Sugar, Sugar

No, I haven't given up on trying new recipes to blog about. I'm still cooking quite a bit but because they are my own recipes or ones I've made before, they don't fit the criteria for this project. Or, as Eric says, "they aren't bloggable."

I started reading a fun cookbook by Cheryl and Griffith Day called The Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook. The book included a few simple recipes for flavored sugar that I decided to try; especially because I have cardamom pods and I had purchased a vanilla bean.


Not the greatest photo of their logo but this is where the vanilla bean came from.


I poured some granulated sugar into pint-sized Mason jars--about 3/4 full. I added 1/4 c. of the cardamom to one, covered it and shook it around to distribute the pods.


I think I opened up a vanilla bean only once before and that was a long time ago! I cut it in half and used a sharp knife to slit along the pod so I could extract the seeds.


I used the tip of the knife to scrape the inside of the bean and deposited the tiny seeds into the sugar.


Then I added the bean husks in as well. Because the seeds are moist, they tend to cluster together. I made sure they were distributed throughout the sugar.


I labelled both jars and added the date; the pods and beans should keep their potency for about a year so I can replenish the sugar up to that point. 

Chris asked what my plans were for them. Not sure yet but I am sure they will end up in a recipe soon! Keep you posted!

Here's a link to the cookbook!


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