Elevate Store-Bought Pancake Mix With One Powdered Ingredient

One of TikTok's favorite cooking trends is "hacking" pre-made grocery items to make them taste better. From packs of dry ramen to dollar store veggie burgers, chances are there's a way to turn something inexpensive and forgettable into something fabulous that tastes way more expensive with a few extra ingredients. Some of the best hacks of all are made with dry mixes, like cakes, brownies, and pancake mix.

First of all, there's nothing wrong with a pre-made mix. If you're short on time but you've got to crank out a couple dozen cupcakes for a kid's birthday party, Duncan Hines has got your back. Mixes are also perfect for times when you don't have a full pantry but you have a kitchen space, like at a vacation rental, or even when you live in a small space with a limited pantry. Store-bought mixes are pretty inexpensive. Plus, you can keep a couple of boxed cakes for up to 18 months in the pantry (and pancake mixes for nine months) – which comes in handy when the urge for waffles or funfetti strikes.

There's no denying that dry mixes can be a little lackluster, however. So it's fun to experiment with an extra egg or a little more butter to get some pretty impressive results. In fact, according to America's Test Kitchen, you can make an almost restaurant-quality stack of pancakes just by adding one dry ingredient to the bowl: malted milk powder.

If you've never tried malted milk powder — or even knew it existed — it's an old-timey ingredient made with malted barley, wheat powder, milk solids, and salt that was first developed in the late 1800s by William Horlick. According to the Los Angeles Times, the story goes that Horlick came up with the idea of making a sweet, dried, malt-based powdered formula to mix with milk, which was dubbed "Horlick's Food." At the time, however, people weren't widely pasteurizing milk, and thus regularly got sick with diseases like tuberculosis, so Horlick took his invention a step further by making a powder with dried milk added to the malt and wheat, so all the mixture needed from the consumer was water. The product became one of America's first convenience foods, and not long after, during the rise in popularity of soda fountains, someone had the genius idea to mix it with ice cream to make malted milk shakes.

We don't go to the soda fountain or malt shop these days, but you can still get malted milk powder in the grocery store, usually in the baking aisle next to the regular powdered milk, or order it from a specialty baking supplier like King Arthur. For next-level pancakes, America's Test Kitchen adds ¾ of a cup of the dried powder to their pancake recipe to give them a, "sweet, nutty flavor."

Since you probably don't eat pancakes every day (hence why you have boxed pancake mix in the first place), keep in mind that you can use malted milk powder in a lot of other recipes. Follow your pancake mix lead and experiment with adding a bit to any of your boxed mixes for a little extra oomph, like brownies and cookies, for starters. Because it's a dry ingredient, you won't mess up the composition of the mix too much if you add less than a cup. If the batter seems too thick, thin it out with a little extra milk or water.

Malted milk powder can make a difference in scratch recipes, as well. Try adding it in anything made with brown butter, as the two flavors will naturally meld. Malt flavor pairs well with chocolate, too, so consider adding it to a chocolate cake or cookie recipe.

You can even use it as a pastry garnish, like Gordon Ramsay did. He makes next-level chocolate donuts by sprinkling them with malt powder. Use a dash on anything that calls for garnishing with powdered sugar, such as scones or cookies. Malted milk powder makes a delicious sweet and savory whipped cream if you use it in place of sugar in the mixer — perfect for topping a slice of homemade pecan pie. And of course, having a container of it around is the perfect excuse to make homemade malted milk shakes.