As an American, you might not be familiar with vanilla sugar, but it's a very common ingredient in Scandinavian baking.
At it's core, Scandinavian Vanilla Sugar is just a vanilla bean that's been scraped and mixed into regular granulated sugar, then stored in a covered container for a week or two to let the vanilla infuse into the sugar.
Then it can be used 1:1 in any recipe that calls for sugar. Naturally, it's best used in recipes that are vanilla-forward like cupcakes, cakes, creme brulee, etc.
You can stir it into your coffee or tea, or use it to make cocoa.
Vanilla sugar adds an extra punch of vanilla to your baked goods. You can reduce the amount of vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste that the recipe calls for when you use the vanilla sugar, but most often, it's used with the full amount of vanilla.
Vanilla is like garlic, in my opinion, you can never use too much!
While you can find vanilla sugar sold commercially, it's so easy to make at home.
Ratios for the vanilla bean to the sugar vary depending on which recipe you read, but I like to make my vanilla sugar pretty potent, so I use two vanilla beans for each cup of sugar.
I like to use my food processor to combine the sugar and vanilla bean seeds, and if you do that, you can use the sugar pretty much right away.
But you can also just whisk the sugar and vanilla seeds well to combine them, add them to a covered container (a glass mason jar works well), push the pods into the container, replace the cover, and let it sit for at least two weeks. I like to shake the jar a few times, every few days, to mix up the sugar.
The vanilla sugar will last for at least two years in a cool, dry place, and the best part is that you can continue to add sugar to top off the jar as you use it.
Just be sure to keep shaking the jar to evenly mix the contents.
Scandinavian Vanilla Sugar
Makes 1 cup.
1 cup sugar
Add the sugar to the bowl of a food processor.
Use a sharp paring knife to split the beans lengthwise. Then using the tip of the knife, carefully scrape the seeds into the sugar. Whirl in the food processor several times, then pour into a container. Push the pods into the container, then cover, and shake the jar a few times.
Use immediately or let sit to allow the sugar to absorb the vanilla. Use in place of regular sugar in your baking.
Note: You can also make the vanilla sugar with powdered sugar or extra fine sugar to use in your recipes.
