Chewy Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies: Your New Favorite Recipe
There’s an undeniable charm to a perfectly baked chocolate chip cookie. It’s a nostalgic treat that transcends generations, a go-to comfort food that brings smiles to faces. While the classic is always a winner, I’m a firm believer in exploring delicious variations that elevate the experience. That’s precisely what we’re doing today with my irresistible Chewy Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies! The secret ingredient that transforms these cookies from great to utterly phenomenal is malted milk powder. This magical addition infuses them with an unparalleled richness and an incredible chewiness that, in my opinion, defines the very best chocolate chip cookie.
Imagine biting into a warm, soft cookie, where the melty milk chocolate chips mingle with a distinct, comforting malt flavor, all perfectly balanced by a hint of salt. These malted chocolate chip cookies are truly a dream, especially when paired with a tall glass of cold milk for dipping. They’re not just cookies; they’re an experience – a delightful journey for your taste buds. I encourage you to whip up a batch and discover this new favorite. Don’t forget to share your thoughts in the comments below!
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Why You’ll Fall in Love with These Malted Milk Cookies
- Effortless Baking: This is truly a one-bowl recipe, meaning minimal cleanup and maximum enjoyment. You’ll need fewer than 10 pantry-staple ingredients, making it an accessible baking project for anyone, regardless of their baking prowess.
- Chewy Cookie Perfection: If, like me, you’re constantly on the hunt for delicious, wonderfully chewy chocolate chip cookie recipes, your search ends here. The malted milk powder is key to creating that coveted soft, pliable texture throughout.
- Quick & Convenient: From start to finish, these delectable treats come together in about 20 minutes. This makes them an ideal choice for a spontaneous weeknight dessert, an unexpected guest, or simply when a cookie craving strikes any time of the week.
- A Delightful Twist on a Classic: This malted cookies recipe offers a fantastic and unique spin on my classic chocolate chip cookie recipe! It introduces a complex layer of flavor that will surprise and delight your palate, making it a memorable addition to your baking repertoire.
- Perfect for Using Up Malted Milk Powder: If you’ve got extra malted milk powder lingering in your pantry from making my Chocolate Malted Crunch Ice Cream or another recipe, this is a brilliant and delicious way to use it up in these delightful malted milk powder cookies!
Essential Ingredients for Your Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Creating extraordinary cookies begins with understanding the role of each ingredient. Here’s a closer look at what makes these malted milk chocolate chip cookies so special:
- Malted Milk Powder: This is truly the star ingredient that sets these thin chocolate chip cookies apart and infuses them with their signature flavor. Made from a blend of evaporated milk, malted barley, and wheat flour, malted milk powder contributes an extraordinary nutty, slightly sweet, and distinct caramel-malt flavor. Crucially, it also plays a significant role in achieving that desirable extra chewy texture. You can typically find this unique ingredient in the baking aisle of your grocery store, often near other dry drink mixes like hot chocolate, or sometimes surprisingly, near the ice cream toppings. Don’t skip it – it’s what makes these cookies unforgettable!
- Unsalted Butter: For the best results, your unsalted butter needs to be at room temperature. This is vital for properly creaming it with the sugar, creating a light and airy base for your cookie dough. Using unsalted butter also gives you complete control over the total salt content in your recipe, allowing you to perfectly balance the sweet and rich flavors.
- Brown Sugar (Light or Dark): Brown sugar is essential for both flavor and texture. Its molasses content not only adds a rich, deep caramel note but also contributes significantly to the cookie’s moisture and chewiness. While either light or dark brown sugar works, a darker brown sugar will impart a more pronounced molasses flavor and result in an even chewier cookie.
- Egg: A single large egg at room temperature acts as a binder, bringing all the ingredients together. It also adds moisture and richness, contributing to the overall structure and tenderness of the cookie.
- Vanilla Extract: A touch of pure vanilla extract is indispensable in any chocolate chip cookie recipe. It enhances all the other flavors, adding a warm, aromatic depth that complements the malt and chocolate beautifully.
- All-Purpose Flour: The foundation of our cookies, all-purpose flour provides the necessary structure. For consistent results, I recommend weighing your flour in grams or using the spoon-and-level method to avoid over-measuring, which can lead to dry cookies.
- Baking Soda: This leavening agent is crucial for creating the perfect rise and spread. It reacts with the acidic brown sugar to give the cookies a soft, slightly puffy center while maintaining those wonderfully chewy edges.
- Salt: While it may seem counterintuitive in a sweet dessert, salt is incredibly important! It doesn’t just add its own flavor but acts as a flavor enhancer, making all the sweet, rich, and malty notes pop and preventing the cookies from tasting overly sweet or flat.
- Milk Chocolate Chips: This recipe specifically calls for milk chocolate chips, which lend a sweet, creamy, and undeniably rich flavor that pairs exquisitely with the nutty malted milk powder. The melty pockets of chocolate are a highlight in every bite. However, feel free to experiment with semi-sweet or even dark chocolate chips if you prefer a less sweet profile – both work wonderfully in these malted milk powder cookies.
See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and precise measurements.
