Give chocolate chip bars a facelift by adding malted milk powder. The resulting bars are incredibly crispy on the outside and super fudgy on the inside!
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
I’m sure most of you have dessert already figured out for tomorrow night, but if you don’t, here is a fun alternative to the traditional sweets.
It’s been a few months since I last baked with malted milk powder. I made a vanilla malt cake and malted milk chocolate cake for my husband in June. Otherwise, the container of malted milk powder has just been sitting quietly in the pantry.
My brother and his wife were coming to visit one recent weekend and I had no idea what to bake for them. My brother isn’t a huge dessert fan (I have no idea how we are related) so I wanted to make something that might win him over. Nothing too fancy and nothing too complicated.
Chocolate chip bars seemed like a good choice. Except they were a bit too boring and uninspired. I remembered the sad and lonely malted milk powder and thought that it would be a great addition to the bars and give them that extra boost of flavor. As it turns out, this was a fabulous idea.
The bars had a crispy, crackly top like a brownie. The insides of the bars were rich, gooey and fudgy all at the same time. And the bars had a good malted flavor to them too. It wasn’t overpowering but it wasn’t hiding in the shadows either.
My brother and his wife loved these bars. We sat on our outside patio and ate these while the sun started to set. The heat made the bars slightly melty, so we had to lick some chocolate off of our fingers afterwards. The malt flavor is still a bit subdued, but the bars were still awesome and a bit more sophisticated than your standard chocolate chip bar recipe. While this may not be a traditional Thanksgiving dessert, it’s one that freezes well, can be cut into small or large slices, and contains chocolate (which is always missing during this holiday, in my opinion).
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Malted chocolate chip bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup malted milk powder
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 cups chocolate chips of choice
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F. Generously grease or line a standard 8"x8" baking pan and set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a large bowl if using a handheld mixer, mix together the butter, sugars, malted milk powder and vanilla on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and mix until well-combined.
- Turn the mixer down to low and slowly add in the small bowl with the dry ingredients. Mix until everything just comes together. Turn the mixer off and fold in the chocolate chips by hand. Save about a 1/2 cup.
- Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and smooth out the top with a spatula. Sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on top.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 25 minutes or until the top starts to turn golden brown. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving.