This Secret Ingredient Makes Baked Treats Even More Moist and Delicious

If you’re not preparing for the apocalypse, you may not have any milk powder stored in your pantry. But, if you’re big on baking, then you may want to get to the grocery store ASAP. This magic ingredient is about to become a staple in your most beloved recipes.

Milk powder is actually just what it sounds like — dehydrated milk. Milk powder has an exceptionally long shelf life (so you can just buy it once!) and adds a specific texture and flavor to baked sweets. Christina Tosi, the culinary dessert genius behind Milk Bar, spills that it’s the secret ingredient behind her mouth-watering cookies. 

Milk powder enhances the taste of your baked treats by adding a hint of extra sweetness and giving them a creamier texture. When heated, sugars from the milk powder can also become caramelized, which adds to the rich taste and gives cake a browner tone. Not only that, but the milk fat from the powder interacts with gluten proteins during baking, resulting in a more moist cake, brownie, or cookie. 

Adding this secret ingredient is super easy — and cheap! To get a sweeter, more luscious cake, just add about a teaspoon of milk powder to your recipe when mixing the dry ingredients. This hack works with from-scratch recipes, but you can also throw in a spoon of milk powder to boxed cake and brownie mixes. Some folks even say that using milk powder adds yummy flavor to bread, too! 

Milk powder can be found in the baking section or near the canned milk in your local grocery store — be sure to go with full-fat varieties to ensure the best taste! You can also purchase a great quality milk powder product online. We love this one from Judee’s ($9.46, Amazon). Happy baking!

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