Carmen, Created January 2014 Carmen, Malted, Salted Caramel with a Toasted Marshmallow, Created January 2014 Carmen was created because I was inspired from a post by Marc Pittenger, whom I came to be friends with through Whole Foods Market, when RubySnap was a vendor in 2010. Marc had posted a photo of a salty caramel toasted marshmallow milkshake in June of 2013, that triggered my tastebuds to drooling. Immediately I set out to create a cookie using malt. The problem is, there was no quality malt to be found in a grocery store, so I found myself inside of the Beer Nut in Salt Lake City shopping for the right malt in a beer supply store. The truth is, I know nothing about beer, so it’s always fun to ask a lot of questions and I have no problem stepping forward as an inexperienced individual, sometimes that has been by greatest strength is not knowing, because it allows me full throttle creativity. Who knew there are so many kinds of malt! I picked my “flavor” and set about to make something great. I quickly learned that I was having a hard time delivering the flavor I was looking for by adding it to the dough, so I experimented with rolling the malt directly onto the surface to create a crusty exterior similar to a malted milk ball. Cool! I mean, cool! What a great discovery to watch the magic of chemistry unfold in the oven while it baked. I decided to top the cookie off with a toasted marshmallow and some buttery-scotchy caramel, and finish it off with a dash of course sea salt. Bam! My interpretation was complete, and I never even had a chance to try the inspirational milkshake on Marc Pittenger’s Facebook page, but I sure am grateful for the motivation. I suppose I should have rightfully named the cookie Marc, but I had reserved and been dying for an excuse to use the name Carmen. So Marc, I want you to know I still love and admire you! Thank you man! I hope to actually find a historical reference to that post so I can grab the picture of the malt. Want to learn about how many types of malts there are? Look here: https://www.brewcabin.com/malted-barley/ Journal Entry Date: 1-27-20