The Flavor Boost Your Pancakes Need Comes From An Old-School Staple

Pancakes occupy a unique culinary category. On the one hand, they're as familiar as they are ubiquitous. Whether you order a stack at some august fine-dining institution or a dusty old roadside cafe, you'll probably get something pretty recognizable from the basic buttermilk pancake canon, and both versions are likely to come with the expected butter and syrup. Of course, pancakes are also uber adaptable, with chocolate chip, blueberry, and banana varieties among the most common customizations. And there's another flavorful upgrade that's uniquely delicious, way less expected, and even easier to add: malted milk powder.

Malted milk powder is almost exactly what it sounds like — a mix of wheat, milk, and malted barley, which you might recognize from the malted milkshakes of ye olde soda shops and ice cream parlors. The scoopable flavoring, available at most grocery stores and supermarkets, gives those frozen drinks a toasty, kind of caramelized finish, and it can bring that same quality to your otherwise everyday pancakes with little more than a few tablespoons of the stuff (and one other ingredient consideration).

Malted milk powder has its own sweetness, so you can swap it for sugar in your regular scratch-made pancakes to avoid flapjack candification. Expect to use about 2 tablespoons of malted milk powder per egg, though the proportions are actually fairly forgiving, as malted milk powder works seamlessly with the batter and won't drastically change the chemistry of these cakes with an extra tablespoon here and there if you're particularly fond of its toastiness. For more confectionery-leaning pancakes, try a 50/50 sugar-to-malted milk powder blend, but keep in mind this will reduce the more nuanced malt notes you probably sought to begin with. You can also add sweetness with ingredients that pair with the malty powder, like dark chocolate, chocolate chips, and/or fruit (bananas, blueberries, and strawberries are all great candidates), either worked into the batter or used as a topping.

Once the malted milk powder joins the standard eggs, milk, butter, flour, baking powder, salt, and any other mix-ins, you can fold it all together as usual and griddle the batter rounds for a few minutes on each side until they're golden, as you normally would. You can also add malted milk powder to boxed pancake mix just as easily. Once they're ready, a few pats of butter will let the malt flavor shine. Should you want to gild the lily, real maple syrup's own toasty, caramel notes are a better companion than the more vaguely labeled pancake syrup alternative. Some crushed walnuts or slivered almonds will also work wonders and add a welcome crunch.