DELICIOUS VANILLA SUGAR

Last night I finally got my vanilla extract recipe posted.  This morning I woke up thinking I must go to the ABC store today to get rum to stay my next batch of extract and with that thought, I started thinking what can I do with the beans once I bottle the extract.  My husband said to just start another batch but I do not think once you have made a batch there would be enough goodness to do another batch.  Well, that left me stumped.  I hate waste so what can I do with these beans?  Why not infuse some sugar with my beans?  Sounds good, right?  BUT how do I do that because my beans are wet?  Common sense would be to dry them out.  OK well, that is simple.  Just take them out of the bottle and lay them out to dry, right?  Heck yeah.  I have 5 beans but how much sugar should I use?  Sound it be ounces or pounds per bean?  Heck, this is an experiment I can have fun with it.  

Let me think, sugar and dried vanilla beans.  Just throw the beans in a container of sugar and let it infuse into the sugar for a few months.  OR, I could grind up my beans and mix that with sugar.  Would that not be prettier?  I think it would plus I bet the sugar will infuse much quicker.  

Vanilla Sugar

• 5 vanilla beans
• Sugar

Directions

• heat oven to 150 degrees or as low as you can go 
• place beans on a tray with parchment paper and allow to dry, time will vary 
• check after 15 minutes and turn
• Check every 5 minutes or so after
• take out once dried
• grind beans
• mix 1 tablespoon per one pound of sugar

Are you wondering what to do with vanilla sugar?  Well, let me see, you can use it in coffee, tea, sprinkle on cookies, sprinkle on muffins, using in ice cream, bake with it or even make a homemade sugar scrub.  The usage is only limited by your imagination.  

I love when I come up with stuff so I am not wasteful.  I have always been creative to some degree so I love the fact I can use vanilla beans that have been soaking in alcohol to make an extract into something useful and good.  

I promise to post a picture soon.  Again I get so excited I simply forget to take a picture.  

I want to take the time to note that I get my frugalness from my mother and father.  Both of my parents were born in the 1930's.  From my easiest memory, my mom has always been able to stretch a dollar.  We almost always had a garden and my dad's hobby was raising cattle.  So, we normally always had beef in the freezer and vegetables canned.  I am so thankful for them teaching me the benefits of being frugal and living off of what you can grow with your own hands.  While my dad is no longer with us, I am fortunate to still have my mom.  

I hope you will try this recipe soon and if you do please comment and post a picture. 

Happy Saturday and Enjoy!!