Vanilla Sugar

Vanilla Sugar

1 vanilla bean pod

Granulated (white) sugar

1 sealable canister

Bury the Vanilla Bean in the Sugar

Take one vanilla bean pod and bury it in a canister of sugar. Seal canister. Let set several days before using. Replenish sugar as it is used, until vanilla bean loses its potency (I was told six months or so.)

What is vanilla sugar? and why do you need to make some?

I heard about Vanilla Sugar and got this recipe from a fellow blogger. The blogger swore using vanilla sugar in cookie recipes would dramatically improve their already incredible taste.

So a few weeks ago, I got a vanilla bean from Sprouts .I buried it in my sugar. Today I made cookies. Regular old chocolate chip cookies made from the recipe on the back of the package... except I used vanilla sugar in place of the plain sugar.

Oh. My.

Really. You need some vanilla sugar.

OK. Let me just state a few things for a few people who didn't totally grasp the concept here. No, the bean does NOT grow in the sugar. The sugar just absorbs vanilla essence. There is no set amount of sugar you can transform... just keep replacing sugar as you use it until you notice it isn't quite living up to the goodness that started you using this. Then scrape out the seeds and use them in a recipe calling for vanilla, and put a new bean in the canister.