolate. The way they should be. Never frozen or day old (you can tell by how they taste!). Give us a try, I know anyone who tried would be pleased.
We are also working on a website to ship them out in the near future.
Does the Gingerbread Bake Shop have a website? I would love to order some to be shipped if that’s possible.
Thanks!
Hello,
I grew up in the Syracuse, NY area. Almost every Sunday my father would go to Snowflake Baker, in Syracuse. He would buy bagels, onion rolls, black bread – and occasionally we would get half-moon cookies as a special treat. Those cookies are such a huge memory from my childhood! I now live in Arizona and as luck would have it, I have found a bakery here (called “New York West”) and they have all the same kinds of baked goods I grew up on – including half-moon cookies!
Nan
I also grew up in the Utica/Rome area and remember these cookies from Hemstroughts Bakery. My mother loved them so we would get them a lot when I was a kid. I live in New Orleans now and even though this city is the capital of food, nobody knows what a Half Moon cookie is. I made them and took them to work one day and nobody touched them. I guess they didn’t know what they were missing!
Hemstrought Bakery is it – hands down – nothing compares
Berger cookies are horrible, Black and Whites are a waste.
I found this recipe today… I can’t wait to try it:
http://www.recipelink.com/cgi/msgbrd/msg_script.pl?printer=1&board=14&thread=23841
This is the same recipe that is typed out above.
I grew up outside of Syracuse New York and love Half Moon Cookies. I live in California now and I have only seen the kind you described above with the hard icing on them….not even the same. Today I got a box for my birthday and inside….one dozen half moon cookies from Rochester, New York!!!! My sister found them online at a site called NewYorkStyleDeli.com
Now my only objection would be they are chocolate cake but the frosting is the best so I didn’t even mind. They are around 18.00 a dozen plus shipping and they came in a cold packed box, 3 to a container. I ate two while I was talking on the phone thanking her….I think you will like them.
Thanks, Ladies, for sharing all of these recipes! My husband is from Chittenango, NY and grew up eating the Half Moon cookies his Mom made. I met him in Pa and now we live in NC where we still can’t find the perfect half moon cookie! We came close the other day at Ferrucci’s Old Tyme Italian Market, although they called them black and whites (and they are from NY!). My husband said that they were close to the real thing.
I’m going to try the bakery recipe that’s printed here. I hope that he likes them!
Oh my gosh! Now I am REALLY craving a half moon. I grew up in Ithaca, NY, and ate half moons and home fries at the Home Dairy on the commons weekly. I miss them terribly. I need the recipe! I might just have to break my rule about flying and head back to Ithaca from my home in Indianapolis……
I too grew up in Ithaca. I was introduced to Half Moons by my english teacher Ms. Jacobsen, afet a very bad day at school. The Home Dairy made the best by far! Sadly the Home Dairy was sold and is now a restaurant. No more Half Moon Cookies.
I too grew up in Ithaca. I was introduced to Half Moons by my english teacher Ms. Jacobsen, after a very bad day at school. The Home Dairy made the best by far! Sadly the Home Dairy was sold and is now a restaurant. No more Half Moon Cookies.
I love half moon cookies. But in Western Ny we have the kind with the icing you say you don’t like.
I have to echo Cheryl’s recipe – it is Harrison’s Bakery’s recipe. My wife and I grew up in Syracuse and now live in NYC – Black and White cookies? In NYC???? Yuccchhh….NOTHING like Harrison Half Moons! My wife uses the same recipe and the cookie is soft and cakelike, the frosting a nice buttercreamy consistency that does form a bit of a “crust” – again, JUST like Harrison’s. She has made them for family gatherings here in NYC with friends and the NYC people are dumbfounded – the BEST “black and white” cookie they have EVER had. Harrison could make a MINT flying their cookies every morning to NYC and sellling them here.
Hemstrought’s cookies call for cocoa – true half moons are vanilla cake. True Harrison had chocolated ones but they were outsold by the vanilla many times over.
Chekc out Cheryl Haver’s recipe – 8/8/08 – it is the REAL thing ladies.
Frosting recipe
Chocolate Icing:
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla
Combine all ingredients in a mixer and beat until smooth.
White Icing:
Combine in a mixing bowl and beat until creamy:
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons softened butter
Add and beat until smooth:
3 to 5 tablespoons milk
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
Dash of salt.
Yeah…I’m a happy camper now! Grew up in Lyncourt (Syracuse) and farther north in Altmar. My great-grandmother from Booneville made the best half-moons and I’ve lost her recipe. Cheryl’s is it! Nothing better! Black and Whites are simply nothing worth eating!Thank you! I’m off to get baking.
[...] 30, 2009 by Pam Okay, it isn’t just me. Half-Moon cookies rock, Black and Whites, not so much. Check out Sean Kirst’s blog about Half-Moon [...]