malted. and baked.

In the town I grew up in, there's this family restaurant. I loved going there because they had the best sundaes...I mean, really, it has "ice cream parlor" in its name. And one of my favorites had malt powder on it, cleverly dubbed the 'dusty road'.

In recent years, I've discovered baking with malt powder, instead of just sprinkling some onto my ice cream or mixing it up with some milk. I made Pioneer Woman's malted milk chocolate chip cookies for the hubs' family at some point, and now they're always in high demand. Sought after at every family gathering...or even a quick visit to say hi. I'm strongly questioned when I don't come bearing said cookies. And if I didn't make any, it must mean there is a dysfunction in my mental state. 

So now, I always have malted milk powder in my pantry. I also bought some Ovaltine Classic Malt, so I wouldn't dip into my baking products. Now I mix it with some almond milk. Mmmm...so good. And since I'm trying to make better choices, I sprinkle some on my oatmeal. I mean, it can't be all bad...there are vitamins and minerals up in my malt. ;) You should try it. You won't be sorry. 

But the other day...brilliance! I had some frozen mini vanilla cupcakes that I was looking to fix up. And lo and behold, as I was flipping through one of my Christmas gifts from my sister-in-law, [Baked. Have ya heard of it?] I came across their malted milk chocolate sauce recipe. But since this sounded like it'd be better paired with some chocolate cupcakes, I changed it up a bit.

Normally, if and when I freeze my cupcakes, I individually wrap each one with saran wrap, and then place them in freezer bags or freezable plastic storage. However, for some reason, I just threw these into a freezer bag. So the cake got a little dry. Hence the search for a syrup. And if I have a malted syrup on my cupcake, I gotta have some malted butter cream. Such a good decision. 

Malted Milk Chocolate Sauce

adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Ingredients

2/3 cup heavy cream; I used 3/4 cup and added some milk too
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup chocolate malt Ovaltine; I used Original malt, plus extra for taste
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped; I omitted this
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*Note: the original recipe is meant to be more of a sauce for various desserts. I wanted mine to run thin in order to moisten my cupcakes, which is why I added more cream and milk. The directions are for what I did in my kitchen.

Directions:
In a medium saucepan, combine cream, corn syrup, Ovaltine, brown sugar, and salt. Bring to a boil. Stir until well-blended. Simmer. Add milk and original Ovaltine until desired consistency and flavor is reached. Heat until soft boil, while stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat and mix in butter and vanilla. Let sauce cool. 

Cut out the middle of your cupcake (I did a cone shape). Spoon some sauce into the middle. Replace cake. Drizzle more sauce over the top of it (I poked some holes with a toothpick, just to make sure the sauce got all up in there :D)

And then I finished off the cupcake with the butter cream.

Malted Milk Butter Cream

adapted from Betty Crocker

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons malted milk powder; I used 1/4 cup combo of malted milk powder and Ovaltine, cuz I'm crazy like that
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa; I omitted this
2 tbsp milk, plus more if desired

Directions:

In mixing bowl, cream butter until smooth. Add powdered sugar, malted milk powder and 2 tbsp of milk. Mix. Add more milk for a smoother consistency. Place into piping bag and frost your cupcakes. 

And then I dug through my pantry because I swore I bought some Whoppers at some point. So I chopped some up and garnished these babies. Cuz a little more malt won't hurt you.

I was told that these are "FRICKIN AMAZING!!" and "unreal!!" -- so in spite of my cupcake-freezing mishap, I think I made some good cupcakes. 

I've also now concluded that malt saves everything. And helps you choke down your oatmeal.