December is my absolute favorite time of the year. A time where after much planning ahead, I finally start the cookie baking madness. As friends and family and colleagues know me well, I live and breath cookies during this busy holiday season. My dining room table is littered with cookbooks, baking magazines and recipe clippings that I have acquired throughout the years and in the next few weeks I will be sharing with you some of my favorite holiday treats. So do join me because this month it’s all about the cookies and I’ll give you tips and tricks on how to get through the baking madness!
With a little bit of planning ahead you too can bake up some delicious baked goods to share with family and friends. Today we are starting off with a super easy, two ingredient recipe…Vanilla Sugar. Yes it’s that easy, like 5 minute easy and far superior to any store bought version. And in the coming days I will share with you a family favorite recipe using this fragrant sugar.
Vanilla sugar can be utilized in various ways, from sweetening coffee, tea, baked treats and yes even savory recipes. It can be poured into decorative glass jars or bottles and gifted to guests as a “sweet” way of saying thank-you (pun intended). 🙂
With a sharp knife slice open the vanilla bean and use the back of the knife to scrape out the seeds.
Combine the sugar and vanilla seeds together in a bowl and stir until the seeds are well dispersed. You can also use 2 rubber spatulas to slowly rub together the sugar and vanilla seeds to release larger clumps.
Transfer the vanilla sugar into an airtight container and bury the pod deeply into the sugar.
Over time the Vanilla Sugar becomes more and more fragrant, so go ahead and make it a couple of weeks in advance before you start your holiday baking.
Here’s a tip, when a recipe calls for vanilla seeds only, don’t discard the pod. Rather give it new life by adding it to your vanilla sugar canister, as this will help to maintain the flavor of your vanilla sugar and refreshes it at the same time. And continue filling with more granulated sugar as the quantity depletes.
For those expecting savory dishes this month I hope you are not too disappointed because…well…have I mentioned that this month is all about the cookies!! I have friends requesting trays of cookies for their family gatherings and I gift a lot of my baked goods…so what is this girl to do but bake…like a lot of cookies. 🙂
Vanilla Sugar
Ingredients
- 1 Vanilla Bean
- 2 cups granulated sugar
Instructions
- Slice the Vanilla Bean down the middle from end to end with a sharp knife. Using the back of the knife, scrape out the seeds.
- Combine the sugar with the vanilla seeds in a medium bowl and stir until the vanilla seeds are well dispersed.
- Transfer to an airtight container and bury the pods deeply in the vanilla sugar. It can be stored indefinitely.
- Use in your favorite coffee, tea or desserts.