Milk Powder Is the Key to Better Cookies, Brownies, and Cakes (2025)

When making brownies, Lani Halliday, pastry chef and owner of Brutus Bakeshop, says milk powder is a little bit about texture, but mostly about flavor. While you could just add a tablespoon of milk powder to the dry ingredients, she likes to take things a step further by making brown butter milk powder.

In this episode of Epi’s Ingredient Swap, Halliday instructs us to stir a cup of milk powder into brown butter and strain the mixture to separate the solids from the liquid. The liquid portion gets mixed in with melted chocolate, then both the solids and liquid chocolate-butter mixture get added to the brownie batter. While liquid milk is mostly water, “milk powder is all protein,” says Halliday. “You want to caramelize the protein solids to get a toasty nuttiness. When you use butter solids plus milk powder solids, you’re concentrating the flavor even more.”

In this application, milk powder is a highly concentrated flavor addition, similar to blitzing dehydrated fruit and adding it to a dessert. Given that, her next answer isn’t that shocking. When I asked Halliday about the best kind of milk powder to use in brownies, she had one thing to say: Full-fat forever.

Hot tip: To make your milk powder even more flavorful, give it a little toast.

Photo by Joseph De Leo, Food Styling by M. Pearl Jones

Milk powder also works wonders in doughnuts and other fried doughs. “Milk powder gives gulab jamun dough an incredible rich creaminess, which, when fried, turns into a super soft dough, not dissimilar to brioche,” says Meera Sodha, author of East: 120 Vegetarian and Vegan recipes from Bangalore to Beijing and Fresh India.

In India, gulab jamuns are often made using khoya—thick concentrated milk solids made by reducing milk down over a slow heat. “Khoya isn’t widely available anywhere else,” Sodha explains, “so milk powder has become a time-saving ingredient for Indian cooks and a khoya substitute for the wider Indian diaspora.”

Her recipe calls for more than a cup of full-fat milk powder, which helps to create perfectly spongy treats that are burnished and bronzed on the outside and white and cakey within. “You couldn’t use liquid milk because you need the dry texture to be able to form the dough,” says Sodha. So milk powder is not just a nice option for making gulab jamun, but a necessary ingredient. Which is one more reason to follow Sodha’s lead and always keep a stash of the powder on hand—the same way you do with flour, butter, sugar, and eggs.

Milk Powder Is the Key to Better Cookies, Brownies, and Cakes (2)

Kate Naturals Whole Dry Milk Powder

Milk Powder Is the Key to Better Cookies, Brownies, and Cakes (2025)

FAQs

What does milk powder do in brownies? ›

In the baking world, malted milk powder is known as the “umami bomb of desserts,” on par with soy sauce and miso on the savory side of things. This unique blend of ingredients — malted barley, wheat flour, and dried milk — adds a deep, rich, toasty, and caramelized flavor to brownies (and really any baked good).

What does adding milk powder to cookies do? ›

If you're using a chocolate chip cookie recipe that calls for browning the butter, add the milk powder to it. It'll caramelize along with the milk solids in the butter. The deeper the color, the more caramelized flavor you'll get. For recipes that call for melting the butter, mix the milk powder into the melted butter.

What is the purpose of milk powder in baking? ›

The added sweetness and protein helps bread dough rise—particularly enriched dough like brioche. It lends a more tender crumb, and actually helps these breads last longer. High-heat milk powder might be a little trickier to find, but it's certainly worth the search for its impact on baking breads.

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.

Are brownies better with milk or water? ›

Milk. Most brownie mixes call for water. While water does the job, you can add some extra flavor and moisture by mixing some of that water with something richer, like milk. If you want to swap it out completely, be prepared for a more chewy and fudge-like brownie from the extra fat.

Which type of milk powder is best for baking? ›

Lydia says that, as with most baking, more fat is always better. After testing both non-fat and whole milk powders, she found that the full-fat milk contributes more flavor.

Does milk make cookies taste better? ›

The Science of Pairing Cookies and Milk

This produces a unique flavor profile that brings out the best in both components. The creaminess of fresh dairy complements the sweetness of the cookie. The milk also softens the cookies, which creates an even more enjoyable texture.

What is a substitute for milk powder in baking? ›

For every 1/4 cup (32 grams) of milk powder, substitute 1 cup (240 mL) of regular milk. You'll also want to reduce the original amount of water called for in the recipe by 1 cup (240 mL). Whole fat, reduced fat, and nonfat milk can all be used in place of milk powder.

How much milk powder for baking? ›

For Baking and Sweets:

For pastry applications that involve cream or custard bases, you can add up to 1 tbsp (6g) of milk powder per cup of wet ingredients — milk, water, cream, honey, and sugar, etc included.

Does powdered milk go bad? ›

Most manufacturers recommend using powdered milk (also known as dried milk) within 18 months, but this is really just a "best by" date. According to the USDA, powdered milk can be stored indefinitely. An unopened package is probably still usable for two to 10 years after the printed "best by" date.

What happens when you add milk powder to cookies? ›

Epi contributor Ramin Ganeshram, author of Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago, says that “nothing is better than milk powder to give cookies a chewy texture and a slight crust.” It's the ideal addition, she notes, for classic chocolate chip cookies.

What is the effect of milk powder in cake? ›

In cakes and breads, milk powder serves purposes as it enhances flavors, develops colors and improves texture. It adds creaminess to goods while contributing to a crumb structure. With its protein and sugar content, it speeds up the browning process resulting in pastries with a golden hue.

Does milk make a box cake better? ›

Baking tip #2: adding milk to your box cake mix in place of water adds a dense texture to your dessert leaving it moist and flavorful like a homemade cake. Or, if you prefer, you can add buttermilk, giving your cake a tangy flavor to balance out the sweetness.

What happens when you add milk to brownie mix? ›

One change is to use milk or heavy cream instead of water. This change will make brownies more moist and gooey since milk is more fatty and flavorful than water. A second change is to use butter instead of oil. For similar reasons to using milk, butter adds a rich and more decadent quality to the batter.

What does baking powder do in brownies? ›

To do this, there's one ingredient that's more important than anything else: baking powder. Baking powder is a leavening agent, which means that it is responsible for lifting up the batter to create that lighter consistency — making it absolutely essential for fluffy brownies.

What does milk powder do to chocolate? ›

The higher the free fat content of the milk powder, the lower the viscosity of the chocolate mass. [4] The amount of milk fat also determines the sensory profile of the chocolate (taste, texture ) and influences the processing behavior of the molten chocolate mass, such as flow properties.

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