The toasty, caramelized sweetness of powdered milk is hard to ignore. While bakers know the kind of richness it can lend to certain desserts, few realize just how much of a multitasker it really is.

Milk, as we all know, is perishable. In fact, it may be the most famously perishable food in existence: It's not for nothing that we say something that's lost its luster over time has "aged like milk" ...