Vanilla Sugar

How often do you use vanilla beans? For me, it's at least once a week. Whether they are being used in chocolates, cakes, or candies I always have the empty pods left over and I hate to waste them! $8 for two vanilla beans is too much for me to waste! I don't want to use them to make an extract because there are little to no little seeds in there. (I'm a master pod scraper) So lately I've been using them to make vanilla sugar.

For my birthday this past year my parents got me two wooden racks from williams-sonoma along with enough spices to fill them up. One rack is full of baking spices, while the other is filled with some of my favorite savory spices. My mom wanted to buy me the vanilla sugar so bad but they were completely sold out! Oh well! Now I just make my own in bulk.

I use 1 cup of regular granulated sugar per pod. You just put both in an airtight container and let it sit for a few weeks. I give mine a shake about once a day to prevent some of the clumping. If I only use about half of a vanilla bean, I only add 1/2 cup of sugar.

You can always use whole vanilla beans, just cut down the middle (long ways), scrape the seeds out, and place it all into the container along with the sugar. If you do this though, use 2 cups of sugar as the seeds are more potent than the actual pod.

This stuff is great for putting in your coffee. Or maybe using it to create a topping for your favorite muffins. What about using it to make cinnamon rolls? YUM!! So many possiblilites!