Malted Sugar Cookies

Bakes 79 & 80 for 2025: Malted Sugar Cookies from Snacking Bakes by Yossy Arefi

It was a last-minute realization before having friends over for dinner last night that we had no dessert to offer. I grabbed my baking notebook and quickly scanned for something fast and with on-hand ingredients – these sugar cookies fit the bill. What I forgot was just how delicious they were! Perfectly chewy and soft, not cakey in the slightest. I’ve made a couple tiny tweaks, but otherwise, the recipe is basically the same as published. I highly recommend all of Arefi’s books if you’re looking for delicious, accessible baking recipes; Snacking Cakes can be purchased here.

Ingredients:

• 8 Tbsp (113g) unsalted butter, room temp
• 3/4 cup (150g) sugar, plus 1/4 cup (50g) for rolling
• 1 large egg, cold from the fridge
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 cup (30g) malted milk powder, such as Carnation or KAB
• 1-1/2 cups (190g) all-purpose flour

Instructions:

1. Melt 4 Tbsp of the butter and cut the remaining 4 Tbsp into 8 pieces. In a large bowl, combine both butters with the 3/4 cup (150g) sugar, whisking vigorously until smooth & creamy (or ~1 min with a handheld mixer).
2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, milk powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, whisking well to combine.
3. Add the egg, and vanilla to the butter-sugar mixture. Whisk until thickened and pale, 1-2 min with a handheld mixer.
4. Add in the dry ingredients and fold in until no streaks remain.
5. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour to overnight.
6. When ready to bake, line two sheets with parchment and preheat the oven to 350F.
7. Place the remaining 1/4 cup (50g) sugar in a small bowl. Using a 2-Tbsp cookie scoop or portions of 30-35g, portion the dough, rolling it in the sugar before placing 2” apart on the prepared sheets.
8. Bake for 8-10, rotating the trays front-to-back and top-to-bottom halfway through, until just set and starting to take color at the edges. Cool a few minutes on the trays before transferring to a cooling rack. It should yield 15-18 cookies.

Note: The original recipe calls for baking straightaway, but I noted that they spread a lot and got too crisp on the edges for our liking. To solve this, I added at least a brief chill. The first batch I chilled only 2 hours, the second was overnight and I saw no difference, but both versions spread less and had a more pleasing texture than immediate baking. Still delicious if you don't have time to chill though!