Recipe for making your own Vanilla Sugar
First of all, I just have to say how delicious the vanilla sugar tastes and you can use it to refine desserts. For many yummy desserts you need the heavenly good tasting aroma of vanilla. It gives the sweets the ultimate touch. In Europe for instance, vanilla sugar is sold in small paper bags of about 8 g, but in many countries outside Europe, this is unfortunately not so well known. I would say “unfortunately” because this is an ingredient that is indispensable in many desserts. The artificial substitute, vanilla extract or vanilla essence, is available especially in English-speaking countries. It is manufactured artificially and can not reach the natural vanilla flavour in vanilla sugar.
Vanillin
In addition, there is the artificially produced vanilla sugar, also called vanillin. This is sold in small paper bags. So this is a lot more expensive compared to home-made vanilla sugar and also causes unnecessary packaging waste.
To make vanilla sugar yourself, you need vanilla beans, but not the whole ones, only the scraped beans. So you can use the inside for other sweets and you can easily use the leftover pods you normally would dispose of for making vanilla sugar.
Below I’m explaining how easy it is to make the vanilla sugar!
Ingredients
You will need: traditional white household sugar, which you will find in every grocery store, as well as scraped vanilla pods and a clean, lockable glass. The glass should be well cleaned so that no existing odor could transfer to the sugar. The scraped vanilla pods are kept together with the sugar in this airtight glass.
- Per vanilla pod you need about 200 g normal household sugar.
- First slice down the pod with a knife, scrape the seeds out and use it for homemade crème brulée. Or to refine vanilla ice cream, whipped cream or dough.
- Cut the pod into pieces.
- Pour half of the sugar into the clean container and place the pods in it. Cover with the remaining sugar. Best suited are preserving jars or screw jars or jam glasses.
- Shake well the sugar-vanilla pod mixture and leave for 1-2 weeks.
- Shake the glass from time to time to allow the aroma to spread well.
- If the vanilla supply is running low, you can easily add sugar again and again. The vanilla pods give off their fragrant aroma to the vanilla sugar for several months.
My very special tip:
It is best to take two clean storage jars, one may be slightly larger and serves as a storage container, which is rarely opened. This keeps the aroma longer. In the second, slightly smaller glass you fill vanilla sugar from the large glass, preferably with a few vanilla pods. This glass is used as a dispenser for the vanilla dishes and therefore screwed on more often. When this vanilla sugar is running out, top up from the big glass.
For what can I use Vanilla Sugar?
It gives a very awesome taste for instance to chocolate cakes, cookies with desiccated coconut or chocolate chips cookies, to vanilla ice cream, vanilla cream, crème brulée, yoghurt desserts with strawberries or any other fruits, or sprinkle it over freshly baked biscuits, cakes or muffins, for pankcakes or French toast. Certainly an ingredient that should not be missed in your pantry.
