Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

So much for easing myself off the Holistic Detox. But what can I say... I made it almost two weeks without chocolate and these cookies were a great way to celebrate!

My Dad has always loved malted milk. He used to buy jars of Carnation malted milk powder over in Detroit and it always seemed special because it wasn't in any of our local grocery stores. When my Dad and I went over to Detroit in the summer (when we were almost pulled in at the border for being over our limit in butter), I picked up a jar of the very same powder that we used to get growing up. I had come across a recipe or two that called for the malted milk powder and I figured one of these days I would make something with it as a treat for my Dad.

Yesterday was my parent's anniversary and they happened to be visiting us for a few days. I decided to make something that my Dad would really love (my Mom got flowers). Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops. Let's just say, they were gone by breakfast this morning. This recipe comes from my current favourite baking book, "Baking: From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan. Great book! I have also made the cake on the front cover for Gavin's Birthday and the Banana Cream Pie for my Birthday.

If you don't have access to Carnation malted milk powder, use Ovaltine, either regular or chocolate flavoured. The key to these cookies is to take them out of the oven before they look done. You want them to be very soft when you pull them from the oven.

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. malted milk powder
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1 stick plus 3 T. unsalted butter (11 tablespoons total), at room temperature
2/3 c. sugar
2 large eggs
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1/4 c. whole milk (I used 5% cream rather than my 1% milk)
2 c. chocolate covered malt balls (Whoppers or Maltesers) coarsely chopped
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped, or 1 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, malted milk powder, cocoa, baking powder and salt into a large bowl.

2. In the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to low and add half the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Mix in the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. They batter will look more like fudge frosting then cookie dough - and that is fine. Mix in the malted milk balls and chocolate by hand with a rubber spatula.

4. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between spoonfuls. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating the sheets in the oven half way through. When done, the cookies will be slightly puffed and set but soft to the touch. Let cookies rest for two minutes before using a wide metal spatula to transfer them to racks to cool to room temperature. Repeat with remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.
Makes about 30 cookies.

*With these cookies, I set the timer to 5 minutes and when it went off, I turned the baking sheet around in the oven. Then I reset the timer for another 5 minutes but watch closely. Your oven might be hot and they may need to come out before the 10 minutes is up. The actual recipe in the cookbook said to bake them 11 to 13 minutes. I did this for the first dozen cookies yesterday and they were over-done.

*Try not to eat too many of the Maltesers before you stir them into the cookie batter. Once they are baked, the candies stay chewy but melt into the cookie at the same time, so long as they are taken from the oven on time. (I can't stress this enough!)