Mmm, Malt

It’s nice to have a lazy day when the biggest decision I have to make is what to bake. As you may know, I have an addiction to malted milk desserts and the large box of Whoppers on my kitchen counter was too tempting to resist experimenting with! These malted milk blondies aren’t too sweet, and have crisp edges with soft, moist centers.  

Malted Milk Blondies

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons malted milk powder (I use Carnation brand) 

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

2/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

1 large egg 

2/3 cup Whoppers, chopped

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position rack in the center of oven. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil, covering bottom and all four sides; set aside.

2. Sift flour, baking powder, malted milk, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

3. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and stir in brown sugar, vanilla, and egg. 

4. Add the butter mixture to the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in chopped Whoppers and chocolate chips. Spread in pan.

5. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until top is golden brown and the edges have pulled away from sides of pan. Cool blondies in the pan on a wire rack. Lift foil and transfer to cutting board to cut into squares.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.  

A Friends-tastic Muffin

During my college years, my friend Valerie and I would get together every Thursday night for a sushi dinner and to watch Friends and ER. Inevitably we’d become hungry sometime between the two shows and, more often than not, would make banana chocolate chip muffins to tide us over during our favorite ‘90s television lineup. 

Over the years I’ve made dozens of variations of those muffins. Last year, after adding some espresso powder to the mix, I finally feel the recipe is perfect-neither too sweet nor too dense and the espresso adds a subtle touch of complexity.  

Banana Chocolate Chip Espresso Muffins

Yield: 12 standard size muffins

1 teaspoon espresso powder

1 tablespoon milk

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large ripe bananas, mashed

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 large egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line or grease a standard size muffin tin.

In a small bowl or ramekin, dissolve the espresso powder in the milk and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. 

In a medium bowl, mix the mashed bananas, granulated sugar, brown sugar, egg, melted butter, and espresso mixture. Add the banana mixture and chocolate chips to flour mixture and mix together until just combined. The batter will be stiff. 

Fill muffin liners about 2/3 full. Bake for 23-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (I also check the crack in the muffin top to make sure it isn’t undercooked).

The Most Expensive Cookie Ever

My niece’s birthday is coming up and I wanted to bake her some cookies to add to the care package I’m sending her.  Taylor, like her aunt, has expensive taste so I thought she might like the $250 Nieman-Marcus cookies. 

If you're not familiar with the story, legend has it that a women had lunch at Nieman-Marcus and loved the cookie so much she asked to buy the recipe. When she received her monthly statement she had been charged a whopping $250 for the recipe. The woman was so upset about the exorbitant cost she decided to send the recipe to everybody she knew. 

The $250 Cookie
Adapted Maida Heatter’s version of this infamous cookie
Yield: About 48 cookies

 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned (not instant) oatmeal

4 ounces milk chocolate 

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 packed cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

12 ounces (2 cups) semisweet chocolate chips

6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) walnuts, in medium-pieces

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

Chop the milk chocolate into medium-sized pieces and place, along with the oatmeal, into a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Pulse for about 25 seconds, until the oatmeal and chocolate are almost powdered. Set aside.

In a large bowl of a standing mixer, beat the butter until soft. Add both the sugars and the vanilla and beat until mixed. Beat in the eggs. Then add the sifted ingredients and the oatmeal mixture on low speed, scraping the bowl as necessary and beating only until mixed.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts (it will be a stiff mixture.)

Using a medium sized cookie scoop, place dough about 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets (the dough will stay together better if you pack it tightly into the scoop).

Bake two sheets at a time for about 14 minutes, reversing the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking to ensure even browning.

When the cookies are lightly colored and are just firm to the touch, remove the sheets from oven. Let the cookies stand on sheets about one minute before transferring them to a rack to cool.

And, in case you're wondering, I'm not sure if the recipe was worth $250 but they are pretty darn good. (I managed to eat four of them before I even finished my morning coffee.) If you like oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, you will love these. They aren’t too sweet and are crispy on the outside with a soft, moist center.  

The Secret's in the Corn Flakes

Growing up, my father would make the most amazing chocolate chip cookies using crushed up corn flakes. I had forgotten how much I loved his cookies until I bit into a chocolate chip cookie from Cafe Borrone and the subtle crunch brought me back to my childhood.

After a month and several attempts, I came up with a recipe that was the perfect combination of the texture of my father’s cookies and the flavors of Borrone’s cookies*. It’s also a very versatile cookie recipe: I often substitute half the semi-sweet chocolate chips with either milk chocolate or butterscotch chips, and sometimes add 1 cup of chopped pecans or walnuts.  In a pinch, I’ve even substituted Rice Krispies for corn flakes.  

I refrigerate the dough for 24 hours before baking so they are extra soft and fluffy. Because the recipe makes about 40 cookies, I usually bake half the dough and then pre-scoop and freeze the other half in a tupperware container with wax paper in between each layer of dough.  

1 egg 

2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup vegetable oil

4 cups flour 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

3 teaspoons baking soda 

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup corn flakes, crushed

1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a small bowl, whisk the egg, vanilla, and oil and set aside. 

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, salt, and baking soda.  In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy.  

Add half the flour mixture and half the egg mixture to the butter and beat for about 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour and egg mixtures and beat until just combined.  Using a silicone or wooden spoon, fold in the cornflakes, oatmeal, coconut, and chocolate chips.

Cover tightly and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Scoop with a medium-sized cookie scoop and place on parchment-lined cookie sheet, about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool on a cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes then transfer to rack to cool.  


*For a cookie that taste like Cafe Borrone's, use half milk chocolate chips, half semi-sweet chocolate chips and add 1 cup of chopped pecans.