Chewy Malted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It's hard for me to pick favorites, but these Chewy Malted Chocolate Chunk Cookies might just be my ultimate cookie. They are chewy, bendy, just a little crisp around the edges, packed with dark chocolate and malt powder and finished with flaky sea salt.

These cookies are a hit all year long but of course they are perfect during cookie season! They'd make a great addition to my Christmas Cookie Box along with any of my other cookie recipes such as olive oil chocolate chip cookies, flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies, chewy strawberry sugar cookies, or brown butter pecan chocolate chunk cookies.

Malted Milk Powder is one of my favorite ingredients and such a nostalgic flavor as it reminds me of my dad and the amazing milkshakes he used to make. I've been sneaking it into cakes, cookies, and ice cream recipes for decades. This Malted Cookie recipe is an offshoot of my Salted + Malted Chocolate Bundt Cake recipe. (Which brings me to a quick little side rant: I'm not going to make any bold claims, but I created that cake recipe and blog post on a whim in 2015 during a blizzard with ingredients I already had kicking around in my pantry. Fast forward a few years and salted malted recipes are everywhere! I had never seen one before then and it felt like such an original, unique idea at the time (because it was!). I never hesitate to give credit for the inspiration behind a recipe I create, whether it's my dad, a friend, a restaurant, another food blogger, etc. It would be nice if other food bloggers did the same. End rant.)

Ingredients

A classic mix of chocolate chip cookie ingredients is all you need to make these with the special addition of malted milk powder. Carnation brand malted milk powder can be found at almost every grocery store, but I have become a convert to this malt powder because it doesn't have added sugars, just a very distinct malt flavor, which makes it great for baked goods as it doesn't compete with the sugars already in the recipe. You can use either one but you will have a bit of a sweeter cookie if you use Carnation brand.

• butter - unsalted or salted: I almost always use salted. If you want to use salted but are worried about the salt content in the cookie just reduce the amount of salt a bit.
• light brown sugar: a classic ingredient that contributes to the perfect chewy texture and chocolate chip cookie flavor
• granulated white sugar: just the right amount to create that chewy, bendy texture
• baking powder: a tiny bit of lift that will deflate after cooling and create chewiness.
• baking soda: for tenderness, browning, and chewiness
• kosher salt: diamond crystal is my favorite.
• vanilla extract: because what would a ccc be without it?
• eggs: room temperature
• all purpose flour
• malted milk powder: I used Hoosier Hill Farm in this recipe.
• chopped chocolate: I used two 3.5 ounce lindt bars and chopped them roughly so there were lots of different chunk sizes and some chocolate dust/shavings. Feel free to use a combo of dark and milk chocolate. I don't recommend chips for this recipe as they do not melt like a chocolate bar and the cookies will not spread properly.
• sea salt for topping

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Here are some step-by-step photos of how to make chewy malted chocolate chunk cookies:

place sugars, salt, and butter in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment

cream for 5-7 minutes on medium speed scraping the bowl once. Add eggs and vanilla.

cream eggs and vanilla into butter mixture until light and fluffy scraping sides and bottom once.

add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and malted milk powder.

Mix on low speed until combined and add chopped chocolate.

Mix in chocolate and scoop dough balls ¼ cup each (#16 scoop)

Place dough balls on parchment about 2 inches apart and top with sea salt if desired. Bake at 350 for 13-16 minutes.

Cookies will be lightly browned around the edges and still soft in the centers. Bang tray on counter to help the cookies deflate before cooling on trays.

Continue baking cookies in this manner until all dough has been used. See Storage tips below for storing dough balls and/or baked cookies.

Equipment

A prefer to make most of my cookies in a stand mixer especially when creaming the butter and sugar. You can makes these with a hand mixer or by hand, but you will get quite a workout as you need to cream the butter and sugar very well for several minutes.

I also highly recommend a cookie scoop for evenly portioning the dough. I have had the same set of 3 from Williams Sonoma for about 20 years and I use them for everything from cookies to pancakes to meatballs. This is a similar set of cookie scoops.

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Storage

Baked and cooled cookies can be stored at room temperature for 3-5 days. They will become drier and less chewy the older they get but they are really good dipped in coffee at that stage.

Baked and cooled cookies can be wrapped tightly and placed in a ziploc bag or freezer container and stored in the freezer for 3 months. Allow to thaw at room temperature for an hour before eating.

You can stash the dough balls in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours and bake straight from the fridge. If you want to freeze the dough balls, freeze them in a single layer on parchment until solid and then transfer to a bag or freezer container. Let them thaw on the counter for 30 minutes before baking.

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Chewy Malted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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These Chewy Malted Chocolate Chunk Cookies might just be my ultimate cookie. They are chewy, bendy, just a little crisp around the edges, packed with dark chocolate and malt powder and finished with plenty of flaky sea salt.

• Total Time: 35 minutes
• Yield: 16 large cookies

Ingredients

• 8 ounces butter, soft room temperature
• 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated white sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup malted milk powder
• 7-8 ounces good quality dark chocolate, chopped (see note)

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment.
2. Place butter, sugars, and salt in bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment and cream for 5-7 minutes on medium-high speed. Give the bowl a scrape once or twice during this process.
3. Add eggs and vanilla and continue creaming on medium-high until light and fluffy, again giving the bowl a good scrape once or twice during the process.
4. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and malted milk powder and mix on low until combined. Add chocolate chunks and mix until just combined. 
5. Scoop ¼ cup portions of dough placing about 2-3 inches apart. These spread quite a lot. I do 5 per cookie sheet - one in the center and one near each corner. Bake at 350 for 13-15 minutes until browned around the edges and puffed in the center. Remove from oven and bang or drop the cookie sheet on the countertop. Allow cookies to cool on sheets while proceeding with the rest of the dough.

Notes

I say 7-8 ounces because some bars are 4 ounces and some are 3.5. Just use 2 bars of your favorite chocolate. The 1-ounce discrepancy will make no difference. I like a very dark chocolate but use what you like. A mixture of dark and milk would be really good.

Baked and cooled cookies can be stored at room temperature for 3-5 days. They will become drier and less chewy the older they get but they are really good dipped in coffee at that stage.

Baked and cooled cookies can be wrapped tightly and placed in a ziploc bag or freezer container and stored in the freezer for 3 months. Allow to thaw at room temperature for an hour before eating.

You can stash the dough balls in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours and bake straight from the fridge. If you want to freeze the dough balls, freeze them in a single layer on parchment until solid and then transfer to a bag or freezer container. Let them thaw on the counter for 30 minutes before baking.

• Author: anita | wild thistle kitchen
• Prep Time: 20 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes per tray
• Category: cookies, desserts
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: American