Malted Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies

There's really nothing more comforting, as a kid or an adult, than a cookie.  I have fond memories of my mother baking peanut butter, snickerdoodle, and chocolate chip, among others, for our lunches or afternoon snack.   I also remember the "store-bought" ginger snaps that my grandparents kept in their cookie jar for us to have when we stopped in before our walk up the path to our home as we told them about our day.  And, when our daughters went to Mount Holyoke, I remember them telling me about the tradition of M & C's (milk and cookies) before retiring to their beds at night.

When I was in England, crisp cookies are called "biscuits."  The cookie has existed for as long as baking as been documented--back to the 7th century AD Persia, just shortly after sugar became common in the area.  They spread through England with the Muslim conquest of Spain and by the 14th century, they were common in all levels of society throughout Europe.  However, cookies came to America through the Dutch in New Amsterdam in the late 1620s.  The Dutch word, "kookie" was Anglicized to cookie by 1703.  Modern cookies, with butter and sugar creamed together was not common until the 18th century.  The chocolate chip cookie, which accounts for more than half of the cookies baked at home, was invented in 1930 at the Toll House Inn by Ruth Graves in Wakefield, Massachusetts.  I tweaked her recipe today and added Malted Milk Powder.

Malted Milk Powder is made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and evaporated whole milk.  Diastatic malt has enzymes that break down starch into sugar and this is what I used to add to my bread dough to help the dough rise and create a certain crust.  Today, it added a crispness to these cookies and I think, made them perfect dunkers!

Malted Dark Chocolate Pecan Cookies
(For my friends in Europe, especially England--I've converted measurements to grams as well)

14T (1 3/4 sticks) (200g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup (175g) firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup (165g) granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 yolk
2 tsp. Vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. water
2 cups (300g) King Arthur all-purpose flour (plain flour)
3/4 cup (90g) Malted Milk Powder
1/4 tsp. Kosher salt
1 1/4 cups (200g) bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup (120g) pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 325F-degrees (163C) and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream the melted butter and sugars together thoroughly.  Add the egg plus the yolk and mix together.  Add the vanilla extract and water, then cream once more.

Add the dry ingredients and mix on low, when almost incorporated, add the chocolate chips and pecans.  Mix to combine thoroughly.

Using a 1/4 cup scoop (or 1/4 cup measurement), measure out dough and place on the lined baking sheets, pressing down slightly on the mound of dough.

Leave space around the cookies to spread slightly.  I was able to get 6 large cookies per baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes; I baked both sheets at once, rotating them on the oven shelf to ensure even baking and golden brown in color.

Remove cookies from the oven and allow to set on the sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Enjoy and Happy Spring from North Carolina!

My trip to Birmingham, England was memorable and even though I didn't get out while during the trade show, I certainly got to meet a lot of new friends.  Here's our booth:

We laughed that my sweater matched the carpet between the booths!