![]() ![]() These two have more delicate flavors that are perfect for baking! As to what type of bean is best, it will depend on what you are using your sugar for, and there is a decent chance that your local store will only carry one or two varieties. They all have different flavor profiles, and any vanilla will work to make vanilla sugar, but our favorites are Tahitian and Madagascar Bourbon. If you are using beans in a different recipe, though, just buy one extra to throw in a jar of sugar-you won't regret it! Different Types of Beans If you (like me) were unaware that there are different types of vanilla beans, then you're in for a treat! There are a lot of different varieties, but three common ones are Tahitian, Madagascar Bourbon, and Mexican. ![]() ![]() Old beans will work fine on their own, albeit potentially for a less strong sugar. There you go-voila! A delicious treat that is literally good enough to eat! Plus, as an added bonus, doing anything with vanilla beans will make your entire house, hands, and clothes smell delicious for days! Many bakers like to make a small batch of vanilla sugar whenever they are using vanilla beans. (Don’t forget to sift out the vanilla beans prior to use!) Nothing bad will happen if you use it earlier, of course, it will just have less time to infuse the vanilla into the sugar, so you will not get quite as heavy of a vanilla flavor in your dishes. Store for anywhere between a week and a month before using.This will allow for the best infusion of odors and flavors from the beans. Take a hint from The Beatles (or Ferris Bueller) and shake it up! Shake your sugar and the vanilla beans until everything is evenly dispersed throughout the jar.Place all of the vanilla bean seeds and the open vanilla bean into the jar with the sugar.Use the back of your knife to scoop out the tiny black vanilla beans (this is where the magic happens!).Slice open the vanilla bean carefully so that the seeds are facing up.Put all of your sugar into a glass or plastic air-tight jar.Caster or superfine sugar should work best, and if you are not familiar with it, then feel free to read more about it here, but any sugar will do! To start, you will need a vanilla bean and about 2 cups of sugar (feel free to up that proportionally to whatever quantity you need). The hardest part about it is that it simply takes time for the vanilla to infuse into the sugar. Making Your Own Vanilla Sugar As mentioned above, making your own vanilla sugar is quite a simple process. If you need it today, you may just need to splurge, but if you have a little time, then it is actually fairly easy to make at home. The great news is that you can actually make your own vanilla sugar fairly easily. If you do find it, however, you may be a little concerned when you see the price tag, as vanilla sugar is going to be a good bit pricier than your typical baking sugars. You may be able to find some at a specialty grocery store, and a few big box stores carry it as well. That would be kind of mushy and gross, right? Vanilla sugar is actually sugar that has been infused with vanilla over a long period of time, so it still retains that nice granular texture that we love in sugar (and need for our perfect baked goods!), but with an added flavor of vanilla for a unique pop! Where Can I Find Vanilla Sugar? If you're in the United States, you're not entirely out of luck buying pre-packaged vanilla sugar. However, it can be a lot tougher to find vanilla sugar in the United States or other non-European countries, so this can make things a little more difficult! However, the important piece of note here is that vanilla sugar is not quite just a mixture of vanilla extract with sugar. Vanilla sugar is used in their traditional desserts, mostly in cookies and cakes. It turns out that this is an extremely common ingredient in Europe, specifically in countries like Germany, Poland, and Hungary. Keep reading to learn about what the heck vanilla sugar even is, how you should use it, and when it's okay to substitute for other ingredients you may have on hand! What Is Vanilla Sugar? During my momentary panic, a quick Google search showed me that vanilla sugar was actually just a mixture of vanilla and sugar (well, that seems pretty self-explanatory). ![]() So if you have come across a recipe asking for vanilla sugar, never fear, I've done the research and created a little guide to help you through the vanilla sugar process. Though we have talked about a lot of different flour varieties, there are far fewer sugar varieties out there, and I thought I knew them all. I thought I had read a typo for a minute and needed vanilla and sugar. Have you ever stumbled across a recipe that called for something you hadn't heard of before? This happened to me recently as I was baking. ![]()
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