Milk powder, also known as powdered milk or dried milk, is made by evaporating milk. It's a convenient alternative to liquid milk because it's easy to carry around and tends to have a longer shelf life. Milk powder is versatile enough to be used in cooking. It's not just a creamer for hot beverages. It can be used in recipes to give dishes a creamy texture and in baked goods like bread, cakes, and cookies. It’s also often used as a replacement for khoya in Indian sweet recipes.
If you've ever wondered how milk powder is made, there are a few simple steps that you must know about:
- First fresh milk is brought to a specific fat content by separating cream or adding some milk components back to it
- It's evaporated under low pressure and high temperatures in an evaporator to remove its water content.
- The milk is further processed to remove any remaining moisture, resulting in fine milk particles.
- The milk powder is then cooled and packaged, ready to be sold in markets.
Here are some milk powder sweet recipes that you can make at home:
Milk Powder Barfi
Ingredients:
- 312 gm milk powder
- 150 gm sugar
- 240 ml milk
- 50 gm ghee
- 3 tbsp chopped pistachios
Instructions:
- Mix the milk powder with sugar and milk in a bowl. Make sure you have a smooth batter.
- Transfer this into a heavy-bottomed pan or kadhai.
- Keep the vessel on low flame, and stir, then add in the ghee.
- Continue stirring the mixture until it becomes an almost dry paste and starts leaving the sides of the vessel.
- Spread it evenly into a kadhai or parchment lined baking tray. Then garnish with chopped pistachios.
- Once the barfi sets, cut into pieces and serve.
Ingredients:
- 4 eggs
- 60 gm milk powder
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 an orange, zested
- Pinch of salt
- 67 gm sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 43 gm chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 176°C and line a cake tin with parchment paper.
- To a bowl, crack the four eggs and beat them well. Then add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
- The final ingredient that you need to add to this cake are the chocolate chips.
- Transfer the cake batter into the lined tin and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until the top is golden.
- Let the cake cool at room temperature for about 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and let it cool down further.
- Slice the cake and enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Milk Powder
Ingredients:
- 50 gm milk powder
- 255 gm flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 170 gm unsalted butter, softened
- 50 gm granulated sugar
- 165 gm brown sugar, packed
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 340.5 gm chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Add the milk powder to a dry non-stick pan and toast it until it changes color. Keep moving the milk powder around so it doesn’t burn or stick to the pan.
- Once the milk powder is toasted, let it come down to room temperature.
- Then combine it in a bowl with flour and baking soda.
- Beat the softened, unsalted butter until it’s pale and creamy, then add the sugars to it.
- Add the whole egg and yolk to the creamed butter and sugar as well.
- Fold in the milk powder and flour mixture in batches into this.
- Finally, add the chocolate chips. You can also use chopped chocolate instead.
- Once you get cookie dough, let it chill in the fridge for half an hour.
- In the meantime, preheat the oven to 190°C and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, create cookies and drop the raw dough onto the baking sheet.
- Bake in the oven for around 10 to 12 minutes, and let them cool down on a wire rack.