Bakeries, Superettes and Softball

...the memories of my east coast summers, complete with recipes

The East Paterson Bakery. I guess when your product speaks for itself, you don’t need fancy, catchy names. I’m gonna get back to the bakery in a second but let me digress into another store for a moment. A few storefronts down from the bakery was Lil’s Delicatessen. The moment you walked into Lil’s, it was like you entered an alternate universe. For me, it was something about the cross between the aroma of paper bags mixed with homemade potato salad and the brown roll of shelf paper they used. Every single summer BBQ we had was preceded by a trip to Lil’s. Me and my dad jumped into the scandalous brown Supra…you remember that story…and would head to pick up all the stuff. Potato salad and cole slaw and hands down, the most amazing macaroni salad I’ve ever had. Please don’t message me and tell me it’s pasta salad because if you’re from northern NJ, it’s macaroni salad and that’s not up for debate. It was also a small sort of superette and had several aisles filled with canned goods and sodas and the best homemade bread you’ve ever had. They packed up everything in these brown paper bags that had one of the most unique smells I’ve ever experienced. Dad and I would load up the car and head home to set up the yellow and white striped umbrella over the picnic table and get ready for the hot dog and hamburger fest to begin.

But like I said, this is more about that bakery next door. It was the epitome of an original, old school, east coast, corner bakery. Fresh bread baked every day with the largest assortment of cookies by the pound I had ever seen. Everyone always seemed to favor the sprinkle cookies that had the chocolate or jelly filled middles but I guess I’ve always been pretty boring because I wanted the plain sprinkle cookies. But they had to be the cookies with the rainbow sprinkles…not just the chocolate sprinkles. Yep, I had a touch of OCD even back then. My mom would buy several pounds of them at a time for my brother and I and they still never seemed to last too long. They packed them up in that big, white bakery box with the red and white string and as soon as we got into the car we ripped into that box like animals. I asked for those cookies for every birthday party, every special occasion, every good report card. I couldn’t wait until I got to the bottom of the box and it was covered with all the sprinkles that had fallen off and I would lick my finger and eat up all that sugary goodness.

One of my favorite memories of those cookies was when I was about 13 years old. Every summer, my town all star softball team loaded onto a bus and drove down to South Jersey for a double elimination weekend tournament. It was hotter then the seventh circle of hell in July, but hey…we were Jersey girls. Games started on Friday night and you kept playing until you lost two games. As an aside from the cookies, the first game of the tournament, first pitch of the game, the batter blasted the ball over the center field fence like it was on fire. My center fielder, Lisa Troisi, jumped the fence, got the ball, launched it to the cutoff and we had the girl out at home plate by a mile. The home plate umpire called a ground rule home run and that may have been the first time a fiery competitive streak boiled up in me…also probably the first time I displayed what a real girl from Jersey looks like when she’s pissed. In the end it all worked out because the next time she got up to bat, I struck the bitch out with such a spot on change up she swung so hard she about drilled herself into the ground…and we won the game. Marlboro Township 12U league can still kiss my ass for that one.

A few summers after that memorable game in South Jersey.

But back to the cookie part of the story. During this weekend tournament, there was a fierce competition between the players and the coaches to see who could pull off the best practical joke. The players would get the parent chaperones involved and one time we even convinced the hotel staff to raise one of our coaches bras to the top of the flagpole on Saturday morning. I think we won with that one that particular year. But prior to that, my mom had loaded me up with 5 lbs of sprinkle cookies that were supposed to last us through the weekend. Yeah, right. By Saturday night, we had polished off all the cookies and there was about an inch of sprinkles left at the bottom of the box.

Now, I had a pitching coach that I loved dearly and he was so much fun. He knew the exact balance of me needing to be kicked in the ass and needing just a little soft encouragement. I remember whenever I would get overwhelmed or feel the pressure and was absolutely almost frozen with fear, he would pick up a rock and tell me to put it in my back pocket. He said any time I felt like I was going to cry…like it was all too much…to touch that rock and make myself as hard as that rock. Tough as stone and nothing would break me. I think I carried a rock in my back pocket for the next six years I played competitive softball and it got me through some pretty high stress games. When my son started to play baseball, I did the same with him and told him the same thing. Coach DeBernardo was the best…they just don’t make them like him anymore.

Anyway…we decided to sneak into his room during their coaches meeting and dump all the cookie crumbs into his bed and pull the covers back up. The next morning, I was solely blamed for pulling off this prank because I had brought the box of cookies on the trip and I was a starting pitcher…how much trouble was I REALLY going to get into…The other coaches had taken pictures of him getting into bed and the look on his face and I will still say I was happy to take the blame for it…because it was hysterical. I think he got me back by making me wear that black reflective shit under my eyes for the next few games because I hated it. It was messy and it would smear every time I wiped my face and I always bitched about it. But still, well worth it.

Second to only these sprinkle cookies were the old school black and whites. I thought everyone knew what black and white cookies were but when I moved to Arizona and posted a picture of the ones I made, I had a friend message me and say, “Hey…could you make me some of those brown and white cookies,” and I swear I almost said no because I was horrified by what she called them. Brown and whites? Like, literally stop it.

