Delicious Mrs Fields' Black & Whites

These are not the diner-style black-and-white cookies frosted half-and-half. These are the Mrs Fields cookies sold in malls across America for decades, copycat exactly. The dough is a soft, deeply cocoa-rich chocolate base loaded with hand-chopped chunks of both semi-sweet and white chocolate. The contrast is the whole point: dark chocolate in a darker chocolate dough, with creamy white chocolate as a bright counterpoint.

The low oven temperature (300 degrees F or 150 degrees C) is the move that gives Mrs Fields cookies their signature chew. A standard 350 degree oven would set the edges crisp before the centers cook through, but the gentler heat lets the entire cookie bake evenly while staying soft. Don’t be tempted to crank the oven up.

Use hand-chopped chocolate bars, not chocolate chips. The chips have stabilizers that hold their shape, while chopped chocolate melts into pools and shards throughout each cookie.

Pro Tips

• Soften butter to true room temperature, not melted. Cool, soft butter creams better with sugar.
• Use Dutch process cocoa for a darker color and richer flavor.
• Drop dough in rounded tablespoons. Don’t flatten. They spread on their own as they bake.
• Cookies look underdone when the timer goes off. They firm up on the sheet during cooling.

Variations

• Add 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts or pecans for crunch.
• Use milk chocolate chunks in place of white chocolate for a less sweet version.
• Stir in 1 teaspoon espresso powder for a deeper, mocha-leaning chocolate flavor.