Substitutions & Creative Variations
One of the joys of baking is the ability to customize recipes to suit your taste or what you have on hand. Here are some ideas for experimenting with these delicious malted milk cookies:
- Brown Sugar Choices: While the recipe calls for brown sugar, you have flexibility. Using light brown sugar will result in a slightly milder caramel flavor, while dark brown sugar, with its higher molasses content, will impart a deeper, richer, more caramely molasses flavor and contribute to an even chewier final result. Feel free to use whichever you prefer or have on hand!
- Chocolate Preferences: Not a fan of milk chocolate? No problem! You can easily swap it out for dark chocolate chips for a more intense, less sweet flavor profile. Semi-sweet chocolate chips are also an excellent alternative. For an extra melty, gourmet chocolate experience, consider using chopped chocolate chunks from your favorite chocolate bar instead of chips.
- Adding a Delightful Crunch: If you enjoy a textural contrast in your milk chocolate chip cookies, mix in some chopped nuts along with the chocolate chips. Walnuts, pecans, or even macadamia nuts would add a wonderful crunch and complementary flavor. Toasting the nuts lightly before adding them can enhance their aroma and taste even further.
- Spice It Up: A pinch of cinnamon or a tiny dash of nutmeg can add a subtle warmth that complements both chocolate and malt flavors beautifully. Start with a quarter teaspoon and adjust to your preference.
- Coffee Lover’s Twist: For those who love the mocha flavor combination, consider adding half a teaspoon of instant espresso powder to the dry ingredients. It won’t make the cookies taste like coffee, but it will deepen and intensify the chocolate flavor.
This recipe has been thoroughly tested with the original ingredients. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below! We love hearing about your creative baking adventures.
Easy Step-by-Step Instructions to Bake Perfect Malted Milk Cookies
Baking these chewy malted milk chocolate chip cookies is a straightforward process, even for beginners. Follow these simple steps for perfectly delicious results:
Step 1: Wet Ingredients First. In a large mixing bowl, using either an electric mixer for speed or a sturdy wooden spoon for a good arm workout, combine your room temperature unsalted butter with the brown sugar. Cream them together until light and fluffy. Then, beat in the large egg and the vanilla extract until everything is well incorporated and smooth.
Step 2: Add Dry Ingredients & Chocolate. In the same bowl (it’s a one-bowl recipe, remember!), add the all-purpose flour, malted milk powder, baking soda, and salt. Gently mix these dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Be careful not to overmix! Finally, stir in the milk chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Again, mix until just combined to ensure tender cookies.
Step 3: Scoop and Space. Using a cookie scoop (a tablespoon-sized scoop works perfectly for uniform cookies), spoon the dough into balls. Place these dough balls onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, ensuring they are spaced approximately 2 inches apart to allow for proper spreading during baking. This prevents them from merging into one giant cookie!
Step 4: Bake to Perfection. Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C). Once hot, bake the chocolate chip malt cookies for 8-11 minutes. Keep a close eye on them; you’re looking for the edges to be just slightly golden brown, while the centers still look soft and slightly underbaked. This is the secret to achieving that perfect chewy texture. Overbaking will lead to crispier cookies.
Expert Tips for the Best Chewy Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Achieving cookie perfection is an art, and these tips will help you master these chewy malted milk chocolate chip cookies every time:
- Timing is Everything for Chewiness: To guarantee your cookies are wonderfully chewy rather than crisp, the key is to remove them from the oven at precisely the right moment. Look for edges that are just barely golden brown, while the tops of the cookies should appear set but not yet fully browned. They might look slightly underdone in the center, but this is exactly what you want! Let them cool on the hot cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, as they will continue to bake slightly from residual heat. Then, carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Elevate with Flaky Sea Salt: For an extra touch of gourmet sophistication and a delightful flavor burst, sprinkle some flaky sea salt (like Maldon salt) on top of each cookie as soon as they emerge from the oven. The salt crystals melt slightly onto the warm chocolate, creating an incredible sweet and salty contrast that truly makes these cookies stand out.
- The Preheat Oven Solution: Forgot to preheat your oven before mixing the dough? No problem! Simply pop the baking sheet with the scooped cookie dough balls into the refrigerator while your oven comes up to temperature. Chilling the dough slightly can actually help prevent excessive spreading, sometimes leading to an even chewier cookie!
- Don’t Overmix Your Dough: Once you add the dry ingredients to the wet, mix only until just combined. Overmixing develops the gluten in the flour, which can result in tough, dry cookies instead of the soft, chewy texture we’re aiming for.
- Room Temperature Ingredients are Crucial: Ensure your butter and egg are at room temperature. This allows them to cream together properly, creating an emulsified base that holds air and results in a lighter, more evenly textured cookie. Cold ingredients don’t combine as smoothly and can lead to a denser texture.
- Invest in a Good Cookie Scoop: Using a cookie scoop ensures that all your cookies are uniform in size. This not only makes for a prettier presentation but, more importantly, guarantees that all your cookies bake evenly at the same rate, preventing some from being overbaked while others are underbaked.
