Black & orange cookies: the Halloween shortbread twist on a bakery classic

The black & white cookie gets a Halloween makeover with this black & orange version from the Delish Test Kitchen. It keeps the signature two-tone look but swaps the soft cake base for a buttery orange shortbread spiked with cardamom and studded with chewy candied orange peel, then dips each cookie halfway in dark chocolate.

The base is the real star. While a classic black & white cookie is dry and cakey, these are a proper shortbread — crisp at the edges, tender in the middle, and fragrant with orange zest and a half-teaspoon of ground cardamom. Developer Makinze Gore calls chocolate and orange “extremely underrated” and says the cookies are “hard not to eat all of them before they can get dipped in chocolate.”

You start by beating softened butter, confectioners’ sugar, orange zest and vanilla until creamy, then mixing in flour, salt and cardamom. The dough gets rolled into a 10-inch log, chilled for at least an hour, and sliced a half-inch thick. The rounds bake for 12 to 14 minutes at 350° until the edges go golden.

The halfway dip

Once the cookies cool, you melt dark chocolate chips with a teaspoon of vegetable oil — microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between, about 90 seconds total. Spread the chocolate over just half of each cookie with an offset spatula, then finish with flaky sea salt and a bit of fresh orange zest before popping them in the fridge to set.

The one ingredient to shop for is candied orange peel. You can make it yourself, but Gore recommends buying the kind coated in granulated sugar rather than the ones packed in syrup. Find it in specialty stores or online.

Best of all, they keep for five days in an airtight container at room temperature, which makes them ideal for a Friendsgiving or holiday cookie swap. The dough also chills happily in the fridge for up to three days, so you can slice off a few at a time. The full recipe makes about 20 cookies at roughly 200 calories each.