Malted Pretzel Crunch
This Malted Pretzel Crunch is filled with pretzels, brown sugar, malted milk powder, and butter. The salty/sweet combination is great for snacking.
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MALTED PRETZEL CRUNCH
One of my favorite quotes is, “No one ever got fat from eating one cookie and no one ever got skinny from eating one salad.”
What I love about this is that it emphasizes consistency and moderation. The New Year is great for starting new things and improving ourselves but I get a little overwhelmed with the absolutes. If I can’t have a cookie for two months, I’m gonna go insane. If I’m consistenly eating healthy and have a treat once in a while, I will still be on my way to my goal. If I’m always eating cookies and throw in a salad once in a blue moon, then…you guessed it, it goes the other way.
So while you may want to quit following me because most of my recipes are calorie laden, remember me on your cheat day. I know how to do them. And check out my healthy recipes section because of the healthy recipes I do have, they’re dang good. I’m all about healthy recipes that don’t taste like rabbit food.
As a side note, I googled the saying above to give proper attribution and I found nothing. So apparently I made it up.
This Malted Pretzel Crunch is a great treat for game night or just for snacking. Anything with malt will always and forever remind me of my mom because she orders a malt over a shake anywhere we go.
Start by placing your pretzels in a Ziploc bag and crush them to 1/4 of their original size. My kids used a plastic play phone to do the job.
This is obviously the before picture. Malted milk powder can be found by regular milk powder, canned milk, and condensed milk.
Don’t be scared by the butter. It’s necessary I promise.
Lay it all out on a baking sheet and bake until toasty. 
Once it’s cooled, break it into clusters and eat!
Malted Pretzel Crunch
Ingredients
- 4 cups salted mini pretzels - about ½ of a 16-ounce bag
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup milk powder, (like Nestle)
- ⅓ cup malted milk powder, (see Note)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 14 tablespoons butter, (1 stick, plus 6 tablespoons), melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 275 F.
- Pour the pretzels in a ziplock bag and hammered them with a mallet - or anything hard, breaking them up into one-quarter of their original size. Add the milk powder, malt powder, sugar, and salt, toss to mix. Add the butter and toss to coat.
- Spread the mixture on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20-22 minutes. It should look toasted a little toasted. Cool completely and break into clusters.
- Stored in an airtight container at room temperature, the crunch will keep fresh for 1 week; in the fridge or freezer, it will keep for 1 month. You can drizzle chocolate on top for an even more decadent treat.
Notes
Source: Parsley Sage Sweet
Your recipe is super popular among the riders and support crew on a 500-mile one-week charity bike ride (mid-July, every year). For the last six years, or so, I make 8-12 batches. In fact they call it “crack” because it is addictive.
Thank you!
Oh my gosh! That’s awesome!
Has anyone tried this with the UNsalted pretzels?
So I picked up this recipe from an old co-worker… and everyone at my current job calls it “crack” because it’s so delicious. I absolutely recommend this recipe for office or home parties. I do use unsalted butter and leave out the salt, since there is already salt on the pretzels. Thanks for sharing this addicting treat!
You’re welcome!
You may want to let people know it was adapted from the Momofuku Milk Bar recipe, since the only difference is the proportion of milk to malted milk powders. Even the instructions are the same.
Nothing wrong with sharing a great recipe and adapting it, but it’s only fair to give props to the original inspiration!
I gave the credit to where I found it. Had no idea it was from Momofuku Milk Bar.
My goodness you are so right!!! This is delicious! Saving the chocolate drizzle for another time. May be deadly for a football gathering. Girls night treat. So glad I found this recipe!!!
Thank ou!
I would give this more stars just for the unique taste but had a problem with timing. Sugar melts at 320 so after not seeing required results in 24 min. I upped the temp to 300 for another 5 mins.,that did the trick. My oven was recently calibrated so I guess every situation is unique and you know how you get when your making something for the first time you never had before. Hope to add stars next time I make it.
I made a double recipe of this yesterday and it came out waaaaay too salty. I’m assuming it’s because I used a whole bag of pretzels so all of the salt from the bottom got into the mix. So be careful to not dump all of the extra salt from your bag into the mix. And I will definitely cut back on the added salt too. Don’t get me wrong I love salty sweet snacks, and I can’t wait to make this again!
Ooh! Oh no. I could see how that would cause it to be too salty.
Hi Christy what can be used if malt milk power is not found
Ooh. Malt powder gives it the unique flavor. You could try to use all milk powder?
try looking where the hot chocolate is….that’s where i found it at walmart
Love this Christy! I should make this for my husband, he is the malt guy in our family. Happy New Year! PS I’m totally going to be quoting you. People will be like, “wow, who said that,” and I’ll be like, “Oh, the girl who ate everything.” lol.
You’re too funny!
I absolutely can NOT wait to make these. This is everything I adore in one place!!
I’m kind of obsessed with malt so this is totally up my alley!
Can I omit the milk powder and use double of the malted powder?
I don’t see why not! I love the malted milk flavor.