Recipe FAQs for Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adding malted milk powder to cookies is one of my favorite baking hacks for achieving both extra flavor and an incredible texture. Malted milk powder is primarily made from evaporated milk, malted barley, and wheat flour. The malted barley infuses the cookies with a rich, distinct, nutty, and slightly caramel-like flavor, adding a layer of complexity not found in regular chocolate chip cookies. The evaporated milk component, on the other hand, contributes to a richer dough and promotes that desirable extra chewiness in the final baked cookie.
The primary difference between light and dark brown sugar lies in their molasses content. Dark brown sugar contains a higher percentage of molasses compared to light brown sugar. This higher molasses content gives dark brown sugar a deeper, more robust caramel flavor and a slightly stickier, more moist texture. In baking, this translates to a more pronounced molasses flavor and often a chewier, more tender final product when using dark brown sugar. Light brown sugar offers a milder, sweeter caramel note.
Achieving perfectly chewy cookies involves several factors, and this recipe incorporates many of them. Firstly, certain ingredients contribute significantly to moisture and chewiness, such as brown sugar (thanks to its molasses) and, of course, the malted milk powder. Secondly, and critically, cook time is paramount. Overcooking the dough will inevitably result in crisp, hard cookies instead of soft and chewy ones. It’s important to remove the cookies from the oven when their edges are just set and lightly golden, even if the centers appear slightly underbaked. Allowing them to cool on the hot baking sheet for a few minutes also helps set them without overbaking.
Malted milk powder is usually found in the baking aisle of most major grocery stores. Look near other powdered drink mixes like hot chocolate or sometimes even with ice cream toppings. Popular brands include Horlicks or Carnation Malted Milk Powder. If you can’t find it locally, it’s readily available online.
Absolutely! While this recipe is designed for immediate baking, chilling the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes, or even overnight, can enhance the flavor and texture. Chilled dough spreads less, resulting in thicker, chewier cookies with a more concentrated flavor profile. If chilling, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for about 10-15 minutes before scooping, or simply bake directly from chilled, adding a minute or two to the bake time.
Storage Solutions for Your Malted Milk Cookies
These chewy malted milk chocolate chip cookies are so delicious, they rarely last long! But if you happen to have any leftovers, here’s how to keep them fresh:
Room Temperature Storage
Once completely cooled, store your baked malted cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will stay fresh and delightfully chewy for up to a week (though, as mentioned, they usually disappear much faster!).
Freezing Instructions for Baked Cookies
For longer storage, baked and cooled cookies can be placed in a freezer-safe bag or airtight container and stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to enjoy one, simply let it thaw at room temperature or warm it briefly in the microwave for a “fresh out of the oven” experience.
Freezing Cookie Dough for Later Baking
If you’d like to prepare the cookie dough ahead of time and bake fresh cookies whenever a craving strikes, you can freeze the cookie dough balls. After scooping the dough, arrange the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid (about 1-2 hours). Once solid, transfer the frozen dough balls to a freezer-safe bag or container and store them for up to 1 month. When baking from frozen, place the dough balls on a baking sheet at room temperature while your oven preheats to 350°F (175°C), then bake until the edges begin to tan, adding a few extra minutes to the baking time (typically 10-14 minutes).
More Delicious Cookie Recipes You’ll Love
If you enjoyed these malted milk chocolate chip cookies, you’re sure to find a new favorite among these other fantastic cookie creations:
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Salted Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookies
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Cookie Butter Cookies
I hope you thoroughly enjoy baking and savoring these incredibly chewy malted milk chocolate chip cookies. They offer a delightful twist on a beloved classic, promising a rich flavor and satisfying texture that will quickly make them a new family favorite. Don’t hesitate to experiment with the variations or add your own personal touch. Happy baking!
Did you try this recipe?
We’d love to hear from you! Let us know what you thought by leaving a comment below and sharing your delicious creations on Instagram, Facebook, & Pinterest! Tag us so we can see your amazing bakes.
Thank you for baking with me!
-Kayla
📖 Recipe
Chewy Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Kayla Burton
Pin Recipe
Equipment
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Baking sheet
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Mixing bowls
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Measuring spoons
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Scale/measuring cups
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Spatula
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Cookie scoop
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Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter room temperature
- ⅔ cup (133 g) brown sugar light or dark, packed
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (187.5 g) all-purpose flour weighed in grams or spooned and leveled
- ¼ cup (30 g) malted milk powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (118.29 g) milk chocolate chips semi-sweet or dark chocolate work too
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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In a large bowl, using an electric mixer or wooden spoon, cream together the softened unsalted butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla extract until well combined.
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In a separate small bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, malted milk powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Be careful not to overmix. Fold in the milk chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
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Using a cookie scoop (approximately 1.5 tablespoons per cookie), spoon dough into balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart.
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Bake for 8-11 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown and the centers are set but still look soft.
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Remove from the oven, and if desired, sprinkle with flaky sea salt immediately. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy your chewy malted milk chocolate chip cookies!
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Notes
Nutrition: The provided nutrition information is an estimate, calculated per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed and can vary based on specific ingredients used and preparation methods.
The provided nutritional information is an estimate per serving. Accuracy is not guaranteed.