Growing up I was never a big sweet lover.  I preferred salty treats.  But there is one of sweet treat that I have always loved: Maltesers or as they are known here in the US Whoopers.  I love the malt flavor and that crunchy airiness of the center.  The chocolate coating, is neither here or there for me.  And this is especially true now that I know that they don’t really even use real chocolate for the coating.  While I understand the reasons why, it is still not kosher for me at this point, especially now that I know. But that malty center is all kinds of deliciousness for me.

 

So about six months ago, I was doing some research trying to figure out the syllabi for the 2017/2018 school year.  I came across a few recipes for making homemade Whoopers.  But after I read them, I couldn’t understand how they could get the airy crunchiness with white chocolate as the main ingredient.  So I continued with the research and finally came across a recipe that had a mixture of the right ingredients and technique.  Using egg whites to make a meringue base would give the light crunchy center that I was looking for.  Just by reading that the recipe, I knew that I would get the effect that I wanted by making a meringue base.

So I played around with the recipe, made a few changes here and there, and came up with a final product that I love.  While my initial thought was to make them exactly like the Maltesers, I realized that I actually liked them without the chocolate coating.

So try this recipe out.  While the baking and cooling part of it does take a couple hours, the rest of it is pretty quick.  Ultimately though, the final product is worth it.

Malted Milk Meringue Cookies

Ingredients
  

  • 4 egg whites
  • 10 tbsp sugar
  • 6 tbsp malted milk powder
  • 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
  • 1/2 tsp coffee powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla powder or vanilla extract optional

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 225°F.
  • Fill a pot (large enough for your metal mixing bowl to sitting securely) with water about a 1/4 full. Test with your bowl to make sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water.
  • Remove your bowl and heat the water to simmer.
  • Meanwhile, place the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl.
  • Using a hand whisk, beat until the mixture is foamy.
  • Add the sugar to the egg mixture and mixture with the whisk.
  • Place the metal bowl on top of the pot and continue to whisk until the sugar has melted and you can no longer feel the graininess of the sugar, when rubbed between your fingers.
  • Transfer the metal bowl to a stand mixer or you can use a handheld mixer.
  • Beat on a high until soft peaks are formed.
  • Add the vanilla extract at this point.
  • Continue to beat on high until stiff peaks are formed. Mixture should look like clouds or melted marshmallows, be glossy and hold a peak should should hold its shape when beater is removed from the mixture.
  • Sift the malted milk, coffee powder and vanilla powder if using, into the meringue and gently fold it in.
  • Place the meringue mixture into a piping bag
  • Pipe small rounds of meringue onto a baking tray lined with parchment paper. While you could use a silicone baking mats, I have found that my cookies will become chewier rather than crispier. But feel free to use either.
  • Bake the meringues for an hour.
  • At the hour mark, turn the oven off and leave meringues in the oven for about an hour or until oven has cooled down to room temp or you need to use the oven again.

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