Though you are able to purchase vanilla sugar, it is so easy to create at home. This homemade vanilla sugar recipe is quick and easy to make, and makes a wonderful homemade gift for that special baker in your life.

Vanilla Sugar

Vanilla sugar is such a versatile ingredient that can be used for almost anything. It is fast and incredibly satisfying to make and impressive to give as a gift.

Vanilla Products

Vanilla products at the grocery store are not only expensive, they often contain a lot of additives such as sugar, flavourings, preservatives and more. When using good quality vanilla beans, and no additives, you will have an end product with a pure and rich vanilla flavour.

Vanilla extract is a product that is made using vanilla beans and vodka.

Made by infusing sugar with vanilla beans, vanilla sugar is a different product altogether.

Vanilla powder is simply whole vanilla beans ground into a fine powder. It has a stronger flavour than vanilla extract and tastes sweeter. This powder is great for when you want to emphasise the vanilla flavour in a recipe. It can also be used as a natural sweetener.

Storing Vanilla Beans

To make vanilla products, you need high quality vanilla beans. If you buy a bulk lot of fresh vanilla beans and need to store them, add them to a bottle of vodka.

The alcohol does a great job of preserving the beans so that they never go bad.

Using Vanilla

Vanilla is a key ingredient in many baking and dessert dishes. It is added to:

Add to cakes and muffins
Mix into biscuits / cookies
Stir into coffee, tea, hot chocolate and other hot beverages
Sprinkle on fruit
Added to custard
Stirred into oatmeal
Sprinkled over strawberries
Mix into icing / frosting
A pinch of vanilla powder mixture with a little sea salt is a great topping for biscuits / cookies or caramels
Add a small amount to homemade jams
A small amount of powder tastes great when mixed into homemade ice cream or whipped cream
Blend it into smoothies and shakes
Combine a little powder with your ground coffee
Add lemon juice and vanilla sugar as a topping on pancakes

Make Vanilla Sugar

To make vanilla sugar, you will need:

4 large vanilla beans
2 cups organic sugar
Glass jar for storage
Unbleached baking paper

To make this powder, you will first need to dry the vanilla beans. This can be done by placing them on baking paper and bake in the oven for around an hour and a half to two hours at 77˚C (170˚F). Check on the beans every 30 minutes to see if they are hard. They are ready when they are brittle and break easily. If they are not dry enough, they will not grind, so make sure they are completely dry moving onto the next step.

The beans could also be dried in direct sunlight for a few hours or in a dehydrator.

Once the beans are dried, break them up into small pieces.

Place the broken up pieces into a coffee or herb grinder and grind for 30 – 45 seconds. Check to see how they are, and grind in short bursts until there are no more chunks.

Add the vanilla powder to the sugar and mix thoroughly.

Pour into a glass jar and enjoy.

Vanilla sugar will keep indefinitely when stored in an airtight jar. The longer it sits, the stronger vanilla flavour you should get.

If you don’t have vanilla beans, you can make vanilla sugar with vanilla extract.

To do this, mix 1-2 Tablespoon of vanilla extract with ½ cup (100g) of organic sugar. If you prefer a strong vanilla flavour, use 2 Tablespoons otherwise, start with 1 tablespoon.

This vanilla sugar will be wet and clumpy as you added a liquid.

To dry it out to store it, spread the sugar on a piece of parchment paper and let it dry for 20-30 minutes.

When dry, you may want to break it up with a fork or quickly pulse in a food processor until smooth before pouring into a glass jar and storing.

Vanilla Sugar Notes

You can always use regular sugar. I used organic sugar, which is why it has a darker color.
Vanilla sugar can be substituted as regular sugar in many recipes and will make everything you make have a vanilla taste.
For a greater vanilla taste, you can always put your vanilla beans in the sugar for a few weeks before drying them out.

Syrup & Extract Recipes