I just counted—between us, Gus and I have 10 pairs of gym shoes. That’s 20 shoes for 4 feet and zero closets. Are we hoarders?
Ok. I checked the bathroom. Six toothbrushes. Two faces. Confirmed hoarders.
And now I’m looking at the cupboards. Yikes. Perhaps it’s time to lose the Malaysian curry paste that I got at a press event 5 years ago. And I really don’t understand where all these bullion cubes came from. Maybe they’re mating in there.
What brought on this apartment inspection? Well, I just started working on a new cookbook. This one is going to be gluten free (and delicious!). That means that now I have mountains of alternate flours that I have to make room for. Time to clean house.
Or that’s what I was planning on doing, until I found a bag of malt powder in the back of the cupboard. And well, malt powder has the power to whisk me away.
Most people probably think of malt in terms of Whoppers, but it reminds me of Milo. Was Milo big in America? We only ever had it on trips back to Sri Lanka. I snuck heaping spoonfuls of the dry, sticky powder whenever I was alone in the kitchen of my grandmother’s house. It’s hard to avoid inhaling it when you’re trying to shovel it down before you get caught. But it was my only chance!
Malt was also the key flavor in our trips to the beach with my dad’s sister and her family. Every night, tucked away in our hotel room, my Aunt Nirmala would mix hot water, milk powder, and Milo in a plastic container and give me, my brother, and my cousins a sweet and creamy mug before bed. I can’t really imagine anything more comforting than a cup of Milo, the sound of waves crashing, and the feeling of being surrounded by family.
Despite the fact that the malt powder that I just found is so old that it has solidified into one flavorful rock, I don’t want to throw it away. It’s too good to dump in the trash. My solution: Malted Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies, with a side of shelf space for millet flour.
Salted Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen
These cookies come out chewy and thin. If you’d like something a little thicker you can add 1/4 cup more all-purpose flour.
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup malt powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cups chocolate chip
flaky salt, for sprinkling
1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, malt powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until creamy. Stir in vanilla and egg. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir to combine. Fold in chocolate.
2. Scoop the dough in 2 tablespoon balls and place on a prepared baking sheets. Freeze until cold and hard, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the dough balls on the prepared sheets at least two inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with some flaky salt. Bake until golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. Let cookies cool on the sheets on racks until they are firm enough to lift off with a spatula, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to the rack and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.