Vanilla Sugar

I got 20 vanilla pods in my order so I decided to make some vanilla sugar as well. I saw a small pot at the shops--it would probably make 2 batches of baked goods and it cost £7!!!!! I can beat that easily. Plus the wee pot had the vanilla beans removed meaning you could not continue to make batches of vanilla sugar so you‘d have to buy another outrageously priced pot, sneaky bastards.

I like Demerara sugar as it has a caramel-y taste and is less refined than regular sugar. I’m trying an experiment with some stuff I’ve been baking with called Tate and Lyle’s Light at Heart Brown Sugar and Stevia blend.   It is made with Demerara sugar, but is twice as sweet due to the stevia so you use half as much. In my recipes for  brownies, blondies, gingerbread, duck flaps and our newest creation shut ups (made with black eyed peas, geddit?) I can use ¼ cup and get the same sweetness (but half the calories) as ½ cup sugar.   

 Here is my container of sugar. I have labelled it vanilla and Spiderman helpfully relabelled it “Light at fart”--thanks darlin’.

To make vanilla sugar you need….wait for it….vanilla and sugar. Duh.

 Like you did in the vanilla essence, slit the bean and then push it down into the sugar. You may need to cut each pod in half to fit in the container.

 Then  close it up and wait about a month in infuse. In my experience the sugar goes a darker colour after a few weeks, but it is too soon to tell with the one I’ve just made.

top up with sugar to get them submerged

 I like to have 2 containers going at the same time.

Use Container A while Container B matures.

Finished Container A? Add sugar and store away to mature then crack open Container B.

Finished Container B? Add sugar and store away to mature then crack open Container A.

Just make sure when you add more sugar to push the beans deep inside (don’t let them sit on the bottom of the container) You can go on making vanilla sugar with the same pods for several years --the pods will dry out and go stiff, but keep using them. In my experience, they still have life in them.

 Now go and make your own.