9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (2024)

  • Desserts

The sweet and nutty powder that makes desserts more flavorful.

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The Serious Eats Team

The Serious Eats Team

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Published September 06, 2019

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Spend enough time sifting through the Serious Eats dessert archives and baking your way through Stella Parks' masterful recipes, and you'll notice a common thread running through many of our favorite treats: malted milk powder. The mixture of wheat flour, malted barley extracts, and milk adds a layer of nutty, rich, butterscotch-like flavor to all sorts of sweets. And because of the lactose it contains, malted milk powder helps baked goods brown evenly. In other words, malted milk powder can do no wrong, and these nine recipes prove our point.

  • Malted Chocolate Chip–Pecan Cookies

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (2)

    A combination of white sugar and barley malt syrup makes these cookies soft and chewy in the middle, with perfectly crisped edges. Malted milk powder joins the sugars in tenderizing the cookies, and adds the needed lactose for them to brown evenly in the oven. Chunks of rich, buttery pecans round out an already-rich and flavorful cookie.

    Get the recipe for Malted Chocolate Chip–Pecan Cookies

  • Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (3)

    Brown butter and malted milk powder turn these otherwise-classic shortbread cookies into something extraordinary. Thanks to a low moisture content, these cookies are tender and chewy, and will keep for weeks in an airtight container. That means you'll probably want to make a double batch—at least.

    Get the recipe for Brown Butter Shortbread Cookies

  • Homemade Brownie Mix

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (4)

    There's no denying that the ease and convenience of boxed brownie mix is great. But the flavor is often so-so. This homemade mix stores well for up to one year, and bakes rich, dark fudgy brownies every time.

    Get the recipe for Homemade Brownie Mix

  • Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (5)

    The only thing better than a chocolate chip cookie? A very, very big chocolate chip cookie. Though this enormous cookie bakes up to look like a decadent cake, it's made with a classic chocolate chip cookie dough, plus a few teaspoons of malted milk powder. The addition of malted milk powder contributes a rich nuttiness, and pairs nicely with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.

    Get the recipe for Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

    Continue to 5 of 9 below.

  • Stovetop Butterscotch Pudding

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (6)

    This velvety butterscotch pudding is best served warm, but it certainly does the trick when it's cold and slightly wobbly, too. The pudding gets its creaminess from white chocolate—a light flavor that doesn't overpower the flavors of malted milk powder and toasted sugar.

    Get the recipe for Stovetop Butterscotch Pudding

  • Homemade Chipwiches

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (7)

    This recipe produces a twist on the classic ice cream sandwich. While the cookies may seem oddly soft and cakey straight out of the oven, they're perfectly crunchy but tender when filled with creamy fior di latte gelato, and frozen. Malted milk powder added to the cookies ensures they remain complexly flavored even after they're chilled.

    Get the recipe for Homemade Chipwiches

  • Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (8)

    The idea of hot chocolate mix is great, but the storebought stuff tends to be one-note and overly sweet. By making your own mix, you can have a constant supply of thick, decadent hot chocolate. Our recipe combines toasted sugar, white chocolate, dark chocolate, instant espresso powder, and malted milk powder.

    Get the recipe for Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

  • Pumpkin Skillet Coffee Cake With Streusel Topping

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (9)

    This coffee cake is something between a pumpkin streusel muffin and a rich, chewy blondie. It's hearty, satisfying, and warmly spiced. Melted white chocolate in the cake dough gives it a fudgy texture, while malted milk powder bumps up and accentuates the earthiness of pumpkin.

    Get the recipe for Pumpkin Skillet Coffee Cake With Streusel Topping

    Continue to 9 of 9 below.

  • Texas Sheet Cake

    9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (10)

    As soon as this enormous slab of chocolate cake comes out of the oven, it's covered in a hot fudge and buried under a mountain of crunchy pecans. Thank malted milk powder for the undercurrent of toffee that runs through each bite.

