Malted Milk Biscuits - but not as you know them. These treats have classic malt biscuit flavours combined with the stability & snap of sugar cookies. They are very versatile.
It's been a very long time since I published a recipe for biscuits, so I'm quite chuffed to be presenting a bit of an old-timer today. Well, I say it's an old-timer. It is and it isn't. Only the flavour is classic, everything else is a little bit different.
Malted milk is a bit of a vintage biscuit flavour here in the UK. The traditional packs that can be picked up in stores are not dissimilar to a thin shortbread biscuit, with a delicate crunch and a cow embossed on them. Oh, sweet joy for cow lovers. They are great for dunking in tea, hot chocolate and of course a good old cup of Horlicks.
My biscuits are quite different though, since they have more in common with sugar cookies. I've kept the ingredients simple, without too much butter or leavening. This is to ensure that they keep their shape well when baked, have a sturdiness to them and a definite snap. These biscuits are not the type that crumble at the mere sight of teeth. They do have an intentional firmness to them.
Why? Well, I have a malt cake coming out shortly and I wanted to use them to decorate it. I'm not sure I'm totally happy with the look of the cake with the biscuits on, but that's another story.
Unlike a regular sugar cookie, these Malted Milk Biscuits do not necessarily need decorating. The malty flavour alone is enough to render them hard to resist without the need for fancy icing. I have, however, had a bit of fun with these Malted Milk Biscuits and experimented with different shapes, patterns, cut outs and even a buttercream filling - malted milk flavour of course.
Although this recipe is fairly simple, I do have one or two tips to pass on to you.
Tips for Making Malted Milk Biscuits
- roll the biscuit dough out to around 5mm thick - this is the ideal thickness to ensure a well-baked biscuit results (not too hard and not undercooked)
- don't overbake these biscuits. Stop baking when they just begin to take on a little extra colour. These biscuits are intentionally firm and robust, but overbaking will result in a tough biscuit
- do rotate your baking sheets midway through the baking time to ensure the biscuits cook evenly
- if cooking biscuits of different sizes, take out the smaller ones as soon as they are ready and allow the larger ones to cook a little longer
Have you Made These Biscuits?
If you have, did you have a favourite way to serve them? I honestly can't decide if I prefer them plain or with the malty buttercream filling. It's a very tough call.
I would love to see your creations though - why not share a picture on Instagram and tag #littlesugarsnaps so I can take a peek. Happy baking.
Can I tempt you with more yummy cookie recipes? I've got homemade custard creams, chai spiced shortbread, Empire Biscuits and Nutella thumbprint cookies to name a few.
Malted Milk Biscuits
Ingredients
For the Malted Milk Biscuits
- 200 g/ ⅞ cup Butter - room temperature
- 3 tbsp Malted Milk Powder (I used original Horlicks - NOT the light or chocolate versions
- 300 g/ 2 ⅓ cup Plain (all purpose) flour
- 50 g/ ⅓ cup Rice flour
- 200 g/ 1 cup Golden caster sugar
- 1 Egg - large, free range
- ½ tsp Vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp Salt
Optional - For the Malted Milk Buttercream
- 150 g/ ⅔ cup Butter - room temperature
- 200 g/ 1 ⅔ cup Icing (confectionary) sugar
- 2 tbsp Whole (full fat) milk
- 3 tbsp Malted Milk Powder (Horlicks original)
- ¼ tsp Vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Malted Milk Biscuits
- Cream the butter, sugar and malt powder together with electric beaters
- Add the egg and vanilla extract. Beat again
- Sieve the flours & salt into the bow and stir to combine (or mix briefly with the beaters). Take care not to overmix else the dough will end up tough
- Briefly knead the dough on a worktop, then flatten into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 1 hour
- Roll to 5mm thickness and cut out circles/ shapes. Scoop up the offcuts and reroll to cut a few more biscuits. I used a 5 ½ cm cutter to get approx 38 biscuits cut.
- Place 2 cm apart on baking sheets lined with baking parchment and chill for 30-45 minutes
- Preheat oven to 150C/ 300F/ GM2 and cook for 20-22 minutes until just beginning to colour. Turn the baking sheets midway through the cooking time as necessary to ensure an even bake
- Remove from oven let and cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely
- Keeps well in an airtight tin at room temperature for up to 1 week
Make the Malted Milk Buttercream
- Put the butter into a medium sized bowl and beat with electric beaters
- Add half of the (sieved) icing sugar & malt powder and beat until light and fluffy
- Pour in the milk and vanilla extract and beat briefly
- Sieve the rest of the icing sugar & malt powder into the buttercream and beat until light
- Use to sandwich pairs of biscuits together
Just try this recipe and it's really nice. I always use recipes with baking soda in the biscuits and so I was wondering what it will taste like without baking soda. Wonderful recipe and thanks so much for sharing!
Thankyou Jessica - it's always lovely to hear how readers got on.
Delicious biscuits! Went down very well with the husband and kids. I love crunchier biscuits and this was perfect. A saved recipe. Thank you!
That's so lovely to hear - thankyou. They may not be traditional malted milks, but they are very tasty!
Excellent biscuits. I substituted Ovaltine for Horlicks and that worked fine. I also used cornflour instead of rice flour to no ill effect. Will definitely make again. Thanks
Thanks for letting me know you liked these Sheelagh - it really does make my day when readers take the time to do so 🙂
These biscuit looks so delicious, Jane! Malted milk brings back so many wonderful childhood memories and I have been drooling over the biscuits since I first saw the on your Insta. As always, your photos are also incredibly beautiful.
Thank you so much for your lovely comment - it's rather made my day.