Black and white cookies are the quintessential cookie of a northeast bakery. They’re more cake then cookie and are so dense, they have a sort of curve to the bottom of them. The flat tops are split in half with one side being iced vanilla and one side covered in a rich chocolate frosting and if you have even one brain cell, you calculate how to eat the entire cookie while getting a little bit of both sides into one bite. It’s the Rubik’s Cube of cookies. There are many, MANY imitations. Pre packaged ones and ones sold out here at one of the most famous NY deli’s in Arizona…and they suck. They’re hard and crumbly and the chocolate is brittle and the vanilla is tasteless and they are definitely NOT worth the calories that come along with it. So if you live in Arizona and want real, legit black and white cookies, give me a call. I got you.

It took me a few tries to get the recipe just right, but I definitely nailed it. They’re cakey and sweet with just the smallest hint of lemon flavor and I’ve even made them into mini’s.

The Greatest Cookie Ever Invented

So I’m going to share these two east coast favorite recipes with y’all. Let’s go:

Old Fashioned Bakery Rainbow Sprinkle Cookies

1 cup butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

4 oz cream cheese (softened)

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 cups flour

1/2 cup rainbow sprinkles

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add cream cheese, egg and vanilla and continue to cream together until light yellow and fluffy. Slowly add in your dry ingredients and lastly mix in your sprinkles until well combined. Using a small ice cream scoop, or a large one if you want large cookies, scoop your cookie dough onto a baking sheet about two inches apart. Use the flat bottom of a glass to press your cookie dough flat and bake at 325 degrees for 14-18 minutes or until slightly brown at the edges.

Inhale the cookies with copious amounts of super cold milk.

Black and White Cookies

For the Cookies:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 cups cake flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/4 sticks butter, slightly softened

4 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp FRESHLY GRATED LEMON ZEST (this is the key to a perfect black and white)

3/4 cup buttermilk

Combine your eggs and sugar until your mixture becomes super light yellow and fluffy. Then add in your butter and combine thoroughly. Mix in the lemon zest and vanilla extract.

Aside from the fresh lemon zest, the key to a perfect black and white cookie is the cake flour. Cake flour has a significantly lower gluten content than regular flour, which will result in a softer, cakier cookie. I know it’s not a common ingredient people have in their homes, but please take the time to go to any grocery store and buy some…your cookies will not be the same without it. It’s located right next to the regular flour, usually in a box.

Slowly alternate adding your dry ingredients and your buttermilk to the egg, sugar and butter mixture. When complete, your batter should be a bit thicker than a cake batter but in no way a dough. You should be able to scoop the batter with an ice cream scoop and have it stay in soft mounds on your cookie sheet. Place your cookies about three inches apart, as they will flatten out and then rise during the baking process. Bake at 350 degrees for 14-18 minutes or until the top of the domes are no longer shiny and wet. Move cookies to a cooling rack and leave flat side up. While the cookies are cooling, prepare your icings.

Vanilla Icing

2 cups powdered sugar

2-3 tbsp hot milk

1 tbsp light corn syrup

1 tsp CLEAR vanilla extract. It is important to use CLEAR vanilla or your white frosting will be brown. It’s readily available at any grocery store right next to the regular vanilla.

Using a larger bowl then needed, combine all ingredients and mix together with a whisk. Powdered sugar can be messy, so using a larger bowl will give you more space to work with. Icing should be somewhat creamy and not runny. Using a small offset spatula, cover one half of the cookie with your vanilla icing and let dry.

Chocolate Icing

1 1/2 ounces semi sweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

1 tbsp butter

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tbsp boiling water. Water MUST be boiling or your chocolate will seize when you add the water to it and the entire mixture will need to go in the trash and you have to start again. With the price of chocolate these days, this can be a very costly screw up. Take the time to do it right the first time.

1 tbsp light corn syrup

3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

I loathe actual double boilers so I make my own. Fill a small pot 1/4 way with water and put it on the stove on low heat. Place a metal bowl on top of your pot and fill with the chocolate and butter. Stir continuously until the chocolate is melted and super smooth with no lumps. I find melting chocolate on the stove to be much easier and more consistent in giving me a perfect melt. Remove the chocolate from the heat and add the remaining ingredients, stirring until you have a smooth chocolate icing, the same consistency as you vanilla. Using the same offset spatula, cover the remaining half of your cookie.

These cookies are heaven any way you eat them but with a cup of coffee for breakfast or during times of great stress, these will fix any problem you can conjure, or at least make you feel just a little better getting through it. Bake em up and tag me in your pics and reach out for advice…I’m happy to help!

I love bakeries. The ones of my childhood. The ones I have yet to find anywhere in Arizona. So if you have any suggestions…bring them to me. Though I am confident my black and white is better than any store bought one west of Chicago. I said what I said.

My favorite sprinkle cookies and the day I perfected the black and white cookie, shiny tops and a thick, cakey texture

With love and sweet thoughts,

Krissi