The Darlings and Black and White Cookies

I zoomed through Christina Alger's The Darlings.  The book felt like the perfect combination of the New York Times coverage of the financial crisis and a "Gossip Girl" like CW drama.  The book was inspired by the Madoff scandal and is an imagining of what goes on behind the scenes when a family is brought down by secrets and lies.  The Darlings, the stars of the novel, are a long established New York family with a patriarch, Carter,  who runs a successful hedge fund - Delphic  Carter is married to a beautiful but difficult Brazilian, Ines, and they have two grown daughters.  Much of the novel is told from the perspective of Paul, who is both an insider and outsider to the family  - he is married to Carter's daughter Merrill  - and also works for the family's hedge fund in the always dangerous role of general counsel.  Alger creates both a real financial thriller (who did what, who knew what) and a classic melodrama (will Paul's marriage survive the crisis, what will happen to Carter's mistress, an SEC official charged with investigating him).  I read this on a plane, it was absolutely perfect for that purpose.  These little black and white cookies are a tribute to another main character in the book - New York, and are mentioned as a favorite of Merrill Darling, who is thrown hard by the scandal.  These little cookies are different than the black and white cookies in my neck of the woods - the Boston area.  Here they are called half moons and are bigger, more cakey and covered in a thick buttercream frosting rather than a thin glaze.  I am most definitely partial to the New England version, but these have there charms too.

The Darlings begins when Morty Reis, a famous investor and major feeder to the Darling family hedge fund jumps off the Tappen Zee bridge.  This tragic event sets in motion investigations that eventually reveal that Morty was a fraud and that Delphic is essentially a big Ponzi scheme.  While we know someone did something wrong, Alger builds the novel around the mystery of who is really responsible for the scandal and who, in the end, will pay - the perpetrators of the fraud or the innocents caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Alger paces the novel well, pushing the reader to quickly flip the pages to find out what happens next.  While the story of the financial scheme behind the Darlings sure sounds like the Madoffs, the Darling family is very different  - they are waspy, high society types who are firmly part of the New York establish.  Even in the fact of the crisis, there isn't much depth to the Darlings, and even the characters that surround them - like Paul - lack uniqueness and heart.  While this novel was really enjoyable, it was definitely light reading, and could easily have been a long Vanity Fair article.  That said, if you have a flight sometime soon and need distraction, The Darlings will do the trick.

Black and White Cookies,  adapted from epicurious.com

Ingredients
Cookie
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup (5 1/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

1 to 2 tablespoons water

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Directions:

1. For the cookies, preheat oven to 350.  Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Meanwhile, stir together the buttermilk and vanilla in a small bowl or measuring cup.
4. In a standing mixture with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy, 4 minutes.  Add the egg, beat until combined.
5. With the mixer on low speed, alternative adding the flour and the buttermilk until just mixed.  Begin and end with the flour.
6.  Using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, spoon 1/4 cup a batter on the parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Bake in middle of oven until the tops of the cookies are rounded and springy, 15-18 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
9. For the glaze: Stir together the confectioners sugar, the corn syrup, the lemon juice, the vanilla and 1 tablespoon of water in a small bowl.
10. Transfer half of the glaze into another bowl, add the cocoa powder and stir.  Add more water, a little at a time, until it is the same consistency as the vanilla glaze.
11. When the cookies are cooled, flip so they are flat side up. 
12. Use an offset spatula to spread the icing on each side - half vanilla, half chocolate.
13. Let glaze set before serving.