Malted Pretzel Crunch

This malted pretzel crunch is speedy and straightforward and the ultimate sweet/salty snack! Keep a batch of this on hand for the holidays, or package it up and give it away as gifts!

If you’re looking for a new insanely addictive snack that you can’t stop eating, look no further. We made a batch of this on a whim over the weekend and oh our goodness, as of Monday afternoon, there was nothing left. It’s one of a standby sweet and salty snacks that we've had… it easily rivals candied pecans and we guarantee it’ll be a hit at your next party or holiday gathering.

So what’s included in this pretzel goodness?

Pretzels, obviously.
Brown sugar and white sugar.
Dry milk powder.
Malt powder.
And butter… LOTS of butter.

The recipe did not specify what type of malt powder to use, and there are quite a few different varieties available – barley malt powder, diastatic malt powder, non-diastatic malt powder, malted milk powder…

We already had malted milk powder on hand, so we used that and it worked wonderfully. If you want to go for more of a beer-and-pretzels malt flavor, then we would opt for barley malt powder or non-diastatic malt powder.

These chunks of sweet and malty pretzels are worthy of eating straight, but we think this could be memorable crumbled on top of vanilla ice cream.

If you need something speedy to whip up for a pre-dinner snack on Thursday, make this immediately!

(But maybe hide it from yourself so it doesn’t disappear before guests arrive.)

• Yield: 4 cups
• Prep: 10 minutes
• Cook: 20 minutes
• Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 4 cups ( 320 g ) miniature pretzels, about ½ of a 16-ounce bag
• ½ cup ( 110 g ) light brown sugar
• ¼ cup ( 50 g ) granulated sugar
• ½ cup ( 64 g ) dry milk powder
• 2 tablespoons malt powder
• 14 tablespoons salted butter, melted

Method

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Crush the pretzels to about a quarter of their original size, either using your hands or putting them in a resealable bag and crushing them with a mallet or rolling pin.
3. Place the crushed pretzels in a large bowl and add the sugars, milk powder and malt powder and toss to combine (we just used our hands). Pour the melted butter over the pretzel mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture until it is evenly moistened and begins to clump.
4. Spread the pretzel mixture into an even layer on the baking sheet and bake until they look lightly toasted and smell buttery, about 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Break up any large clumps and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week (or store in the refrigerator or freezer for up to 1 month).