Double Barley Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

These chocolate chip cookies are made with barley malt syrup and barley flour, which gives them a warm, round flavour and a thick, chewy texture.

These barley chocolate chip cookies are different and familiar at the same time. They’re like a wholesome, malty version of your classic chocolate chip cookies. The triple threat of barley flour, barley malt syrup, and flakey sea salt makes this a really interesting bake.

Barley flour has a butterscotch hue and a slightly nutty, mild, whole-grain flavour. You can procure barley flour at whole food stores or at specialty mills. Check out my barley scones recipe here: One Bowl Barley Scones (Small Batch) with Air Fryer Method

If you’re unfamiliar with barley malt syrup, it’s basically a molasses-like syrup with a high percentage of maltose. It’s made by malting (soaking, germinating, then drying) barley grains. You may have seen barley malt syrup or malt powder as an ingredient in bagel recipes.

Barley malt syrup is less sweet than other liquid sweeteners, and has water-retaining qualities, which could potentially mean better shelf life for baked goods. You can read more about barley malt syrup here: Malt, Maltose, Barley Malt Syrup – What’s Best for Bagels?

Used together, you get a distinctive chocolate chip cookie with double the barley flavor.

• Visually: a golden hue with even caramelization.
• Flavor: A subtle barley flavor with notable malty tones.
• Texture: A thick cookie with a bite. When soft, the cookie holds together the way caramel does without being cloyingly sweet. The soft version is crispy on the outside and not-exactly-cakey on the inside with a slight chew – almost what you would expect from a blondie. When baked slightly longer, you get more chew, and more crunch. When baked for a few minutes longer, the cookies are crunchy but never crumbly. (In this recipe, I provide a range for the baking time for soft cookies or crunchy cookies so that you can bake them to your exact preference.)

Freezing and Storage

I definitely recommend trying these barley chocolate chip cookies while fresh (within a couple hours) and the chocolate is still slightly warm and melted. The texture is variegated and *chef’s kiss* at this point: crisp edges, soft/cakey center and melted chocolate. (Texture salad equals yummy in my book.)

On the other hand, this barley chocolate chip cookie recipe also stores and freezes remarkably well.

Barley chocolate chip cookie dough can be frozen and baked weeks later. The best way to freeze is to divide and form the cookie dough into balls. These preformed balls can be frozen in an airtight container or Ziplock bag. Before baking, defrost overnight in the fridge or longer until completely thawed. You do not need to change the baking temperature if the cookie dough is thawed completely.

After the barley chocolate chip cookies have been baked and cooled completely, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature. If you made the soft version of the cookies, you may find that the texture changes as time goes on. However, the crunchy version is excellent for storage and mailing.

Recipe Card

Print Recipe

Double Barley Chocolate Chip Cookie

These chocolate chip cookies are made with barley malt syrup and barley flour, which gives them a warm, round flavor and a thick, chewy texture.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time11 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Diet: Vegetarian

Keyword: Baking, Barley, Chocolate, Cookies, Sweet

Servings: 10 cookies

Ingredients

• 150 g salted butter softened (or unsalted butter plus dash of salt)
• 93 g brown sugar
• 55 g barley malt syrup
• 1 large egg
• 103 g barley flour
• 132 g whole wheat all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• Dash cinnamon optional
• 100 g chocolate chips
• Flakey sea salt to top

Instructions

• Cream together butter, brown sugar and barley malt syrup with a stand mixer using the paddle attachment or by hand using a wooden spoon. Once the mixture is thoroughly combined and fluffy, crack in the egg and continue beating until uniform, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
• Add the barley flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, and cinnamon (if using). Mix until a uniform dough forms and no dry bits remain. Fold in the chocolate chips to the dough.
• Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. (This step is optional but will make the dough slightly easier to handle).
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat. Divide the refrigerated dough into 10 equal portions, rolling each into a ball. Space out the cookie dough balls on the baking tray so that there are at least 2.5 inches between each ball.
• Before baking, flatten each cookie dough ball slightly by pressing down with the palm of your hand. Aim for a dough disk between ½ inch to ¾ inch thick. After refrigeration, these cookies will not spread very much during baking, so this step ensures that they do not turn out overly thick in the center.
• Top each cookie dough with a smattering of flakey salt.
• Bake in preheated oven for 11-14 minutes. 11 minutes will give you soft cookies while 14 minutes will give crunchy cookies. However, each oven is different, so I advise checking up on the cookies around 9 or 10 minutes. If you are making soft cookies, make sure that the tops of the cookies are dry before removing from the oven.
• Let cool for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool further. The cookies will be extremely soft when hot and will firm up as they cool.

Did you make this recipe? I would love to hear your thoughts. Leave a rating and/or comment below. If you share on socials, tag me on Instagram @hellenshouseblog or Tiktok @hellenshouse.