Whopper Drops

Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

1 3/4 cups flour
1 cup malted milk powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick plus 3 TBSP (11 TBSP total) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup whole milk
2 cups chocolate-covered malted milk drops, coarsely chopped
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Sift together flour, malted milk powder, cocoa, baking powder and salt.

Beat butter and sugar together until very smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Add half the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear in the batter. Mix in the milk, then the remaining dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. The batter will look more like fudge frosting than cookie dough. Mix in the malted milk balls and chopped chocolate.

Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between spoonfuls. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 6 minutes. When done, the cookies will be puffed and set but slightly soft to the touch. Let the cookies rest for 2 minutes before using a wide spatula to transfer them to racks to cool.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Notes: I'm not sure whether I cooked these sufficiently since the cookbook recipe does not include a temperature for the baking. But they came out chewy and didn't fall apart, so it was probably close enough. These are my dad's favorite candy. And so when I found this recipe I knew I had to make them for him. The cookies are good. However.... they don't have much whopper taste to them and are more like chocolate chocolate-chip cookies. Maybe they need less cocoa and more malted milk powder.