I inherited my obsession with malted milk powder from my mom. More often than not, we would eat the powder dry, straight from the can, holding our breaths as we bring the spoons to our mouths so as not to blow the contents all over the kitchen counter. This recipe, inspired by a fudgy malt cake we had for dessert at a restaurant in Thailand, is a nod to my mother and all the things she taught me.

The malt flavor, while subtle, perfectly compliments the fudgey, gooey texture of these bars. The butter, well browned, amplifies the nuttiness of the malt.

I use Horlick’s (fun fact: pharmacist James Horlick invented the product as an infant food and patented the name “malted milk” in 1887), but feel free to use whatever brand you like.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup malted milk powder
¼ tsp baking powder
⅛ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 stick (½ cup) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
¼ cup milk (preferably whole)

Pre-heat the oven to 350F. Butter an 8×8 baking dish.

Brown the butter in a saucepan. Make sure to keep an eye on it – the butter will take forever to start to color, but then will go from brown to black in a blink. Transfer the brown butter to a bowl (since the butter will continue to color if you leave it in the hot saucepan) and stir in the brown sugar. Let the mixture cool while you work on the rest of your prep.

Combine the flour, malted milk powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Set aside. Meanwhile, whisk the egg and milk into the butter mixture.

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until combined. Pour into the prepared dish and bake until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean – about 15-25 minutes.