{Recipe Recap} Malted Treats

I’m celebrating my birthday with the girls tonight.  We’re eating at a pizza place that I’ve wanted to try for a while.  I really hope it lives up to the hype.

So you know how I make treats-to-order for people’s birthdays?  Well last year and this year, Heather’s taken it upon herself to be my birthday baker.  I requested a Heath Bar Cake from her, but I decided I wanted to use my birthday to make a dessert more complicated than anything I’d normally attempt.  You can sneak a peek at the cake over there on the right in my Instagram pics.  So yes, I baked my own birthday cake, but I enjoyed it.  As of this post, I haven’t tried the cake as a whole, but the marshmallow filling and chocolate frosting were both divine.  I plan to use them both again separately.

Anyway, the reason I bring all that up is that the frosting had Ovaltine, chocolate malted milk powder, in it.  I recently made two different bars that used regular malted milk so I guess you could say I’m on a malt flavor kick.  The McHusband isn’t complaining as malt is one of his favorite flavors.

First up: Brewers’ Blondies.

These weren’t as malt-y as we would have liked, but as far as blondies go, they tasted just fine.

I used some Easter Whoppers in these to up the maltiness.

When the McHusband and I had a nibble of these the night I made them, when they were still warm, we thought they tasted a little burned.  I think it was just the dark brown sugar we were tasting, that caramelized flavor.  By the next day, that blended into the blondie and just gave it some nice caramel undertones.

Next: Malt Cookie Bars.  This was a simple recipe that I doubled and almost ruined because I didn’t bake them long enough at first.  Yes, I do prefer my brownies and blondies to be fudgy, but they should still be baked through.

The tops of these got crackly and separated from the bars around the edges.  I took it upon myself to clean up that mess.

I don’t think you can go wrong with either of these bars, but the latter ones were much simpler and were just as good.

Enjoy looking at these blondies because I’m going to be cutting back on the treat-making.  I do have a few birthday celebrations for friends coming up so I’ll be doing the usual for them, but I need to get back on track with my healthy eating.  I still believe that treats can be enjoyed as part of a healthy diet, but they need to be enjoyed in moderation and I haven’t been moderate lately.

It’s time for a reset.  But not until after dinner tonight.  I’m going to enjoy my pizza and TWO cakes and then I’ll repent for the next month.

{Brewers’ Blondies}

{Malt Cookie Bars}