Malted Butterscotch Cashew Cookies

My mother-in-law gave us a huge jar of cashews (among other lovely culinary gifts) for Christmas. Both husband and I are unable to resist those rich, buttery nuts when the urge to nosh strikes, so there was no need to exhaust them quickly. However, I really love cashews in baked goods and wanted to make an easy cookie that could be thrown together in less than half an hour. Enter the Malted Butterscotch Cashew Cookie.

This feels lazy because it is basically just a variation of my favorite chocolate chip cookies. However, it’s a tasty variation, so I it would be remiss not to share it.

Because butterscotch and cashew are fairly subtle flavors compared to chocolate, I added extra malted milk powder to these to give them more depth. I really like the flavor and recommend that you do not omit the malt powder from the cookies.

The one thing that would make this better would be a fancy, smoother butterscotch chip. The only kind of butterscotch chip I’ve ever found has been Tollhouse. I think the widespread availability of Ghirardelli chocolate chips has spoiled me for other brands. The contrast between the smooth melt of Ghirardelli chocolate chips and the rather assertive, unmelted lumpishness of the Tollhouse butterscotch chips is rather irksome. But the chips are still tasty, and for lack of a better alternative, I’m sure I’ll keep using them when the butterscotch urge hits.

If you know of a fancy kind of butterscotch chip, please let me know.

This is essentially a double cookie batch. If you make as directed, you’ll need a large mixing bowl to avoid spilling the batter. Alternately, you could halve the recipe, using an egg and an egg yolk in place of the 3 eggs.

Malted Butterscotch Cashew Cookies

3 ½ sticks unsalted butter, room temp (or melted – it won’t hurt anything)
1 ½ cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed (I used light brown)
½ cup Malted Milk powder (if you can’t find any, use 1 ½ cups brown sugar, but the malted milk powder is really good in these)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 eggs, room temp

5 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (or 2 teaspoons if you’re using unsalted cashews)
2 12-oz. bags butterscotch chips
2 cups cashew pieces, salted is fine (or use more salt, as above, if using unsalted)

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars, and malted milk powder. Stir in vanilla, then add eggs.

In a medium bowl, whisk or sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to wet ingredients. Stir in butterscotch chips and cashews.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes, or until just barely starting to brown at the edges. Makes 4-6 dozen.

Printable recipe here.