You Should Be Adding Milk Powder To Your Cookies - Foodie (2024)

ByNancy Mock

You Should Be Adding Milk Powder To Your Cookies - Foodie (4)

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If you're still just making cookies from the recipe printed on the back of the chocolate chip bag or box of flour, it's time to take those treats to a whole new level with inventive and unexpected ingredients. This doesn't mean simply folding in nuts or a dash of sprinkles — those are pretty expected add-ins. We're talking about ingredients that are the secrets of the pros, ones that add a rich, hard-to-describe layer of flavor to cookies — like milk powder.

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This humble-looking ingredient is a favorite of British pastry chef Matt Adlard,Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi, and the goddess of everything home and cookingMartha Stewart. Why all the hype for dehydrated milk? The sugars and proteins in milk powder bring an elevated flavor to cookies, as well as other baked goodies like breads, brownies, and sweet doughs. As the cookies bake, the milk powder also helps enhance the beautiful browning on the outside. Here's why milk powder works so well.

Milk powder gives cookies a big boost in flavor

You Should Be Adding Milk Powder To Your Cookies - Foodie (5)

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Milk powder may also be labeled as powdered milk, and can usually be found at the grocery store in the same area where evaporated and sweetened condensed milks are stocked. Look for it in cereal box-style packaging, canisters, or resealable pouches. It's made by dehydrating regular, liquid milk to remove all of the water, leaving behind a dry, shelf-stable powder that retains the nutrition and flavor of milk. Just as liquid milk comes in full-fat, low-fat, and skim varieties, the same is true of milk powder.

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Adding just a small amount of milk powder to the dry ingredients in cookie dough helps boost the flavor and sweetness of the recipe. The powder has the natural sugars and the milky flavor of regular milk, both of which enhance the other ingredients in the cookie and just make it taste better. Dry milk is also easier to work with in cookie recipes than liquid. Baking recipes have to be fairly precise for the best results; adding extra liquid in the form of milk to cookie dough could cause the baked cookies to spread, over-brown, and lose their shape. However, it's easy to add a tablespoon or two of milk powder to cookie batters without affecting the final texture.

For the very best flavor, toast that milk powder first

While milk powder can be used just as it is, a favorite method of pastry chefs is to first toast that milk powder. To do this, it's simply a matter of stirring dry milk powder in a pan over low heat until it's an even brown color all the way through. "Great British Bake Off" winner Edd Kimber explains on TikTok that this is very similar to the way browned butter is made: by cooking and browning the milk solids.Kimber even amplifies his browned butterby stirring toasted milk powder right into it.

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Toasting the milk powder works because this step caramelizes the natural sugars, giving the milk powder a warm nuttiness that creates a beautiful flavor boost when it's added to cookie doughs.

The secret of the baking pros is now your secret too. Whether for chocolate chip, oatmeal raisin, white chocolate chunk, or scotcheroos, adding milk powder or toasted milk powder to your next batch of cookies will make them more luscious and tempting than ever before.

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You Should Be Adding Milk Powder To Your Cookies - Foodie (2024)

FAQs

You Should Be Adding Milk Powder To Your Cookies - Foodie? ›

The sugars and proteins in milk powder bring an elevated flavor to cookies, as well as other baked goodies like breads, brownies, and sweet doughs. As the cookies bake, the milk powder also helps enhance the beautiful browning on the outside.

What does adding milk powder to cookies do? ›

Milk powder will give your cookies a rich, toasty quality that's hard to replicate any other way. And soon you'll be baking with it all the time.

What does milk powder do in baking? ›

Molly Marzalek-Kelly, senior recipe developer at King Arthur Baking Company, says milk powder helps yeasted breads “have a higher rise and softer texture. Milk powder lends an added level of tenderness while also helping to increase the item's shelf life.

Should you add milk to cookie dough? ›

You may or may not need to add milk. I've made this recipe dozens of times and have never needed to add milk, and if you measure your flour properly, you likely won't need it either. If your cookie dough turns out dry or crumbly though, you will just need to add milk to bring it back together.

What does malted milk powder do to cookies? ›

See what I mean with the layers? That is why products with malted milk powder taste so scrumptious! They've got a lot of good stuff going on. In addition to the flavor that malted milk powder imparts, the extra flour thickens baked goods further and creates a chewier product.

Which type of milk powder is best for baking? ›

Seek Out Full-Fat Milk Powder

Whole milk powder has even more milk fat. "It can be a little pricey, and since most Western recipes are formulated using nonfat dry milk powder, I recommend caution when using whole dry milk versions in baking," he says.

What happens to cookies if you add baking powder? ›

What Is Baking Powder? Baking powder is a two-in-one chemical leavening that combines a powdered alkali (sodium bicarbonate) with a powdered acid (originally, tartaric acid). When moistened in a dough or batter, a chemical reaction takes place that produces carbon dioxide gas, inflating cookies, cakes, and pancakes.

What makes a fluffy cookie? ›

Butter keeps cookies fluffy in two ways. First, creaming cold butter with sugar creates tiny, uniform air pockets that will remain in the dough it bakes up. Second, cold butter naturally takes a longer time to melt in the oven.

Does milk make cookies taste better? ›

Though your tongue can pick up the full-bodied taste of the cookie eventually, the milk quickens this process, and makes sure your tongue receives an even cookie coating. Without it, the cookie may be a little more gritty. Milk also helps mellow out the vigor of the sweet cookie flavor.

Why do you add milk powder to dough? ›

Using milk powder instead of liquid, Ganeshram says, gives you the benefits of milk without adding extra water, with “more intense concentration of the milk sugars and proteins that help the dough.”

What is the secret to keeping cookies soft? ›

Putting a slice of fresh white bread in the container with the cookies will help the cookies stay soft: fresh bread is moist, and that slice will give up its moisture for the greater good: keeping the cookies from drying out. We recommend white bread so that no flavor is transferred to the cookies.

What makes cookies stay thick? ›

Use Bleached Flour (Instead of Unbleached)

Bleached flour absorbs more moisture than unbleached flour, making for THICK Cookies. If you struggle with your cookies spreading out more than you want, try using bleached flour.

Does milk make cookies soft? ›

In addition, the fat in milk can help to create a softer crumb in breads and cakes, and also improve the texture of cookies and other baked goods.

What effect does milk have on cookies? ›

One of the main roles of milk in baking is to provide moisture. It can help to keep baked goods from becoming too dry and crumbly, and can also add tenderness to the texture. In addition to adding moisture, milk can also help to create a softer crumb in breads and cakes.

What does toasted milk powder do in cookies? ›

Toasted milk powder gives these chocolate chip cookies a brown butter flavor without needing to brown butter! This easy cookie dough does not require chilling and freezes well for future cookie emergencies.

What does buttermilk powder do to cookies? ›

You can absolutely add buttermilk powder to your baked goods (a few tablespoons in chocolate chip cookies is revelatory), but the powder can do so much more — it packs a powerful punch of flavor without adding extra fat or liquid to anything you make.

What does adding milk powder to cake do? ›

Toasted or grilled milk powder will ensure your cakes smell really delicious. It also improves texture by making them softer. Which type of powdered milk should I use? You can use Régilait semi-skimmed or full-fat powdered milk.

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