Black and white cookies are a New York City staple, and they are certainly one of my favorites! This easy recipe for high protein, gluten free black and white cookies gives you all the same feels as the real ones, without all the sugar and calories. Give them a try!

If you've never had a black and white cookie, it's a cake-like vanilla cookie with a hint of lemon, topped with chocolate and white sugary icing. This eggless, gluten free version is made with a whey protein cookie base and whey icings.
If you like the cookies in this recipe, have a look at these Chocolate Whey Protein Cookies, these Pumpkin Pecan Protein Cookies, these Very Strawberry Protein Cookies, and these Protein Whoopie Pies. Lots of deliciousness to be made!
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🥣 Ingredients
For the cookie:
- Vanilla whey protein powder
- Coconut flour
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Water
- Vanilla extract
- Lemon extract
- Baking powder
- Sea salt (or regular salt)
For the icings:
- Unflavored whey protein powder
- Chocolate whey protein powder
- Water
- Stevia (or your sweetener of choice)
👩🏼🍳 Instructions
Preheat oven to 325F (163C).
Mix all cookie ingredients until well combined. If you need more water, add it by the ¼ teaspoon.
Spoon cookie batter onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet (1 large or 4 small cookies) and use your spoon to shape them into circles.
Bake for 5 minutes, and check to see if they are firm. If not, check every minute. Be sure not to over-bake these cookies! Take them out as soon as they are firm.
Let cool.
Put the unflavored and chocolate whey proteins in separate bowls.
Add 1 ½ packets stevia to the unflavored, and ½ packet to the chocolate.
Add 2 teaspoons filtered water to each. Mix well.
If either icing is not a spreadable consistency, add more water by the ¼ teaspoon.
Turn the cookies over, as you'll want to ice the bottom (flat side) of each cookie.
Ice half of each cookie with the white icing, and the other half with the chocolate.
Enjoy!
🥣 Substitutions
This recipe works well with whey protein, and I wouldn't try substituting other types of protein powder in either the cookie or icing recipes.
🎃 Variations
The only variations I've ever seen of black and white cookies are ones with the white icing swapped out for a holiday color. Orange for halloween, red for Christmas, etc.
🥄 Equipment
You'll need a cookie sheet. I like these Airbake cookie sheets because they keep the bottom of cookies from burning.
I suggest lining the cookie sheet with parchment paper for easy cleanup and to keep the cookies from sticking to the pan (whey cookies have the tendency to stick!).
I also suggest using an oven thermometer so you can see when your oven is actually preheated, and that it is to the right temperature.
Of course, you're also going to need a mixing bowl. I love this mixing bowl set because it is easy to clean, dries quickly, and the bowls have rubber on the bottom so they don't slide.
And I strongly encourage you to measure ingredients with a kitchen scale instead of volume measurements.
🥶 Storage
The cookies will stay well in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several days. Enjoy!
🍪 More whey protein cookie recipes
Recipe
Black and White Protein Cookies (Whey, Gluten-Free)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup natural vanilla whey protein 24g
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour 7g
- 1 ¼ teaspoons water
- ¼ teaspoon alcohol-free vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon alcohol-free lemon extract
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- a pinch sea salt
Icing
- 2 tablespoons unflavored whey protein powder 11g
- 2 tablespoons natural chocolate whey protein 13g
- 4 teaspoons water separated
- 2 packets stevia separated
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F (163C).
- Mix all cookie ingredients until well combined. If you need more water, add it by the ¼ teaspoon.
- Spoon cookie batter onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet (1 large or 4 small cookies) and use your spoon to shape them into circles.
- Bake for 5 minutes, and check to see if they are firm. If not, check every minute. Be sure not to over-bake these cookies! Take them out as soon as they are firm.
- Let cool.
- Put the unflavored and chocolate whey proteins in separate bowls.
- Add 1½ packets stevia to the unflavored, and ½ packet to the chocolate.
- Add 2 teaspoons filtered water to each. Mix well.
- If either icing is not a spreadable consistency, add more water by the ¼ teaspoon.
- Turn the cookies over, as you'll want to ice the bottom (flat side) of each cookie.
- Ice half of each cookie with the white icing, and the other half with the chocolate.
- Enjoy! Store in the refrigerator.
Notes
Be sure to use good stevia! I've tasted some bad ones, but the Next Step stevia is quite good!
The amount of water you'll need for the icing depends on the whey you're working with. Some powders need more liquid than others.
I used unflavored whey in the icing so it would be closest to white, but vanilla will taste great, too! In that case you won't need as much sweetener.
Also, the icing will stiffen up with time. Try not to make it too much before the cookies are cool and ready to be iced.
Andréa says
Hi Romina,
Thanks for writing in! The recipe above contains links to find the items, but if those aren't convenient you can make substitutions. You can replace the lemon extract and the water with 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice. It'll come out less lemony (I just tried it) but still good! In this recipe I think regular vanilla extract would be ok (i think the alcohol should bake off) but in my no-bake recipes that call for it, it would taste bad. In place of it, seeds from a vanilla bean would be great! I'd say seeds from 1 whole bean would probably be equivalent to 2 tablespoons (30ml) of extract. Hope that helps!
Andréa
Romina Nieves says
Hi! Love all your recipes!! And want to try this one, but I've got a question. May I use instead of alcohol-free lemon extract just lemon? and I can't find where I live alcohol-free vanilla extract, do you have any other ideas for it? Thanks a lot!!