Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Right after I declared that I was in the mood for elaborate, multi-step, complicated baking projects, I went and made chocolate chip cookies.

Not just any chocolate cookies, of course.

But wait, let’s back up and talk about Halloween. And how it’s over. Which means it’s officially time to start talking about cookies for the all the holiday cookie exchanges, cookie packages and just pure cookie fun you’re going to be making, sending and creating. Here are a few cookies that I’m excited to make:

Caramel Popcorn and Cashew Cookies
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies
Chocolate Turtle Cookies
Red Velvet Gooey Butter Cookies (but from scratch!)
Soft Lofthouse Style Frosted Cookies
Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies
French Cookies

Oh wait! I forgot about Thanksgiving. Well, we can all make this lovely layered sweet potato autumnal cake for Thanksgiving and then skip right to the cookies (that is the last and only time I’ll ever skip over cake for cookies).

Okay, now to these cookies: the special-secret ingredient is:

Malted milk powder. This is the stuff that makes milkshakes more than its sum of ice cream and milk and what you can apparently stir into your milk to make delicious milk (who knew. I only ever knew Ovaltine growing up. Which, coincidentally, Hummingbird on High put in these flat, chewy numbers.) And this is a secret ingredient I will be putting in something else verrrry soon… 🙂

So cookies. I don’t love flat and chewy/crispy chocolate chip cookies. One of the most popular malted milk cookie recipes I’ve seen comes from the Pioneer Woman, and I just am never feeling the look of the thin and crispy. So, using a different recipe altogether, I added baking powder and cut down on butter. And ended up with these puffy, lightly chewy, distinctive cookies.

They are SO GOOD. It was a struggle to not eat them all before I had a chance to shoot them. They have a tender bite to them with a subtle, crispy edge and a soft middle. There’s an addicting, hard-to-put-your-finger-on sweetness that comes from the malted milk and sweetened condensed milk. Although I still love my olive oil chocolate chip cookies, these have an extra dimension of flavor that’s unbeatable. (I mean, if you’re in the mood for that kind of thing :))

Notes

I cut down on the butter mostly for health reasons, but it also helped reduce the cookies’ spread in the oven. If you want to go for the whole cup of butter originally called for, go for it. Your cookies may spread more, but they will have a more buttery essence (I liked them the way they were).

You’ll notice these cookies may resemble the other chocolate chip cookie recipe on my site. What can I say, I like what I like. (And that is puffy cookies.) For less puff, leave out the baking powder.

Don’t want to open a can of sweetened condensed milk just for two tablespoons? You can sub milk, but you’ll be missing that extra oomph of flavor. The malted milk and condensed milk combo is deadly good. What you should really do is make tres leches pancakes and reserve a little milk for these cookies.

Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Fluff Bake Bar

3 cups white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup malted milk powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
scant 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk
2 cups chocolate chips

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

Whisk together the flour, malted milk powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, vanilla and sweetened condensed milk and beat until eggs are incorporated. Stir in flour and chocolate chips just until combined. Do not overmix. Place heaping tablespoons of dough on the lined baking sheet and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Bake about 12 minutes, until edges are golden. Adjust baking time by about two minutes in either direction if you like your cookies crispier or softer. Check your oven obsessively! These took about 12 minutes in my oven, but my oven is weird.

Let cool and transfer to a rack.