Good lord, I love brown butter. The nutty, caramelly flavor takes most recipes to the next level of awesome. And, as we’ve already established, I love malt. So these malted brown butter cookies clearly needed to happen.
I may eventually compare these to another brown butter cookie recipe I stumbled across, but once I pulled these out of the oven and let them cool off enough to land in my mouth, all thoughts of comparison went out the window!
That being said, once they fully cooled, they hardened up a bit. They’re still soft, but not exactly chewy – which is the only thing keeping them from an A+ in my grade book.
I did do a teeny bit of experimenting, since I had left over malt-sugar mix from the Malted Chocolate Crinkle Cookies I made the day before. If, by some strange chance, you aren’t so much into the salty cookie, rolling them in malted milk and powdered sugar was a lovely flavor addition. I just preferred the salt.
I also picked up some handy tricks thanks to these cookies. First, and purely by accident, I discovered that salted butter browns better! Given my limited knowledge of chemistry, this nonetheless makes sense – since salt raises the boiling temperature of liquids… or something. Regardless, I discovered that salted butter (which I bought cause it was on sale, and they were out of unsalted and I didn’t care enough to make another trip to the store or pay more money) browns more evenly and isn’t as quick to burn. There’s a fine line between nicely browned butter and kind of burnt butter.
Also – new handy trick – dipping the dough balls in the flaked sea salt rather than sprinkling it on top ensures the lovely, flaky salt actually sticks to the cookie and stays there post-baking. Huzzah!
The malt is somewhat subtle, which is why I tried rolling the dough in the malt/sugar mix. That combo definitely brings out the malt flavor more, but I ultimately opted for salt over malt. Personal preference. Both delicious.
Salted Malted Brown Butter Cookies (from The Baker Chick)
Grade: A
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup malted milk powder (most likely Carnation brand)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup salted (or unsalted) butter, browned and cooled slightly
- 1 cup brown sugar (dark or light will work)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat and set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, malted milk powder, cornstarch, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk the browned butter with the sugars, egg and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add the dry ingredients and stir until fully combined.
Dough will seem a bit dry and crumbly, but use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to portion 1-inch sized bits, then roll them into balls with your hands. You’ll need to smoosh the dough together somewhat.
Dip the top of each dough ball in a bit of flaky sea salt and arrange on the prepared cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. (These don’t spread out a ton, but err on the side of leaving enough space).
Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until the edges are set and beginning to crack.
Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!
Baker on the Run 