Making whipped cream from dry milk

Welcome to this week's Frugal Follies Frugal Tip!

I love having dry milk in the house.  I use it in recipes that call for milk, such as pancakes and waffles.  It works just like regular milk - 1/3 cup dry milk added to 1 cup water makes 1 cup milk.  That way, the milk I purchase at the store can be saved for drinking and cereal.  I buy dry milk at ALDI; it's the cheapest source for it in the area.   (I've never seen coupons for name-brand dry milk before, nor have I seen it go on sale.)

But here's a use for dry milk I didn't know about until last weekend.

I had attempted to make an apple strudel from scratch, including making the dough instead of using ready-made puff pastry dough.  It came out terrible.  (That's a Frugal Folly story for another time.)  So I crumbled the non-burnt parts up so that it was sort of like an apple crisp.  (I made a real apple crisp the next day - click here for the recipe.) 

But the crumbled apple strudel wasn't nice enough for a dessert, so I thought of topping it with some whipped cream or ice cream.  Only I didn't have either, and I didn't want to make a run to the store to get some (at full price, of course).

So I did a little searching, and I discovered that you can make whipped cream out of dry milk!

Here's how to make it:


The secret is to put a metal mixing bowl and the beaters from your hand mixer in the freezer for at least half an hour before you make the whipped cream.

Once that time has elapsed, mix one cup of dry milk with one cup of ice water in the mixing bowl.  Beat the reconstituted milk with the hand mixer with chilled beaters for about 5 minutes.  It will froth up and become thick, like whipped cream.

Then add 1/4 cup sugar and 1/2 tbsp vanilla to the cream, and mix for another minute.

Use it soon after making - it won't hold up for very long.

It's not the same as whipped cream or ice cream, but it will do in a pinch!

For more frugal tips, please go to my Linkup Parties page and check out the bloggers listed under Frugal Tips Linkups.  There are lots of great ideas on each blog and I'm sure you'll find lots of wonderful tips!

(This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for more information.)