I've been craving small treats with big flavor lately, and malted milk powder is still one of my favorite ingredients. It's fantastic in chocolate chip cookies, but it also adds something special to blondies and cookie bars. These one bowl Salted Butter Malted Milk Powder Blondies are chewy, soft and packed with rich malt flavor in every bite.
About the name, I put "salted butter" in the title because it had a ring to it for sure, but also because I used salted butter in these. Feel free to use unsalted and add a pinch or two more salt. I've just been buying a lot of salted butter lately because I'm trying different brands. Unsalted butter is the go-to for baking, but when it comes to spreading I always use salted.
As for the milk powder, malted milk ball (Whoppers) fans will probably recognize the toasty caramel-like flavor. The malted milk powder doesn't make the bars taste overwhelmingly sweet, but it does make them malty tasting. I very much appreciate that it is not subtle here, but as mentioned I'm going through "big flavor" craving.
Pan Size
This recipe calls for an 8-inch square pan which affects the baking time. If you change pan sizes, baking time will change. If you double and bake in a 9x13 inch pan, the blondies will probably take a good 32 minutes because they bake at 325, not the usual 350F. Also, I've been baking these in my metal pan. Glass should be okay too since they bake at a fairly low heat anyway and don't have baking powder.
Ingredient Notes
These are extremely easy cookie bars, and the only recipe that may or may not be in your pantry is probably the malted milk powder.
- Malted Milk Powder: I use regular malted milk powder such as Carnation. Avoid diastatic malt powder, which is intended for bread baking and behaves differently.
- Salted Butter: Salted butter gives these bars just enough seasoning to balance the brown sugar and chocolate. If using unsalted butter, add an extra ¼ teaspoon salt.
- Brown Sugar: Light brown sugar keeps the bars soft and chewy while letting the malt flavor come through. I also recommend using a really good and fresh organic brown sugar if possible.
- Chocolate Chips: Milk chocolate pairs especially well with malt so I've been using Guittard milk chocolate chips. In addition, there are white chips, but if you don't have the white chips you can leave them out.
- Optional Marshmallows: If you have some marshmallows and want to make the bars extra chewy, bury about ½ cup of mini marshmallows in the batter. The marshmallows melt into the dough and create very chewy pockets.
Storage
Store the blondies in an airtight container at room temperature for about 3 days. They also freeze well for up to 2 months. I like freezing them individually so I can grab one whenever I'm craving something sweet.1 baked 9-inch dairy-free pie crust (homemade or store-bought)
Recipe
Salted Butter Malted Milk Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (125 grams)
- ¼ cup malted milk powder (40 grams)
- ⅜ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons salted butter, softened, plus extra for pan ( 114 grams)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed (150 grams)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ¾ cup milk chocolate chips
- ¼ cup white chips or mini white chips
Optional
- ½ cup marshmallows
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square metal pan with foil or parchment paper. Grease pan with extra salted butter for extra flavor! Or feel free to use cooking spray.
- Combine the flour, malt powder, baking soda and salt, Stir until evenly mixed and set aside.
- Beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy. By hand or using lowest speed of your mixer, stir in the egg and vanilla.
- Stir flour mixture into butter mixture. When flour is almost fully blended in, add chocolate and white chips and mix until flour disappears. For super chewy bars, you can stir in some marshmallows. They are completely optional.
- Scrape batter into pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for about 30 minutes or until they are browned on top and pull away from the edges. The center should be a tiny bit jiggly, but will set as the bars cool. Note: I've overbaked them (3 minutes), and while they were very brown, they still tasted good. It's a little tricky to figure out exactly when they are done because the malted milk powder causes them to brown more.
- Transfer to a wire rack and let cool. Grasp foil, lift from pan and cut into bars.
- You can serve them at room temperature of chill.
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