I've been making a lot of bagels and pretzels lately and have acquired a few different kinds of malt. Naturally, some of it went into cookies! This recipe is for Double Malt Chocolate Chip Cookies which get their name from the fact they have two kinds of malt -- barley malt syrup and malted milk powder. Out of my current 4 malted chocolate chip cookie recipes, these might be the best!
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Double Malt Chocolate Chip Cookies Flavor
These cookies have so much flavor, not just from the malt, but from the molasses, cinnamon and full tablespoon of vanilla. They're also reasonably sized chocolate chip cookies, which is a good thing for the holidays when people want to try a little of everything. Their texture is chewy with crispy edges, though that is going to vary from kitchen to kitchen, especially if you use different brands of flour or bake with convection.
Gold Medal vs. King Arthur Flour in Cookies
The original version of this recipe is from Stella Parks who likes to use Gold Medal flour. Since Stella uses it, I tried Gold Medal in my first batch and King Arthur in the second. With Gold Medal flour, the chocolate chip cookies were softer and spread more. With King Arthur, they were a little thicker and still chewy. The cookie in the first picture on this page was made with King Arthur, while the cookies pictured below were made with Gold Medal.
You Don't Have to Chill the Dough
Cookies are almost always better when made with dough that's been chilled overnight, but these cookies are excellent baked right away. You definitely can scoop the dough ahead of time and chill if you want, but the cookies I baked on day 1 were as good as the cookies baked on day 2. With the malt, cinnamon and vanilla you just don't that extra time to build flavor. I'm curious to see how the cookies will be with dough that's been frozen for a while, but we like these so much I keep baking them right away and sharing.
Other Ways to Use Barley Malt Syrup
If you don't do much bread baking and have no need for barley malt syrup, you can leave it out. Instead, use 1 tablespoon of molasses in place of the 2 teaspoons of each syrup. If you want to try it, the malted barley syrup can be used in a few different things. It's good for adding flavor to bagels and pretzels, but you can also put a small amount in baguette and pizza dough. I'm going to try it in gingerbread next, and I will definitely be adding smaller amounts of it to other chocolate chip cookie recipes. These cookies are very malt-y tasting with the two types of malt, but a little of the barley malt syrup alone will just add flavor people probably won't be able to pinpoint.
Holiday Cookies
While they may not seem holiday-ish, these are perfect for the holidays. Put leftover Nestle Crunch bars in them for Halloween. Play "guess that flavor" with your relatives on Thanksgiving. And for Christmas, they can be the token chocolate chip, but "elevated". I like that term for types of cookies. Elevated. But seriously, these are worth making if you are looking for a good twist on chocolate chips.
Recipe
Double Malt Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (250 grams)
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (228 grams)
- ⅓ cup malted milk powder (I used the weight of 56 grams) (56 grams)
- 2 teaspoons barley malt syrup (15 grams)
- 2 teaspoons mild molasses (8 grams)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract (14 grams)
- ⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 large egg (48 grams without shell)
- 2 cups all purpose flour (I used the weight of 280 grams) (280 grams)
- 2 cups assorted chips (dark, milk, white)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready a couple of rimmed baking sheets.
- Set the bowl of a stand mixer on your scale and add the sugar, butter, malted milk powder and both syrups by weight, then add the vanilla, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
- Using the paddle attachment, beat until mixture comes together and is creamy. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for about 5 minutes, stopping to scrape bowl often. Add the egg and beat on medium just until smooth.
- With the mixer on low, add the flour, scraping the side of the bowl as needed, then add the assorted chips.
- Using a medium size cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto the baking sheets spacing about 2 inches apart. If you don't want to bake all of the cookies at once, scoop dough onto dinner plates lined with plastic wrap, then cover and chill.
- Bake cookies for 13 to 15 minutes or however long it takes for the cookies to appear set. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Sue K says
I’m sure I would love these! It always seems like such a commitment though to buy a jar of barley malt syrup. But now I really want to make these cookies so there could be more barley malt syrup coming my way. Lol!
BTW. Stella’s brown butter ccc variation is really good. I haven’t made them in a long time but I definitely should.