The moon will slide in front of the sun on Wednesday, and depending on where you're standing, you'll get anything from a two-minute total blackout to a slightly bitten sun to nothing at all. Iceland and northern Spain are the big destinations this year. Canada and the northern tier of the U.S., on the other hand, will see a partial solar eclipse. Any of these, of course, will need to be viewed through certified eclipse glasses to avoid damaging your eyes. For those of us out of the viewing zones, we’ll be able to watch livestreams … or we can just build our own eclipses out of flour and sugar instead.

The black and white cookie has always been an eclipse pretending to be a dessert: one soft, cakey disc, half in shadow, half in light, with a hard edge running down the middle where the two meet. Two changes here. First, the base is built on browned butter, which turns a cookie that's usually just sweet and pillowy into something nutty and deep enough to stand up to the fondant. Second — and this is the part worth doing — we pipe a hairline "corona" of lemon-sugar right along the seam where black meets white. During a total eclipse, the corona is the sun's outer atmosphere, and it's the only two minutes on Earth you can see it. On a cookie, it's a bright, slightly crunchy strip of acid and citrus oil that does the exact job the corona does: it makes the boundary the most interesting place on the whole thing. And if you're in partial-eclipse territory, skip to the note at the bottom.

Brown Butter Eclipse Cookies (with Lemon Corona)

Makes 12 large cookies · Active time 45 min · Total 1 hr 30 min

For the cookies

• 10 tbsp (140 g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• ½ cup (120 ml) buttermilk, room temperature
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2½ cups (300 g) all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp fine sea salt
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp baking soda

For the glazes

• 3½ cups (420 g) powdered sugar, sifted
• 3 tbsp light corn syrup (this is what gives you the smooth, glossy, non-crackly finish)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of fine salt
• 5–7 tbsp hot water, divided
• 3 tbsp black cocoa powder (or 2 tbsp Dutch-process + 1 tbsp regular)
• ½ tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 oz (28 g) bittersweet chocolate, melted

For the corona

• 2 tbsp turbinado or coarse sugar
• Zest of 1 lemon
• Tiny pinch flaky salt
• 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
• Optional: edible gold luster dust

1. Brown the butter

Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Keep it moving. It will foam, then quiet down, then the milk solids at the bottom will turn the color of a good pancake and smell like toasted hazelnuts — about 6–8 minutes. Scrape everything, browned bits included, into a large bowl and let it cool until it's opaque and soft but no longer warm, 20–30 minutes. (Freezer, 10 minutes, stirring once, if you're impatient.)

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2. Make the batter

Beat the cooled brown butter with the sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, then the vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together in a second bowl. Add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk, mixing only until the last streaks disappear. The batter should be thick, like a soft frosting.

3. Bake

Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two sheet pans with parchment. Scoop scant ¼-cup mounds, six per pan, spaced well apart, and flatten each slightly with damp fingers into a 2½-inch round. Bake 14–17 minutes, until the edges are set and the center springs back when pressed. The tops should stay pale — no browning. Cool 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a rack, flat side up. That flat bottom is your sky. Cool completely.

4. Mix the glazes

Whisk the powdered sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, salt, and 4 tbsp hot water until thick and shiny — it should ribbon slowly off the whisk and settle smooth in about 5 seconds. Scoop one-third into a second bowl and whisk in the black cocoa, espresso powder, melted chocolate, and 1–2 tbsp more hot water until it matches the white glaze in thickness. Keep both bowls covered with plastic pressed to the surface; they skin over fast.

5. Glaze

Working one cookie at a time, hold it flat-side-up and spread the white glaze over half, using an offset spatula to draw a clean, straight edge down the center. Let set 15 minutes. Then fill the second half with the chocolate glaze, butting it right up against the white line. Let set 30 minutes at room temperature until dry to the touch.

6. Build the corona

Rub the lemon zest into the turbinado sugar with your fingertips until it's damp and fragrant, then stir in the flaky salt. Using a small brush or the tip of a paring knife, paint a hairline of lemon juice directly along the seam between the two glazes. Immediately pinch the lemon-sugar over it in a thin, deliberate line. Tap off the excess. A whisper of gold luster dust brushed over the top, if you have it, and you have a corona — the sugar catches light exactly where the cookie goes dark.

Notes from the forecast desk

Partiality: If you're in Canada or the northern U.S. on Wednesday, you're getting a partial, so make your cookies honest. Glaze the entire flat side white first, let it set, then bring the chocolate across only as far as your local obscuration — check the coverage percentages on the yellow arcs in Jonathan Erdman's forecast map and match it. A 40% cookie looks less balanced than a half-and-half, and it's a much better conversation piece. South of the visibility line, glaze the whole thing white and call it Wednesday.

Keeping: Best the day they're glazed. Store in a single layer, loosely covered, up to 2 days; don't refrigerate — the glaze weeps. Unglazed cookies freeze beautifully for a month.

Troubleshooting: Glaze too thin, and it runs across your seam; too thick and it tears the cookie. Adjust with hot water or sifted powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon at a time. The line down the middle is the whole point — take the extra minute.