What is this dipped powder cookie called?

Question

After hunting around online for "black and white cookies" and "powdered sugar and cocoa powder cookies", I can't find what kind of cookie I am looking for.

Not the black and white glazed cookie:

I am thinking of a cookie I had as a kid that is made of a slightly sweet, heavy, and egg-sized lump of dough. The lump of dough is baked, and then one half is dipped in powdered sugar, and the other half is dipped in cocoa powder. Then you eat it.

If you can help me figure out what it is called, I can send pictures of the cookies once I make them :)

Answer 1

Found it!

The recipe was in a book at my house called Cookies and published by Reader's Digest (ISBN: 0-7621-0593-3).

This recipe is typed up verbatim from the source mentioned above.

Two-Tone Cookies

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon milk

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter two cookie sheets. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the center. Add the butter, sugar, eggs, and milk. Use your hands to knead the mixture into a smooth dough. Form the dough into balls the size of walnuts and place 1 inch apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until just golden, rotating the sheets halfway through for even baking. Transfer to racks and let cool completely. Dip half of each cookie in the confectioners' sugar and the remaining half in the cocoa.

Makes 26 cookies. Prep: 35 min. Cooking: 15-20 min. Level: 1. Keeps 5 days.

I made the cookies a couple nights ago- they are a bit time-consuming to bake and dip, but I ended up with the cookies that I remembered- light and covered half with cocoa powder and half with confectioners' sugar. I used little bowls of powder to dip the cookies in. Here is a picture that I took of the finished cookie:

In terms of eating them, I recommend eating the entire cookie in one bite. If you decide to have a little nibble, you won't really enjoy the whole mixture of the flavors of the cocoa and the sugar at once :) Enjoy.

Answer 2

Your fond recollection sounds like a variation on the Russian tea cake. Here's the Betty Crocker recipe (and photo below).

Now, without powdered sugar underneath, the cocoa-dipped end would probably have been bitter. So if you remember it as being sweet but just less sweet than the sugar-dipped end, it's very likely the cookie was first rolled entirely in powdered sugar (just as this recipe suggests) and then dipped in cocoa powder as a finishing touch . Also, if the size and shape varied a bit from what's in this photo, this was probably at your baker's discretion as it's easier to dip something a bit oblong than it is to dip something spheric.