My wife took an idea I had farther than I could and made these cookies. It was my thought to add a chocolate component to the cookie, well, two actually. Half the cookie dough is chocolate and half the cookie is frosted with chocolate and black food coloring. Here’s the shortcut: Pillsbury cookie mix. So you get showy cookies in 1/2 the time. I hope you like it.

Cookie:
1 package Pillsbury sugar cookie mix
1 tablespoon flour
1 tablespoon dark cocoa
1 stick butter, softened
1 egg
Frosting:
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon black food color

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Preheat oven according to package directions.

Divide cookie mix in two equal parts.

In 1 bowl add tablespoon of cocoa powder and mix.

In bowl 2 add tablespoon flour and mix.

Mix egg with butter; mix in equal parts into bowl 1 and bowl 2.

Roll dough in to one-inch balls. Flatten balls with the bottom of a glass. Cut each flattened ball in half.

On a parchment-lined baking sheet, place one chocolate half next to a vanilla half, cut sides together. Push together to form one round cookie.

Bake 11 -14 minutes.

Frosting:

Mix powdered sugar and milk. Frosting should be thick but spreadable.

Melt chocolate, stirring frequently. Add a few drops of black food coloring.

Your choice: white chocolate on the vanilla side and black on the chocolate side, OR white on chocolate and black on vanilla. (I found that the white-on-white and black-on-chocolate looked better.)

To frost: fill one piping bag with white frosting and one with chocolate. Starting with white frosting, pipe a line down the center of cookie, then around one side of cookie. “Flood” half of the cookie. When frosting dries, do the same with the melted chocolate.