No Snacktastic Sunday post again this week, because I had another one of those days where nothing goes right in the kitchen. Literally nothing.
First, I tried to make Shortbread Bites – my plan was to dip them in chocolate and put together cute little holiday cookie baggies for people at work. But, as it turns out, shortbread dough is NOT my friend. Super crumbly and tender, not at all conducive to slicing/moving. So when I tried to slice the finicky dough into teeny tiny squares and gingerly transfer them to my baking sheet…I mostly ended up with tiny piles of crumbled cookie dough. Sometimes the unbaked cookies would explode in my hand en route to the baking sheet. Other times, I would look at the dough funny and it would immediately disintegrate, probably in anticipation of my touch.
It was REALLY UPSETTING, guys.
I can’t even tell you how many times I had to re-work the dough to get just a handful of cookies. Cookies that, by the time I was through with them, I didn’t even want to eat. Or look at, for that matter. Ugh.
Up next in Tina’s Kitchen Misadventures: French Silk Pie. Gorgeous to look upon, made with the humblest of ingredients, and not at all complicated as far as recipes go. The only real “baking” involved was for the crust, and even then the expected effort was minimal. Just crush some Nilla wafers, mix with melted butter, press everything into the bottom of a pan, and bake. Easy peasy.
Cookie-based crusts are usually my jam. I’ve made lots of pies with crushed cookie crusts, and they’ve never given me a problem. It’s just crushed cookies and butter, for crying out loud! Fast, easy, and delicious!
But this time, I think I must have pissed off some kitchen god somewhere, because when I pulled my crust out of the oven I discovered (to my horror), that it had collapsed. The beautiful high sides that I had so lovingly hand-pressed up the sides of the pan had collapsed in on itself and I was left with an ugly, flat thing with a lumpy outer ridge that should be ashamed to call itself a crust.
I was so mad that I just chucked the dish into the fridge and walked out of the kitchen for the rest of the day. The “crust” and I still aren’t speaking, but I’ll let you know if we reconcile and I decide to do something with it later…
In between the cookies and the pie, I did manage to cook us something edible lunch – Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic, and grilled cheese minis. Delicious to eat, hard to photograph. I might have to recook/reshoot these two recipes for the blog later.
For now, I’m gonna stop whining and tell you guys about these awesome DIY flavored sugars. I first got the idea from my from Sarah, who recently used freeze-dried cherries to punch up the frosting in one of her cupcake recipes. I remember thinking it was a genius idea, because once you process the fruit into a fine powder, you can use it to infuse just about anything with intense fruit flavor (without the drippy, sticky mess fresh fruit would entail).
My first thought was to take Sarah’s lead and use freeze-dried fruit in cupcakes – I had a hell of a time with the frosting for chocolate covered strawberries a while back, and this would be the perfect solution. But then I decided I didn’t have the energy for cupcakes. So instead, my mind turned to other, faster/easier things…like flavored sugars.
Cinnamon sugar is one of my favorite things for sprinkling/dipping/rolling, and it’s so easy to make. Just dump some cinnamon into a bowl of sugar, and stir. That’s it. Instantly delicious topping for anything and everything.
I figured that fruit-flavored sugars, with the help of freeze-dried fruits, would be equally easy. And…I was right! It takes about a minute to turn freeze-dried berries into finely-ground powder, and then all you have to do is mix it with regular ol’ white sugar. Pour it into a spice shaker, slap on a pretty label, and you’ve got yourself an awesome, giftable treat that’s both adorable and delicious.
You can use these flavored sugars in/on literally everything. As a sugar rim for cocktails. Sprinkled over oatmeal. Rolled all over cookie dough for extra pizzazz. As a flavor booster in a hot beverage (tea or cider, for example). Or, you know, you can be like me and smear some crackers with Nutella, then sprinkle raspberry sugar on top so it tastes like chocolate covered raspberries. ‘Cuz YOLO.
Happy Monday, everyone! And before you ask…
- Bottles – 3oz Glass Spice Jars
- Labels – Avery Removable Multi-Use Labels, Kraft Brown, 1.125 x 2.25 Inches, Pack of 24 (40151)
- 3-4 tbsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 3 oz spice jar
- ½ cup freeze dried raspberries
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 3 oz spice jar
- ½ cup freeze-dried mangos
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 3 oz spice jar
- ½ cup freeze-dried apples
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 3 oz spice jar
- ½ cup freeze-dried blueberries
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 3 oz spice jar
- In a small bowl, combine your ground cinnamon and white sugar. Stir until thoroughly mixed.
- Carefully pour mixture into your spice jar.
- Seal, and store in a dry place.
- Enjoy on everything!
- In a food processor or spice grinder, process freeze-dried fruits into a fine powder. (Clean grinder/processor between fruits, to avoid flavor contamination.)
