Holiday baking just got a little bit more exciting! It's time to don your aprons because gourmet flavoured sugars are gorgeous, useful, and perfect for gift giving. These sugars are also insanely simple to make.

We've been baking up a storm getting ready for winter guests. I'll be honest with you, red and green sprinkles really don't impress me much. I'd much rather work with unique, stylish & aromatic ingredients to make things gorgeous (and tasty).

I decided to mix up some new sugars to adorn the sugar cookies that I've been busy baking. These sugars are perfect for adding intense natural flavourings to all kinds of things.

Among my favourite flavoured sugars are raspberry and rose petal. Raspberry is bright, bursting with flavour and a touch of tartness. I can't help but sneak tastes of this one throughout the day. It's crazy good. Rose petal sugar is one I've always loved. The flavour is delicate, not florally and the scent is subtle and lovely. Rose sugar brightens up baked goods and makes them look so pretty.

I also made some lavender sugar which needs to be done with a light hand. Lavender is incredibly strong and can be unpleasantly overpowering. That said, with a light touch it can be culinary magic. You only want a teeny bit of lavender flowers material mixed in with the sugar. When mixing up your blends it's all about tasting and balance.

These gourmet flavoured sugars are a perfectly elegant for decorating your baked goods, rimming cocktail glasses, sprinkling on cocoa topped with whipped cream and of course coffee! You get the picture - they are super versatile and completely lovely.

The sky's the limit when it comes to creativity. You just need your favourite sugar and some dried organic botanicals and/or natural flavour ingredients. We like to use things like: dehydrated fruit & berries, dried (organic) edible flowers, and herbs. There are just so many flavours you can create. How about rose mint? Orange or lemon zest? Or maybe some coffee & vanilla bean?

Let's Talk Sugar!

For these recipes you can choose from a wide range of sugars. Granulated sugar, organic cane sugar, turbinado, coconut and whatever else your heart desires.

To Bake With Flavoured Sugar

Just substitute the amount of sugar called for in a recipe with an equal amount of scented sugar, or for a more subtle effect, just substitute a portion of what the recipe calls for with your flavoured sugar.

Tools You'll Need

This recipes is really simple. You just need a way to grind things up and some airtight jars for storage. I really enjoy working with herbs and smelling them as I work.

My preference is to use a large mortar and pestle but an electric spice grinder would make faster work of this project. for gift giving I adore these adorable Sunshine Mason Co. Mini Mason Jar Shot Glasses with Metal Lid . They are in a sweet 2 Ounces size and come in a twelve pack. To sprinkle the sugar I use long handled tea infusers.

Inspired but Too Busy to Make This?

I totally get it. Sometimes you want to try it but would rather have it delivered to your door. Flavoured sugars are becoming widely popular in the cocktail circuit and you'll find them at many speciality food stores and artisan shops. Here are a few tasty looking options you can conveniently get on-line.

Krista's Baking Co. Infused Organic Cane Sugar - Lavender - 14oz

didi davis food - Flavored Finishing Sugar Blend Collection

Pure Granulated Vanilla Bean Sugar

Jansal Valley Sugar, Raspberry, 6 Ounce

Sensational Raspberry Sugar

Wow! I love this sugar most of all. It's so tart and bright and is packed with raspberry flavour. Sprinkle over ice cream, cupcakes, pancakes, whipped cream toppings, rim your cocktail glasses. I suggest you make a big batch so you can give little jars of it out to those special people in your life.

• 1/2 - 3/4 cup freeze dried or dehydrated raspberries
• 1 cup of sugar

Place the raspberries in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind until powdered. Add the sugar and mix well. Sift out the seeds. Store in an airtight container.

Lovely Rose Petal Sugar

You can use any edible, fragrant flower but I love rose petals. If you read vintage recipe books you'll find that long before vanilla became popular creative bakers were enhancing their baked goods with rose water! Sprinkle some rose petal sugar in your herbal tea (hot or cold), on fruit salads, or to dress up cakes, cookies and other baked goods. It is equally lovely sprinkled on whipped cream or to create a lovely sugar rim on a glass. It also mixes well with the raspberry sugar!

• 2-3 cups organic culinary grade rose petals
• 1 Cup sugar

Place the rose petals in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind until powdered. Add the sugar and mix well. Sift to remove any larger particles. Store in an airtight container.

Upscale Lavender Sugar

Have you ever tried lavender biscuits with raspberry jam? How about lavender lemon bars? This sugar has a lovely greyish blue hue. The trick to working with lavender is to be sparing with this herb. Too much and the sugar can become bitter and floral. Add a little, mix it in, taste and if desired add more.

• 4 tsp dried organic lavender
• 1 Cups sugar

Place the lavender in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder and grind until powdered. Add the sugar and mix well. Sift to remove any larger particles. Store in an airtight container.

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I hope these recipes will inspire you whip up some gorgeous flavoured sugars of your own! There really is a lot of joy to be found in the simplest of ingredients. Enjoy!

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Posted with love from my blog walkerland.ca with SteemPress : https://www.walkerland.ca/how-to-make-flavoured-sugar-with-recipes/

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