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

ByNancy Mock

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)

PHILIPPE MONTIGNY/Shutterstock

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? ›

Dry – “Dry” or “Crumbly” dough is a product of over-mixing or using too much of any ingredient during the mixing process. This can be reversed by adding one to two tablespoons of liquid (water, milk or softened butter) to your mix.

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? ›

Buttermilk powder

This milk powder type is used as an ingredient while baking items like biscuits and cakes. Many people use it for sauces and soups also.

What kind of milk is best for cookies? ›

Its light and refreshing flavor brings out the sweetness of any dessert without overpowering it. And its texture still adds an element of creaminess without being too heavy. So if you want to indulge but don't want to overdo it, skim milk is your best bet - great for those late-night cookie cravings!

What does milk do for 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.

Is milk powder the same as dry milk? ›

Powdered milk, also called milk powder, dried milk, or dry milk, is a manufactured dairy product made by evaporating milk to dryness. One purpose of drying milk is to preserve it; milk powder has a far longer shelf life than liquid milk and does not need to be refrigerated, due to its low moisture content.

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.

How to make cookie dough more moist? ›

One option is to add milk, water, or another liquid until the dough is the right consistency. You can also try adding melted butter or shortening. If your dough is still too dry, you may need to add more flour. If your cookie dough is too dry and crumbly, you can try adding more fat to it.

Why are my cookies dry and crumbly? ›

The dry ingredients are not balanced

Similarly, there might be a mistake in the recipe, or you may have accidentally added too much sugar, flour, cocoa powder, or even baking powder. If the dry ingredients are out of balance with the wet ingredients, you will end up having to fix dry and crumbly 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.

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 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 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 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 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.

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