9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder

The sweet and nutty powder that makes desserts more flavorful.

By
The Serious Eats Team
The Serious Eats Team
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Published Sep. 06, 2019
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Vicky Wasik

Spend enough time sifting through the Serious Eats dessert archives and baking your way through Stella Parks' masterful recipes, and you'll notice a common thread running through many of our favorite treats: malted milk powder. The mixture of wheat flour, malted barley extracts, and milk adds a layer of nutty, rich, butterscotch-like flavor to all sorts of sweets. And because of the lactose it contains, malted milk powder helps baked goods brown evenly. In other words, malted milk powder can do no wrong, and these nine recipes prove our point.

  • Malted Chocolate Chip–Pecan Cookies

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    Vicky Wasik

    A combination of white sugar and barley malt syrup makes these cookies soft and chewy in the middle, with perfectly crisped edges. Malted milk powder joins the sugars in tenderizing the cookies, and adds the needed lactose for them to brown evenly in the oven. Chunks of rich, buttery pecans round out an already-rich and flavorful cookie.

    Get the recipe for Malted Chocolate Chip–Pecan Cookies

  • Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies

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    Vicky Wasik

    Brown butter and malted milk powder turn these otherwise-classic shortbread cookies into something extraordinary. Thanks to a low moisture content, these cookies are tender and chewy, and will keep for weeks in an airtight container. That means you'll probably want to make a double batch—at least.

    Get the recipe for Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies

  • Homemade Brownie Mix

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    Vicky Wasik

    There's no denying that the ease and convenience of boxed brownie mix is great. But the flavor is often so-so. This homemade mix stores well for up to one year, and bakes rich, dark fudgy brownies every time.

    Get the recipe for Homemade Brownie Mix

  • Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

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    Emily Dryden

    The only thing better than a chocolate chip cookie? A very, very big chocolate chip cookie. Though this enormous cookie bakes up to look like a decadent cake, it's made with a classic chocolate chip cookie dough, plus a few teaspoons of malted milk powder. The addition of malted milk powder contributes a rich nuttiness, and pairs nicely with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

    Get the recipe for Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
    Continue to 5 of 9 below.

  • Stovetop Butterscotch Pudding

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    Vicky Wasik

    This velvety butterscotch pudding is best served warm, but it certainly does the trick when it's cold and slightly wobbly, too. The pudding gets its creaminess from white chocolate—a light flavor that doesn't overpower the flavors of malted milk powder and toasted sugar.

    Get the recipe for Stovetop Butterscotch Pudding

  • Homemade Chipwiches

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    Vicky Wasik

    This recipe produces a twist on the classic ice cream sandwich. While the cookies may seem oddly soft and cakey straight out of the oven, they're perfectly crunchy but tender when filled with creamy fior di latte gelato, and frozen. Malted milk powder added to the cookies ensures they remain complexly flavored even after they're chilled.

    Get the recipe for Homemade Chipwiches

  • Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

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    Vicky Wasik

    The idea of hot chocolate mix is great, but the storebought stuff tends to be one-note and overly sweet. By making your own mix, you can have a constant supply of thick, decadent hot chocolate. Our recipe combines toasted sugar, white chocolate, dark chocolate, instant espresso powder, and malted milk powder.

    Get the recipe for Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

  • Pumpkin Skillet Coffee Cake With Streusel Topping

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    Vicky Wasik

    This coffee cake is something between a pumpkin streusel muffin and a rich, chewy blondie. It's hearty, satisfying, and warmly spiced. Melted white chocolate in the cake dough gives it a fudgy texture, while malted milk powder bumps up and accentuates the earthiness of pumpkin.

    Get the recipe for Pumpkin Skillet Coffee Cake With Streusel Topping
    Continue to 9 of 9 below.

  • Texas Sheet Cake

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    Vicky Wasik

    As soon as this enormous slab of chocolate cake comes out of the oven, it's covered in a hot fudge and buried under a mountain of crunchy pecans. Thank malted milk powder for the undercurrent of toffee that runs through each bite.

    Get the recipe for Texas Sheet Cake