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.
I might try that with Stevia as well.
Hi, it should work well with Stevia
I love December too! Cute gift idea for a foodie (might as well make two)!
Yes Sadie…one to keep the other to gift 🙂
Brilliant! 🙂
Lovely post, I use this stuff all the time and I have some vanilla pods which a colleague of my partner brought back from Madagascar! I have never thought of giving this as a gift – but what a good idea – thank you for posting x
P.S. I use vanilla sugar when I am poaching pears in red wine, and the smell is devine………
Thanks Linda, hope all is well with you in Paris. Will have to remember to try it when poaching pears, sounds wonderful 🙂
All is well thank you Marisa, but still ‘fragile’,
guess what we are having for dessert this evening……
Humm, I think it may be the Chocolate Cranberry Twist! Lol….enjoy Linda?
what a lovely present to receive…I made lavender oil one year for everyone with lavender from my garden…and another year I did pickled vegies…carrots, cauliflower, jalapenos, pearl onions, they were so pretty….but a lot of work…last year I made cinnamon rolls for everyone in the neighborhood…probably doing that again…..I make it so I can take it to them still warm in the morning to have with coffee…..thanks for all your great recipes…kat
Oh my! Kat, you are a jewel of a neighbor. I wish I lived close by….:) That is truly remarkable 🙂
thanks…I cherish my neighbors…a group of good people…..I live on a dead in Lane, kinda like a family…..kat
I have never heard of such a thing and I love it! This sounds so good! I need to try it and so easy! yumm
I am cringing now for all the times that I have thrown out the pods once I took out the seeds! Thanks Marisa, I now know what to do!
Lol…it’s a wonderful tip I’ve learnt years ago which is so so worth it considering the price of vanilla beans! Also the taste of home made vanilla sugar is unparalleled! ?