Hi, I’m Jessica, and I have a chocolate coated malted milk ball addiction. In South Africa, these addictive morsels of happiness are known as Chuckles (If you are buying them from Woolworths) or Whispers (if you are buying the Cadbury brand). Elsewhere they are known as Maltesers or Whoppers. You could call them Steves for all I care, as long as that milk chocolate coating gives way to a crunchy malty centre, then I’m good. In fact, I’m more than good, I’m in heaven.
So taking my slight addiction to Chuckles into consideration, I figured I would attempt to recreate them at home. My internet research revealed that there were 3 ways to create homemade Maltesers/Chuckles/Whoppers/Steves:
- Melt a crap load of white chocolate. Mix in a crap load of malted milk powder. Mix together, form into balls and coat in chocolate (This doesn’t sound anything like the airy crunchy centre of a true malt ball, so this method wasn’t even up for consideration)
- Make a malt flavoured honeycomb, scoop into balls and cover in chocolate. (I attempted this method twice. It was a dismal failure both times. The good news is, I have managed to find the recipe for Malt Flavoured Fizzers. You are welcome for the idea Beacon.)
- Make malt flavoured mini meringues and coat in chocolate.
The great news is, method 3 is an absolute winner, and you don’t have to have the confectionary skills of Willy Wonka. Heck, you can even buy egg whites that have already been separated from the yolks, so even that complicated procedure can be eliminated. (On a side note, I am rather terrible at separating eggs)
In my professional candy tasting opinion (and that of my sister and her boyfriend) these homemade chuckles taste like the real deal. The centre is malty, filled with air bubbles and has that delicious crunch. The chocolate coating is the perfect thickness. The result is magical, and just as moreish as the store bought ones. Plus, you can makes these as big or as small as you wish. No judgies if you finish the entire batch before the chocolate has had a chance to harden.
To watch a quick video of the process, click here.
- 2 egg whites
- ½ cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp Horlicks/ Ovaltine/Malted milk powder
- 180g milk chocolate (I used Cadbury’s – feel free to use your favourite)
- Preheat the oven to 100°C/212°F.
- This method of making meringues makes use of a “double boiler” method. I use the metal bowl of my stand mixer over a pot of water, but you can make use of another bowl and transfer the mixture to your stand mixer for beating.
- Place a pot of water on to the stove at a medium high heat.
- Place the egg whites and sugar into the metal bowl of your electric stand mixer.
- Place the metal bowl on top of the pot, and using a wire whisk, whisk together the egg whites and sugar, until the mixture is slightly warm, and you can no longer feel the graininess of the sugar, when rubbed between your fingers.
- Transfer the metal bowl to your stand mixer, with the whisk attachment.
- Whisk on a high speed until stiff peaks are formed.
- Gently fold in the Horlicks/malted milk powder.
- Place the meringue mixture into a piping bag
- Pipe small rounds of meringue onto a baking tray lined with baking paper or a silicone baking mat (I use a silpat)
- Bake the meringues for an hour.
- Turn the oven off, prop open the door slightly (with a wooden spoon if necessary) and leave for a further 2 hours.
- Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a microwave safe bowl.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 100% power (800W) for 90s. If your microwave has a higher Wattage, you may want to check after 60s, so that the chocolate doesn’t burn.
- If you would prefer to be fancy, you could temper the chocolate in a double boiler on the stove.
- Dip the meringues into the melted chocolate. (I found it easiest to use chopsticks to hold the meringues whilst doing this)
- Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes so that the chocolate has time to harden.
Bwahaha! Your post had me chuckling (geddit?). Nice one Jess. p.s. I’m so glad I can finally comment on your awesome new site. Seems I have to do it on my phone since I can’t comment from my pc at work for some reason! xx
Thanks Tami. Glad you can comment from your phone. I’ve never tested that on my site
Yay I get a mention! Wooop woop
You are an expert in the field of candy.
Good job my dear Jess.. you’ve made a wonderful easy recipe for us to try.. my nieces would beg me for this! Triple treats and triple thanks to you Jess :))
Thanks Mary! I’m sure you will win the best aunty award if you made these for your nieces.
I have been experimenting with malted barley syrup. I love the taste and if I could eat sugar I would try this as well. My mission is to make sugar free meringues as these sound delicious
Good luck on the meringue mission
You’re my new hero, Jess.
On a serious note though, I have often seen recipes calling for malted milk powder and have never been able to find it. Can you point me in the right direction?
Hi Teresa,
I just used Horlicks. It was in the same section as the milo at Pick ‘n Pay. Sam found malt powder in one of those health brand type packets, so maybe you can have a look at Dischem?
HAHAHAHA…. malt flavoured fizzers!
Really enjoyed this post! Most entertaining! Will definitely have to try these sometime!
That’s what they tasted like, they had a toffee texture, a malt flavour and then the bicarb I added to make “honeycomb”, just made the big sheet of sticky toffee, fizz in your mouth.
Do give these a try. They are really easy to make, and are super delicious!
Thanks for this recipe, I’ve made them twice now and they are delicious. Taste about as close to Maltesers as I can imagine getting at home (and much nicer!).
Ah thanks Becks! I’m so glad that you’ve tried them.