    Get the recipe for Texas Sheet Cake

9 Dessert Recipes Starring Malted Milk Powder (2024)

FAQs

What does malted milk powder do to baked goods? ›

The mixture of wheat flour, malted barley extracts, and milk adds a layer of nutty, rich, butterscotch-like flavor to all sorts of sweets. And because of the lactose it contains, malted milk powder helps baked goods brown evenly.

What does malt powder do in cookies? ›

As established, diastatic malt powder contains active diastase enzymes, which help convert more starch to sugar. It's especially effective in doughs with a long fermentation time, and will impart more caramelization to the bake, yielding a deeper color and sweeter flavor.

What is a substitute for malted milk powder in cookies? ›

Ovaltine is a wonderful substitute for malted milk powder if you're interested in a bit of chocolate being added to the mix. In terms of nuttiness, quinoa powder and almond powder are two more amazing substitutes for malt powder.

How to use malt powder for baking? ›

To include diastatic malt powder in a recipe, mix it directly into the flour. If you're trying to decide how much diastatic malt powder to use in a yeast dough that does not include the ingredient already, Leo recommends starting with a range of about 0.25% to 1% of the total weight of the flour.

What is the point of malted milk powder? ›

Malted milk powder adds nutty sweetness and a pleasant crunch to candy, such as brittle and malted milk balls. Malted milk powder was invented in 1873 by the Horlick brothers, who immigrated from England to Wisconsin, as a supplement for infants and invalids.

Does malted milk powder go bad? ›

Unopened malted milk powder can last up to two years beyond the printed date on the package. Once opened, it should ideally be used within six months for optimum flavor and nutrient quality. However, if stored correctly, it can last up to one year after opening.

What does malted milk do to your body? ›

Malted milk provides energy and boosts metabolism

Malted milk is rich with Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, folate and thiamine which as a result provide energy and boost metabolism.

What does milk powder do in desserts? ›

Using milk powder in cookies, brownies, and cakes can contribute to a richer and more flavorful end product. Milk powder adds a concentrated dairy flavor and can enhance the texture of baked goods. It's often used in recipes where the goal is to achieve a more pronounced milk taste without adding extra liquid.

What does malt powder do for pizza dough? ›

Diastatic malt powder doesn't just elevate the dough's rise; it also enhances its flavor. The sugars produced during fermentation contribute to a richer, more complex taste. Your pizza crust will have a subtle sweetness and a depth of flavor that takes your homemade pies to a whole new level.

What does malt powder do in ice cream? ›

What Is a Malt Ice Cream? Malted milk ice cream is ice cream made with milk that has the addition of malted milk powder before going through the churning and freezing process. The barley in the malt gives the milk a slightly earthy and savory flavor that complements the sweetness of the ice cream.

Is ovaltine the same as malt powder? ›

Ovaltine, a powdered chocolate drink created in 1904, is another type of malted milk powder, though it has other ingredients in it so can't be used exactly the same way.

Can you use malted milk powder in baking? ›

Malted milk powder, the unassuming carton of powdery milk found in the dried dairy section of most grocery stores. I use it to make my cookies, cakes, homemade ice creams, and brownies infinitely better.

What happens when you add milk powder to cookies? ›

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 kind of malt powder to use for baking? ›

Non-diastatic malt powder and barley malt syrup will boost the sweetness and color of your baked goods. ​Diastatic malt powder will do all of that, plus your dough will rise faster. If you're adding it to a recipe that doesn't originally call for it, the recommended quantity is around 0.2% of the flour's weight.

Can you put malted milk powder in hot coffee? ›

Malted milk powder combines flavorful ground, malted barley, and wheat flour with milk powder, and just a spoonful or two adds a delightfully rich and complex flavor that melds beautifully with coffee, whether it's served iced or hot.

Is Ovaltine the same as malted milk powder? ›

Ovaltine, a powdered chocolate drink created in 1904, is another type of malted milk powder, though it has other ingredients in it so can't be used exactly the same way.

Can malted milk powder be used as coffee creamer? ›

To use as a beverage, stir 3 tablespoons into 8-oz. of hot water or hot milk. To use as a coffee creamer, use 1 tablespoon to 8-oz.

References

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