Chocolate Half Moon Cookies
Feb 12th, 2006 by Andrea | Print This Post
These are a favorite from my husband’s childhood. When we go to visit his parents at the family camp, he always requests half moon cookies from the family’s favorite bakery, Harrison Bakery in Syracuse. In fact when I asked his mother for the recipe, she said that she didn’t make them because they have always bought the cookies at Harrison. They come in both chocolate and vanilla versions, but my husband’s favorite is the chocolate.
Equipment
stand mixer with paddle attachment
#40 cookie scoop (1-1/2 tablespoons), or you may use a larger #20 scoop if you want larger cookies (3 tablespoons)
baking sheets lined with parchment paper
Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2 cups cake flour
3 heaping tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, 2%
Butter Frosting
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons hot milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate, melted (reserve for chocolate frosting)
Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Cream together sugar, brown sugar, and shortening. Add egg and mix until combined.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder until cocoa is distributed throughout. Add to wet ingredients and alternate with milk a little at a time and mix until thoroughly combined. The mixture will resemble a thick cake batter.
4. Scoop and drop onto lined cookie sheet. Shake cookie sheet slightly to allow batter to settle down.
5. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and remove from oven. Allow cookies to sit on pan for a minute or two before removing and placing on a wire rack to cool.
6. Turn the cookie over and frost the back side of the cookie with vanilla frosting on one half and chocolate frosting on the other half. I usually put on a thin layer, a crumb layer, at first and let it firm up. Then I add a second layer. This keeps the crumbs from mixing into the top layer of frosting and makes the cookies prettier.
Frosting
1. Combine all ingredients except the cocoa. Beat until smooth.
2. Divide mixture in half. Add melted chocolate to half of the frosting and stir well. Keep the frosting slightly warmer than room temperature for easier spreading.
Notes
Makes 30 cookies.
I wrap each cookie individually in plastic wrap once the frosting is set. This helps the cookies keep longer.
Do not refrigerate the cookies, or they will be hard, like cold cake.
The frosting recipe is slightly different from others I’ve found. Most of the frosting recipes I’ve seen are simple water and sugar glazes, but my husband prefers the buttercream frosting.
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Source: adapted from a recipe in the Syracuse Post-Standard, 2003 and a few others I found on the Internet
My boyfriend is also an Upstate New Yorker, and is a Half Moon Cookie fiend! A friend found some packaged cookies at a store in the DC area, which prompted some searching for recipes for the cookies so we could make them at home. Your site, and references to Syracuse made him feel right at home and the recipe a soon to be favorite! Thanks!
Great! I hope that you and your boyfriend enjoy them.
ANDREA,
i WAS JUST LOOKING FOR A HALF MOON COOKIE RECEIPE BECAUSE I HAD THEM WHEN I WAS A CHILD AND I AM ALSO FROM SYRACUSE AND HAD THEM SO MUCH WHEN I WAS A CHILD, NOW THAT WE LIVE IN ALABAMA NOBODY HERE HAS EVER HEARD OF THEM. MY MY WHAT A SMALL WORLD
I’ve tried your recipe for choc. half moon cookies and my family loved them and yes I’m from upstate NY. Great recipe.
Andrea:
Hi and thanks for sharing this recipe!!! Whenever I visit Syracuse, NY, my first stop is Harrison Bakery for some Half Moon Cookies!!! Nobody has heard of them out here in Colorado!
Thank you so much! This is a wonderful recipe.
THANK YOU! I will spread the cookies to NC and yes I grew up in Elmira - Just an hour south of Syracuse
I also grew up in upstate NY and now live in Southeast Louisiana. I was shocked when I first moved here and nobody had heard of Half Moon cookies. I’ve tried making them but can’t seem to get the cookie dough quite right. I miss them and am going to try to bake them again using this recipe. Thanks!
I love halfmoon cookies!!! My sister has to send them to me from Syracuse..and I am very familiar Harrison Bakery. I’m from East Syracuse and we had halfmoon cookies from Harrison Bakery all the time. It was part of my childhood. Now that I live in Idaho, having my sister send them to me is the only way I can get them. They are sold in Wegmans grocery store and used to be sold in the IGA also but the bakery cookies were the best. I have a recipe for them that was from the area….but I am really happy to have this one. These are such a treat for me.
Yeah! I’m originally from Elmira, NY and remember getting these from the now defunct Mohawk Bakery. Currently in SC after 31 years in CA and these really are an upstate NY secret. Thanks for the recipe-the one I have makes them too dry.
I am originally from Horseheads, NY and got such a trip down memory lane reading your comments. I also remember vividly having jelly donuts from Mohawk (Mohegan’s) Bakery and creme puffs from Rossi’s Bakery….but the half moons were the best!
I look forward to trying the recipe….my mouth is watering!