Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies
There’s a war going on in our house, a delicious, brown sugar-loaded, cookie jar filling, chocolate chip cookie war. Since Jack and his friends came up with the macho tween boy greatest chocolate chip cookie recipe, Steve has gotten in the game as well, and everyone is declaring themselves the winner. As the only food blogger in the house, I had to come up with my own recipe. My secret weapons are malt and partially melted salted butter.
Malt is a little divisive, I know. Like coconut, and beets, people have strong positive and negative feelings about malt. My passion for malt is high, but I keep the ingredient a secret, telling anyone that asks what makes my cookies so good that it’s my magic and love. Cue the eye rolls. They’re part of the fun.
My love affair with malt began Junior year in high school. I was living in New Hampshire, far away from my family in France. Dusty Road Sundaes were my fuel of choice to get through all nighters was a dusty road sundae. Coffee ice cream covered with hot fudge (ever tried to make homemade hot fudge?) and dusted with malt powder. Those sundaes gave me a head start on my freshman 15, but every bite was worth it. Some things are too good to grow out of: I love dusty road sundaes with the same passion to this day.
But back to chocolate chip cookies. 1/2 cup of malted milk powder that I’ve included in these cookies is not enough to taste. They give the cookies an addictive caramel note, but you can’t taste the malt. If you like to steal cookie dough, you will taste the malt there. A plus in my book. Once the cookies are hot and out of the oven, they’ll just be mysteriously delicious. Even the biggest malt hater will be fooled.
As for the melted butter, it leads to a denser cookie. When you beat chilled butter with brown and white sugar, you beat more air into your cookie dough, making it fluffier. Having a blend of melted and unmelted butter gives you a happy medium, a slightly chewier cookie which works well for the large sized cookies we’ve been making.
Serious Eats has a great article on the science of chocolate chip cookies. If you feel like experimenting, take a look and come up with your own dream recipe and join our delicious chocolate chip cookie war.
Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies
These chewy cookies have just a hint of malt, just enough to give them a mysterious addictive quality.
Ingredients
- 2¼ cups of all-purpose flour
- ½ cup of malted milk powder
- ¾ cups of brown sugar
- ¾ cups of granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 10 tablespoons of salted butter – partially melted
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 2 heaping cups of a mixture of milk and semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Melt the butter in the microwave for 45 seconds until it is partially melted. Cream together the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and the vanilla extract, beat until back to being fluffy and fully mixed in.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, malted milk powder, and baking soda. Fold it into the butter mixture until just mixed. Do not overmix as this will make the cookies tough.
- With a wooden spoon, mix in the chocolate.
- Using a soup spoon, heap large chunks of dough onto a silpat into equivalent lumps to your liking. I like my cookies to be about ¼ cup each.
- Cook for 9-11 minutes. Serve hot, as hot as you can bear to handle with your fingers, with a tall glass of cold milk.