Wicked Good Guides / Wicked Good Guide to Boston English /

Half moon

Pastry known as "Black and Whites" elsewhere.
Reuven Brauner

Comments

I thought this was only an Upstate, NY thing! When I was in college, I was constantly harassed for calling those cookies half moons and not black and whites. Its good to know Im not alone...

Lisa on May 7, 2004 09:51 AM.

i know i good placec in southie to get half moons

liz on June 6, 2004 06:07 PM.

I used to live in Medfid and there was a bakery called Cara Donna I think, on Somerville Ave that made the half moons.... it's been 200 yrs since I lived there, but those cookies were the best.....except for the ones I made yesterday...BOSTON ROX!!! WE LOVE THE SOX!!!!

sarah on November 16, 2004 05:07 PM.

I grew up on the North Shore of Mass and I
moved to New York about 4 years ago.
There were not many bakerys left in my
neighborhood of Peabody, MA.
But everytime we went the Portugese bakery on
Main Street I got a "Half Moon" cookie.
Now when I moved to Queens NY, there's a bakery
on every corner and they all call them
"Black & Whites". It was very hard getting used to calling them that and my Queens boyfriend thinks its weird that I call them "Half Moon"
cookies. Go Sox!!!

Allison on January 17, 2005 07:43 PM.

I would like to find someone where I can purchase half moons. I live in New Hampshire. If I could purchase them by mail order that would be all right too. I live in Wakefield NH. Could you give me some help?

Leah Wiedeman on July 9, 2006 12:00 PM.

we lived in upstate ny corning the food mart is south corning had them now when we go to ny we bring them back for our kids mmmmmmmmmmmmmmgood

phyllis on November 26, 2006 12:25 PM.

I feel your pain. I grew up in upstate NY, too. I miss half moons so much I'm searching for recipes. You think they're hard to find in Boston? Try Amarillo, Texas!

Tori on April 19, 2007 09:38 PM.

All you half Moon lovers out there, I found the recipe!
http://www.recipeland.com/recipe/44946/

I am from Boston originally and I live in LA for the past 20 years. I can't get them out here. I only get them when I go home for a visit. I want to know if there is a baking pan with molds for the pies so you can make 6 or so at a time? Or do you pour it out on a sheet pan as the recipe calls for?

I remember as a kid seeing them mix in with Italian pastry for the Holidays so I assume they were only a Boston item or an east coast item. Does anyone know how they started?

jack on November 30, 2007 12:17 AM.

Jack, I live in LA too and you can find half & half cookies ... oops ... WTF is this "Half Moon" thing, my Mom always called them "half & half cookies"! They made 'em at the bakery around the coarnuh from our house on the Noath Shoah.

Anyway, you can get them at delis like Canter's on Fairfax as well as the Russian deli just up the street from Canter's above Santa Monica Blvd. One bummah is this, though - they're never fresh like the ones I could get as a kid :( Always a little bit too hahd, the ones out heah!

Greg E. on December 5, 2007 09:05 AM.

Half and halfs, Hanleys in WR the best, gone but not forgotten.

Stephen F. Daly on January 10, 2008 09:12 PM.

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