Make Ahead Cookies

These malted milk treats have a beautiful fudgy flavour thanks to the malted milk powder that I use in the baking process. There are a couple of brand names if you’re looking to pick it up for yourself. The ones that are easiest to find in the supermarket are Ovaltine & Horlicks.

Allegedly, the malted milk that I like is used in a large Irish diner-style chain of restaurants for their malted milkshake.  Ever wanted to make one yourself at home?  Simply add a couple of tablespoons to some quality partially melted vanilla ice cream.

The first thing you could do with the malted milk is to include them in some food-themed gifts for Christmas.

That includes some fudge cookies in a jar inspired by The Pink Whisk:

Also some malted hot chocolate inspired by a Jamie Oliver recipe from an old show of his. Both gifts will go down splendidly well.

What will be a huge hit though have been my malted milk malteaser cookies.  As per usual with my cookies, the dough can be chilled in advance and baked within 3 days or frozen for up to a month before baking.  This recipe makes approximately 20 large cookies which are chewy in the middle and crunchy on the outside.

[recipe][recipe title=”make ahead cookies” servings=”20″ time=”30 mins” difficulty=”easy”]

Ingredients

• 90g Malted Milk Extract
• 90g caster sugar
• 85g butter at room temperature
• 2 medium eggs
• 200g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 packet Malteasers (malt balls covered in chocolate)

Method

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celcius and line 2 baking trays with greaseproof baking paper.

Cream the milk extract, caster sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Beat in the 2 eggs until fully combined then add the flour and baking powder and mix again. Finally crush the malteasers in your hands before stirring them into the cookie dough.

Using a dessert spoon, spoon the mixture directly onto the tray, leaving a lot of space between each cookie.  I normally bake only 4 on each tray so you will need to rotate your trays, however it’s rare you’d bake the whole batch all at once. That is, unless your step-daughter decides to stick her fingers in each of the cookies on one tray as soon as they come out of the oven.  Ahem.

Bake in the oven for between 9-12 minutes.  As soon as they start to turn golden brown, remove the trays and leave the cookies on the baking paper for 10 minutes before gently moving with a spatula to a cooling rack.  The cookies will keep for up to 7 days in a sealed container kept in a cool, dry location but honestly I’d refrigerate or freeze your dough and bake these cookies fresh.[/recipe]