Wednesday, 1 June 2016

We Should Cocoa #70 - Malt in the June 2016 Challenge

Welcome to June.  It is hard to believe we are hurtling towards the middle of the year.  You probably need some chocolate to face it.  And so I am pleased to announce that this month I am hosting a long running blog event called We Should Cocoa that is run by Choclette of Tin and Thyme.  Each month bloggers are invited to send in posts on recipes featuring chocolate and a monthly theme.  This month I am asking for recipes featuring chocolate and MALT.

Malt? I can see a few quizzical expressions!  I initially dreamt up the theme thinking about my dad's favourite malted milkshakes and Australia's favourite chocolate malt drink called Milo.  Or similar powders such as Horicks and Ovaltine.  I even fancied lots of recipes featuring Maltesers (or Whoppers if you are in America).  But the more I thought the more I started to see malt everywhere.  In a bottle of single malt whiskey.  In the malted glaze on bagels.  In Rich Tea Biscuits and Malt o Milk biscuits.  In malted grains in breads.  In the malted barley in beer.  Did you know that some gluten free beers use malted buckwheat!  I even saw a vegan malted milk recipe featuring Maca powder. 

Back in early twentieth century malt extract was given to working class kids in Britain to boost their health.  When I was a child, a glass of milk loaded with Milo was my idea of decadence but now I find malt quite a comforting flavour.  This month I challenge you to dream up fun ways to marry chocolate and malt.  I look forward to lots more malty inspiration and I hope you will have fun.


How to get involved:
  1. Post your recipe on your blog.
  2. Mention “We Should Cocoa” in your post and link back to here on Green Gourmet Giraffe and to Tin and Thyme. Feel free to feature the above We Should Cocoa badge.
  3. Only one entry per blog and it must be posted in June 2016.
  4. Entries should either be emailed to me at gggiraffe07ATyahooDOTcomDOTau or pasted into a comment below.  I will paste them into a list in the body of this post.
  5. Entries should be submitted no later than midnight on 28 June 2016.
  6. The round up of entries will be posted on my blog by the end of the month.
  7. Feel free to add your entry to the We Should Cocoa group board on Pinterest. If you are not already a member and would like to join, please ask Choclette.
  8. By linking up you are giving consent for your image to be included in the monthly round up as well as possibly being shared on social media channels such as Twitter and Pinterest.
And do check out Choclette's round up of last month's chocolate and oat recipes.

The entries so far:
  1. Three ingredient Horlicks (malted milk powder) chocolate pots - Fuss Free Flavours 
  2. Malted superfood bars with mango and coconut chocolate - Tin and Thyme 
  3. Malted loaf with chocolate, fig and brazil nuts - Green Gourmet Giraffe  
  4. Vegan oil-free chocolate malt cake - Veganopoulous 
  5. Chocolate malt pie - Bite Sized Thoughts 
  6. Rye rye whisky brownies - The VegHog 
  7. Malted chocolate cake - Mainly Baking

23 comments:

  1. Brilliant ingredient Johanna. I love malt. It wasn't until reading through your post though that it occurred to me that malt whisky, beer and all sorts of other things containing malt could be used too. Really looking forward to seeing the entries. Thanks so much for hosting.

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    1. Thanks Choclette - luckily I had some lead up time to think about it - because at first I thought only of milo and maltesers

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  2. Cool theme. I adore Maltesers!

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    1. Thanks Cakelaw - I would love a maltesers recipe because they are such a fun chocolate

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  3. The theme sounds great. I really hope to come up with something so that I can take part.

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    1. Thanks VegHog would love to see what you could come up with

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  4. What a FUN event, Johanna. I'm really, really going to try to come up with a least one entry. Oh the possibilities!!!

    Thank you so much for hosting this event Johanna, now I must put on my thinking cap, lol...

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    1. Thanks Louise - there are some great possibilities so I would love to see something from you - am sure it would be fun

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  5. Ooh, fantastic. I will try to take part!

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    1. Thanks Kari - will appreciate it if you can

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    2. I just posted my recipe :) http://www.bitesizedthoughts.com/2016/06/we-should-cocoa-chocolate-malt.html

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  6. I love the flavour of malt. It also reminds me of my grandmother who used to add it to her drinks just before bed.

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    1. Thanks Lorraine - it took me years to realise that my dad's malted milkshakes were more than just chocolate milkshakes as I did not realise it meant malt was added

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  7. Lovely to see you hosting Johanna. I hope you get loads of lovely entries. Sadly, malt is not gluten free so we will have to pass this month..... xx

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    1. Thanks Kate - I know you have a lot on your plate - and I agree it is not a terribly GF friendly theme - we have a rice malt syrup in Australia that I use a bit - and I did see something about malting buckwheat but I don't think it is so easy to find GF malted ingredients

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  8. Charlotte's Web was one of the first paperback books I ever read. I think it was given to me when I was six. Just loved it until Charlotte died and then I was in floods of tears. I found the movie disappointing. I think watching a movie with your daughter and enjoying a great bowl of chocolate popcorn is a fabulous way to spend the weekend xx

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    1. Thanks Charlie - that makes Charlotte's Web really special - I remember our teacher reading it to us in installments when I was 8. The movie was not a patch on the book but it was still fun to sit and watch with popcorn

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  9. Oh how fun! What a great idea to use malt as your we should cocoa theme! I'm completely bogged down right now - I'm not sure I'll have time to participate - but I'll try really hard to as this sounds so so so fun!
    I LOVED malteasers when I was a kid. I should track down some malt to relive my childhood a bit ;p

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    1. Thanks Kimmy - would love it if you do join in and revisit some childhood malty loveliness but I know we are all busy so if you can't it's understandable

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  10. Finally I get a recipe up (and a picture of my cat haha!) http://www.veganopoulous.com/recipe/vegan-oil-free-chocolate-malt-cake/

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    1. Thanks Faye - your cake looks great - I am impressed with the amount of malt syrup in your cake as well as how lovely it looks.

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  11. Hi Johanna, here are my rye rye whisky brownies: http://the-veghog.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/rye-rye-whisky-brownies.html

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  12. Here's my entry - Malted Chocolate Cake
    http://mainlybaking.blogspot.co.uk/2016/06/malted-chocolate-cake.html

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