I must have a thing for sweetened condensed milk right now—this is the third post in a row that requires cracking open a can of the good stuff.
Can you blame me? It’s just so versatile! If you want something to be smooth, creamy, or structurally sound without a million ingredients, sweetened condensed milk is probably the ingredient you want. See exhibits A, B, and C. And these brownies. And these cookie bars. Oh, and this no-churn ice cream. This one, too.
I told you, I’m a little obsessed.
Sweetened Condensed Milk is probably most popular as the key ingredient in Magic Bars (aka 7 Layer Bars, aka Hello Dollies). In those, it acts as a soft, chewy filling and a vehicle for various chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut. I don’t currently have a recipe for traditional Magic Bars—rest assured, you can find a million of them online—but I have taken the basic formula and put it on a blondie and made two chocolate variations, including Chocolate Malt Magic Bars! Today, I’m taking that recipe and giving it a vanilla malt makeover 😍 
That’s right—Vanilla Malt Magic Bars, y’all! They’re soft and chewy with a big vanilla malt flavor and a buttery cookie crumb crust. The filling is studded with white chocolate chips and broken pieces of Golden Oreo, and the tops are ever so slightly crackly thanks to the way sweetened condensed milk caramelizes in the oven.
These bars require just seven ingredients and come together quickly and easily…again, because sweetened condensed milk makes things a snap.
Oh, and they stay soft and delicious for days on end because…well, you know.
Vanilla Malt Magic Bars
makes 1 8- or 9-inch pan, about 12-16 bars
30 vanilla sandwich cookies (like Golden Oreos), divided
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup malted milk powder
pinch of Kosher or sea salt
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F. Heavily grease a 9-inch square pan and line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on two sides. Grease again. Set aside.
Place 24 vanilla sandwich cookies the bowl of a food processor and process until pulverized. Add 5 tablespoons of melted butter. Pulse until combined. Transfer mixture to the prepared pan. Press into an even layer. Bake for five minutes, until set. Set crust aside to cool while you prepare the filling.
In a small mixing bowl, whisk together sweetened condensed milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and vanilla. Whisk in malted milk powder and salt. Mixture will be thick and slightly grainy.
Drizzle sweetened condensed milk mixture over crust. Use a silicone spatula or the back of a spoon to carefully spread into an even layer.
Break remaining 6 vanilla sandwich cookies into pieces and scatter over sweetened condensed milk mixture, followed by white chocolate chips. Bake for 30-32 minutes, tenting pan with foil at the 10 minute mark. Bars are done when the center jiggles just slightly when the pan is jostled.
Let bars cool completely in the pan on a rack. Use overhang to remove bars from the pan to a cutting board. Peel off foil. Slice with a lightly-greased knife and serve.
Leftovers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days, or in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Oh, hello.
Are you also distracted by the undeniable beauty of this Marble Bundt Cake?
Wait til you find out how delicious it is.
And how incredibly easy it is to make.
One batter, two bowls, ten minutes to mix 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻 
A little over an hour in the oven…
and a thick blanket of ganache later…
you have a Marble Bundt Cake that will put any coffee shop fare to shame. Shame, I tell you.
Between the dense, buttery crumb…
and chocolate marbling that actually tastes like chocolate…
it doesn’t get much better than this.
I have never had many feelings about Neapolitan ice cream—that classic all-in-one combination of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry—except that I’d probably prefer a scoop of vanilla with sprinkles instead.
Neapolitan Shortbread, though, are a different story. I saw a few recipes for them while scrolling through 
I clicked on a link and saw, to my utter (and definitely over-the-top) horror, that the layers were all made with one dough, the chocolate portion being mixed with melted chocolate and the pink part being just vanilla with food coloring! I clicked through more links and found a lot more of the same. Some had mixed their pink portion with strawberry jam, but that was even more problematic—it meant that all three portions would have different textures and bake differently. 
And so, I set out to fix this problem. Yes, I know that this “problem” is one I created with my own pickiness, but I don’t care because I believe in cookies that bake evenly and deliver flavors as advertised, damn it! I will not apologize for being a cookie snob. #justiceforstrawberry
I set to work, and it took me five test-batches, but y’all, these Neapolitan Shortbread are fantastic. They’ve got bold colors and big flavors and they bake evenly and they are shockingly easy to make.
Each layer is made from its own quick, simple dough, all three of which can be made in the same bowl in under twenty minutes. Here’s the rundown:
All the doughs are all pressed together in a wax paper-lined loaf pan and chilled until hard. Then the edges are trimmed off, the dough is cut into two long pieces, and each one is sliced into cookies. I ❤ ❤ ❤ a slice & bake recipe! 
Neapolitan Shortbread bake at a low temperature for 17-18 minutes. The cookies will be a little soft coming out of the oven, but should set up quickly. They’ll be crisp at the edges, slightly chewy in the centers, and oh, so buttery. 
These cookies are as delicious as they are beautiful, with plenty of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors in every bite! And that’s to say nothing of the bright, bold colors—I just love that berry pink!
Oh, and I was right. They do make adorable ice cream sandwiches 🙂 
I got these Vanilla Malt Cookies right on the first try. That doesn’t happen very often, so it warrants a mention.
It was a random Wednesday three years ago and I was making five-or-so dozen of whatever I wanted for a weekly cookie order I had at the time. I could have just made a batch of 
Recipes that got the group’s approval include my 
All that is to say, these Vanilla Malt Cookies were a last-second experiment-turned-instant-hit, and I’m here on this snowy Wednesday three years after their debut to tell you all about them.
Trust me, the minute you sink your teeth into one of these Vanilla Malt Cookies, you’re going to lose your cookie-loving mind. While these are a bit thinner than most of the cookies you’ll find on this site, what they lack in puffiness, they more than make up for in chewy centers and crispy edges.
Oh, and flavor. Between the big hit of vanilla extract and the richness of the malted milk powder (and the butter! and the white chocolate chips!), there’s plenty going on here.
I know there’s at least one person out there wondering why I chose to make these malted beauties with vanilla instead of chocolate. To that person, I say that vanilla malt may not be as popular as its chocolate counterpart, but it is just as delicious, if not more so. The vanilla and malted milk powder complement each other beautifully and make everything about these cookies just…divine.
But if you really can’t wrap your mind around malt without chocolate, see 
For the rest of you, make a batch of this cookie dough, crank the oven to 350F, and prepare to fall in love.
Over the weekend, I posted a picture of my 
And so, I’m bringing you more scones today—my first since that meyer lemon version last year. I can’t believe I’ve gone that long without a new variation!
These are made with cream cheese too, but also vanilla bean. My dear friend, David, *gave* me a package of vanilla beans on New Year’s Day and I’ve been dreaming up uses for them ever since.
In case you are wondering, giving me a surprise package of vanilla beans is a very good way to become my favorite person 🙂
But back to the scones. I made them miniature—small food just tastes better, amiright?!
Each mini-scone is about half the size of a traditional scone. That means you can have two, right?
I’d be lying if I said I have never eyed the Petit Vanilla Bean Scones at Starbucks. They are adorable, but they are sort of dry and spongy and absolutely not worth the calories.
These Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Mini-Scones are nothing like that mass-produced version though—they’re worth all the calories. All of them.
They’re super tender from the combination of butter, cream cheese, and heavy cream, and the edges are crumbly and nubbly and totally delightful.
That’s to say nothing of their huge vanilla flavor, which comes from a combination of vanilla bean and vanilla extract. I love the little black flecks of vanilla bean all over the place ❤
And the thick, luxurious glaze. Be still my 
Yep. I’d say these were worth the wait.
e2 bakes brooklyn 