How to Make Vanilla Sugar

Have you ever seen a recipe that called for vanilla sugar and thought, "What the heck is that?" Me too! So I did a little research and found out how to make my own. It's basically just granulated white sugar that's been shacked up with vanilla beans for a while. The measurements don't really matter. It's kinda common sense. Less sugar and more vanilla beans = stronger vanilla flavor. More sugar and fewer vanilla beans = milder vanilla flavor. Here's what I did:

You'll need:
2 cups granulated white sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 air tight container
1 sharp knife

Put the sugar in an air tight container. With a sharp knife split the vanilla bean longways down the middle. Scrape the seeds with the back of the knife. Put the seeds and the pod in the container with the sugar. Shake it to disperse the seeds throughout the sugar. Keep the container seeled for about 2 weeks before using it. After that you can add more sugar and more vanilla beans as needed. It will last for a pretty long time. If it gets clumpy just shake it to break up the clumps.

The awesome thing about vanilla sugar is that you can use it in anything that calls for granulated sugar! You can put it in coffee, tea, cakes, frosting, pies, muffins, cookies, meringue, custard, etc... And it smells so good. I often just open mine to smell it and put it back. :) Just remember when you use it in a recipe that calls for vanilla extract, you should leave the extract out. Otherwise you might end up with vanilla overload! I sometimes use half vanilla sugar and half plain sugar just to be careful. Then I add vanilla extract if it needs more flavor.