Mmmm… The yummy holiday scents are filling the air due to making some vanilla sugar and vanilla-cinnamon spice for holiday baking (as well as for the rest of the year). Little flecks of vanilla bean pepper my white kitchen counter and the room smells delightful.
Yesterday, when I wrote about the homemade vanilla extract, I said to make sure you didn’t toss those used vanilla beans. Well, I thought I’d go ahead and show you why it’s a great idea to re-purpose those beans that still have plenty of vanilla flavor in them. It seems a little funny calling it a recipe due to the process being so simple, but it is what it is.
If you never used vanilla sugar or vanilla-cinnamon spice, you are in for a treat as it adds an extra dimension of flavor in your baking/cooking. While I’ve only used vanilla sugar a handful of times as I rarely have it on hand, I’ve been using vanilla-cinnamon spice for several years. This year, instead of purchasing it, I thought I would make my own as it’s much less expensive.
Vanilla Sugar Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 or 2 vanilla beans (used are fine, just pat them dry after removing them from vanilla extract)
- 1 cup of sugar
- Airtight container
- If you’re using fresh/new vanilla beans, you’ll want to split them them then continue with the directions. Scrape the vanilla bean into the sugar and stir.
- Pour half of the sugar into your airtight container.
- Place vanilla split vanilla beans on top of the sugar.
- Cover with remaining sugar.
- Store in a dry place for approximately 2 weeks prior to use.
- As you use the sugar, you can add more sugar to the container. You’ll know when the vanilla bean has been used up.
- To get just a little more out of the vanilla beans, you can place them in a blender/grinder/food processor and pulse until they are a fine grind. Mix into the sugar.
- In the picture above, I used raw sugar, so you can’t see the deep vanilla flecks as much as you would with white sugar. And yes, I love using pretty glass jars and containers for storage, but Tupperware works great for this purpose as well.
- 1 bottle of cinnamon
- 1 vanilla bean
- Pour cinnamon into a bowl.
- Split vanilla bean and scrape seeds into cinnamon. Mix well.
- Place vanilla bean in bottle and carefully pour cinnamon-vanilla mixture back into bottle. (Airtight containers work best.)
- Store for at least 2 weeks prior to use. Longer storage means a more intense vanilla flavor.
- If you purchase cinnamon in bulk, you’ll want to use roughly 1/2 C of cinnamon per vanilla bean.
- Use in place of place cinnamon in pretty much any of your favorite recipes.
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I can’t wait to try these recipes!!!!! thanks for posting them ; )
Heidi recently posted..{virtual coffee} and some random thoughts…
Twitter: MarineCorpsNomd
says:
You are welcome! Can you tell I really like vanilla? lol!
You make your own vanilla extract? I’ve never heard of such a thing. I’m not much of a cook but my mom-in-love would absolutely flip over this. I’m getting better about cooking. My poor hubby has been kind enough to allow me to get takeout for the past 8 years (don’t skewer me…I’ve turned over a new leaf and am finally beginning to cook).
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Twitter: MarineCorpsNomd
says:
It was my first time making it, but now I’m hooked as it’s soooo easy. Plus, it’s much cheaper than the quality pure vanilla extract in the store. I do a great deal of baking, so I go through lots of vanilla. My sister laughed when she saw my big – okay huge – bottle of vanilla because a small bottle will last her quite a long time. lol!
Heather recently posted..Homemade Vanilla Extract
Yes, a small bottle will definitely last me a few years
. Thanks so much!
Yes, ma’am I can!
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