Double Malted Milk Cookies

The kitchen is in full winter mode. The oven at 375 (always 375), the crockpot on the counter, the pantry stocked with jars from last August's canning — the evidence of a woman who preserves summer against winter and loss against forgetting and food against everything.

Thursday was tater tot hotdish, because Thursday is always tater tot hotdish and the schedule doesn't change for anything — not pandemics, not loss, not the passage of years. The tater tots go in at 375 and come out golden and the family eats them and the eating is the Thursday and the Thursday is the structure and the structure holds. But I also made sourdough bread earlier this week, because the kitchen doesn't only look backward. The kitchen grows.

The cookie season has ended and the soup season has settled in. The kitchen smells like broth and thyme and the slow simmer of food that takes hours and rewards the hours with warmth. Winter cooking is patient cooking. The patience is Marlene's gift. The cooking is mine.

The story says cookie season has ended, but I couldn’t let it go without one more batch — something that felt like the hinge between the sweetness of December and the slow simmer of January. These Double Malted Milk Cookies are exactly that: rich and a little old-fashioned, the kind of cookie that belongs in a tin on a counter next to a crockpot, the kind Marlene might have kept around for anyone who wandered into the kitchen looking for comfort. I made them because the kitchen grows, and growing sometimes means honoring the season you’re leaving before you settle fully into the one arriving.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 12 minutes | Total Time: 27 minutes | Servings: 36 cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup malted milk powder (plain, not chocolate)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate malted milk powder (such as Ovaltine)
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup malted milk balls (such as Whoppers), roughly crushed

Instructions

Preheat. Heat your oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Mix dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, plain malted milk powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together with a hand mixer or stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add eggs and vanilla. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and the chocolate malted milk powder; mix until fully combined and the dough is an even light-brown color.
Combine. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, stirring on low until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
Fold in mix-ins. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips and roughly crushed malted milk balls.
Scoop and bake. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10–12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centers still look slightly underdone.
Cool. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. They will firm up as they cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Double Malted Milk Cookies — The Last Batch Before the Soup Pot Takes Over