Black and White Cake Cookies

Yields: 24 cookies | 2 pts per serving

My rating:

Cooking Light has done it again... These are absolutely outstanding!! Just as delicious as the ones you'd buy at a bakery. For 2 points per cookie, you can't beat these. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Cookies:

1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup applesauce
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large egg whites

Frosting:
1.5 cups powdered sugar, divided
3 tablespoons 2% reduced-fat milk, divided (I use skim)
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt, stirring with a whisk.

Place applesauce in a fine sieve; let stand 15 minutes. (I drained mine on a thick stack of papertowels instead, and it worked great!)

Combine drained applesauce, granulated sugar, and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until well blended. Beat in vanilla and egg whites. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed until blended.

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto parchment-lined baking sheets. (I just used a cookie sheet sprayed w/fat-free cooking spray.) Bake at 375° for about 10 minutes or until set (not browned). Cool on pans 2 minutes or until firm. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks. (Place in fridge to cool faster.)

To prepare frosting, combine 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, and almond extract in a bowl, stirring well with a whisk until smooth. Working with 1 cookie at a time, hold cookie over bowl and spread about 1 teaspoon white frosting over half of cookie (scrape excess frosting from edges). Try to frost them as fast as you can, before the frosting starts to harden in the bowl. Let stand 10 minutes or until frosting is set.

Combine 3/4 cup powdered sugar and cocoa in a bowl. Gradually add 2 tablespoons milk, stirring with a whisk until smooth. Working with 1 cookie at a time, hold cookie over bowl and spread about 1 teaspoon chocolate frosting over other half of cookie (scrape excess frosting from edges). Let stand 10 minutes or until frosting is set.

Yield: 2 dozen cookies (serving size: 1 cookie)

Nutritional Info from Cooking Light: (per cookie) NUTRITION PER SERVING: CALORIES 106(17% from fat); FAT 2g (sat 1.2g,mono 0.6g,poly 0.1g); PROTEIN 1.3g; CHOLESTEROL 5mg; CALCIUM 14mg; SODIUM 100mg; FIBER 0.4g; IRON 0.4mg; CARBOHYDRATE 21.4g (2 points per cookie)

Source: Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2002