- Combine fruit powder with sugar, and mix thoroughly.
- Carefully pour mixture into your spice jar.
- Seal and store in a dry place.
- Enjoy on everything!
(Slightly adapted from Simmer and Boil’s recipes)
I love this!!!
Thanks!!!
Such a great idea that I’d love to give some foodie friends! Recently I discovered Peppermint Patty sugar and it’s changed my life!
Peppermint Patty sugar?????? That sounds AMAZING! Where did you get it??
What a great idea! I love how simple this is and how you can customize the flavors.
Exactly! The world is your fruit flavored sugar oyster…or something! 😉
Aww – such a creative use of the freeze dried berries! You should totally use it to make cookies and ice cream and EVERYTHING FROM HERE ON OUT. Also – can I eat it like a lick a stick?
Um, you probably could but I would MAYBE judge you….although lick a stick is awesome ;p
Yum! What a great gift idea too!
Thanks!
Fab stuff!
Thanks!
What a great idea! I’m pinning this one for sure !
Awesome, thank you! So glad you like it 🙂
These are so very cute!!!! I love the pretty colours.
Thank you! I do too 🙂
Lovely! Such a simple but thoughtful gift idea.
Thank you 🙂
It’s a MUST-try idea! Many more spice and fruit flavors will probably work the same! I’ll keep you updated on my experiment!
Definitely! I could see a bunch of other spices and fruit flavors being great with this recipe too. Let me know how yours turn out!
This is SO clever! Such a great DIY holiday gift idea, too! Man, I wish someone I know is reading this so they can make me this for Christmas!!!
Oh, this is BRILLIANT! I can’t wait to whip these up! That Sarah is a smart lady. 🙂
She really is! 😉
What if I want to use less common berries that are not available freeze dried, berries that I grow and harvest myself such as mulberry, elderberry, sand cherry, Nanking cherry, currant, gooseberry, etc.
I have the capability of steam-juicing the berries so I can make sediment-free 100% real berry juice. I do not have the capability of freeze-drying. Do you have any advice or references/links regarding how to make flavored granulated sugar using extracted berry juice as the flavoring agent?
Thank you.
Unfortunately I don’t have any solid advice for how to go about making flavored sugars with berry juice. I looked a little bit online as well but didn’t see anything – most people use freeze dried. I was thinking maybe you could try the method for making flavored salts, which is to mix the liquid into the salts, then spread the wet salt onto a baking sheet and let it dry out for a day or two. But, with the salt recipes I’ve tried the liquids tend to be thicker than fruit juices (like Sriracha for example), and I think sugar would probably dissolve very quickly in juice.
1/2 cup of the powder freeze dried fruit or half of cup before it is put into a powder?
1/2 cup of the fruit before it is blended into powder.
How much powder does it produce? I’m looking at purchasing the freeze dried powder rather than buying fruit and then blending
It’s been a while, so I don’t really remember, but…I would say one bag gave me like…a cup or so?
I’m looking to make a banana flan. I’m curious about using dried banana chips to make banana sugar. Then I’m wondering how it will melt in the sugar when I make the caramel.
Hmm, I’m not sure! I think if you blend up the chips into a powder, it’ll probably dissolve in the caramel mixture pretty smoothly. Let me know how it turns out for you!
How did you put the border on the Avery Labels? They look very nice, but I am not finding the border on the template.
Hello! The labels I purchased came with that border – https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007Z92Q5G/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B007Z92Q5G&linkCode=as2&tag=jusputarothek-20&linkId=DTZE4KPLUDQ2G2IS
The labels I found did not come with the border. I will remember to get these next time? Thank you!
Any time! 🙂
Would this work as cotton candy in a cotton candy machine?
Hmm, I’m really not sure. I’ve never made cotton before, unfortunately!
How long do they last for?
Since these are made with dehydrated/freeze-dried fruits, they can last longer – mine kept for several months before I used them up 🙂
I love these so much! My uncle’s birthday came around and he came over for breakfast! I used the cinnamon sugar on french toast! Thanks for the awesome idea!
I’ll have to try this. I’m a cotton candy vendor, and I’ve been looking for ways to make more affordable flavored sugars to use in my cotton candy machines. I honestly dont know if the powdered fruit will work in the machines, but it’s worth a shot. I can only hope. The idea of making cotton candy with real fruit in it sounds too good to be true, but thank you for sharing this. Looks like I’ll be busy tomorrow trying it out.
Just the idea of being able to offer cotton candy with all natural flavor and no artificial gunk in it kinda gets me excited. Maybe more excited than it should, but we all have our weakness I suppose. As far as weaknesses go, I guess there are worse ones to have.
Just seeing this now – did you try it with your cotton candy? If yes, I’d love to hear how they turned out!