Flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and chocolate are all you need for baking your favorite dessert, but there's a secret ingredient that can upgrade any treat: malted milk powder.

Malted milk powder contains wheat flour, salt, sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), and additional sugars and flavoring, depending on the brand.

Malted milk powder also contains milk solids that promote browning and add a creamy richness to desserts. The included salt and baking soda help balance all the flavors.

A few tablespoons of malted milk powder added in with other dry ingredients will boost the flavor of chocolate-based recipes and give breads a striking brown crust.

Start with one tablespoon and taste before adding more. The powder is naturally sweet and contains salt and baking soda, so tweak any additional sugar or salt.

Malted milk powder comes in several flavors, but to make the most of its natural profile, you may want to stick to the plain option when adding it to desserts.