An Easy Sugar Fix

Usually for Christmas we give out homemade cookies and candy to our loved ones in lieu of store bought gifts. I hate shopping and I hate it even more when I give someone something and a year later I see it sitting, unused, on one of their shelves, near the back is the worst. Case in point, my mother just re-gifted a sampler tea set that I gave my sister last year. How did she come by it? Apparently, neither one of them was using it. Oh yes, we love tea but just never seem to have time to use the cute, little infuser mug. Right. So now I have 6 black tea tins in my cabinet. To be clear, I'm not much of a black tea drinker. I lean much more towards the green variety. Grrr.

This year we've been so busy I began looking for an easier way out early on. Very shortly after Halloween I decided on flavored sugars instead of our traditional cookie boxes. It's a super easy, relatively inexpensive gift and looks elegant to boot. You can go with any flavor and color. Zest, flowers, rose water, cocoa, on and on. I chose vanilla and lavender. Vanilla because it's pretty universally accepted and lavender because, well, I had a lot of lavender and nothing to do with it. Don't get me wrong; I love the heady floral taste of those little flowers but everyone doesn't agree. My husband feels like lavender is better left to soap but who said his opinion ever mattered for very much when it comes to my kitchen.

So I ground the lavender in my mortar, split some vanilla beans and dumped everything in an old spaghetti jar, sterilized of course, with as much sugar as would fit. Shake, shake, shake. Every 3 or 4 days, or whenever I thought about, shake, shake, shake. After about a month, I colored it. A few drops of desired food coloring is all you need. Don't freak out if it doesn't change right away. Just keep shaking. At some point I added some pearl powder to make it sparkle but it's not really necessary. The longer the sugar stands, the stronger the flavor will be. Three months gave me a nice, wafting aroma when the lid was taken off. We filled 14 jars with about 8 lbs of sugar and spent about $30 total. I think the sugar will be great in coffee or tea, especially the vanilla. My friends could also pop the lid and use it as room freshener if they decide not to actually eat it. I'm hoping at least that these little jars don't get relegated to that dusty, old shelf but, hey, we're really not out a whole lot either way.

Vanilla Sugar
1 super clean (sterilized is best) Large Jar or other air tight container (plastics aren't great here because they can sometimes leach flavors, plasticy and otherwise, into the food)
Granulated sugar
2 Vanilla Beans, split and halved
Food Coloring (opt.)
~ ½ tsp Pearl Powder or Edible Glitter (opt.)

Lavender Sugar
1 super clean (sterilized is best) Large Jar or other air tight container (plastics aren't great here because they can sometimes leach flavors, plasticy and otherwise, into the food)
Granulated Sugar
1 Vanilla Bean, split and halved
½ tsp Lavender Flowers, ground; more or less to taste
Food Coloring (opt.)
~ ½ tsp Pearl Powder or Edible Glitter (opt.)

1. Fill the jar ½ full with sugar.
2. Add the vanilla beans and/or lavender.
3. Fill the jar the rest of the way, leaving ~1" head space. This will make shaking easier.
4. Add the coloring, 3-4 drops is enough for pastel colors, depending on how much sugar you're using.
5. Seal tightly.
6. Shake, shake, shake. Continue shaking every 3 or 4 days or whenever the mood strikes you.
7. At least a week before you divide it up add the pearl powder, if desired.
8. Pour the sugar into clean, dry, decorative jars, removing any large bits as you go. You can find the little jars at most any craft store.
9. Label and gift.