Alittle Appreciation is in Order

Once I started my vanilla extract adventure I started to get really into the idea of making things for people as gifts. I think I drove P crazy with all my possible ideas of what I could make. But for my second venture I decided to make some flavored sugars. I figured this would be easy just like vanilla extract as it just has to sit and take on the flavors of what ever I wanted to flavor it with. So with summer around the corner I decided to make a Lemon Lime Sugar and the ever popular Vanilla Sugar was always in the plans. So I bought a lot of sugar because if you are making some thing like this you might as well make a lot and just surprise people for no reason with a small token of appreciation. And who doesn't like to get appreciated or a gift. I know I love gifts no matter the shape or size. So why not make some flavored sugars and give them to the people who brighten your day or have helped you recently. And since all of you Brighten my day every day and since I have neglected my blog this week and will be continuing to neglect it while on vacation this weekend and into next week while I visit my Best Friend in London I figured why not do back to back giveaways to show my appreciation. I don't worry I will be taking pictures and sharing with you all when I get back! And these will have labels on them that match my super cute vanilla extract labels I just wanted you to see what the sugar looks like.

So I will be giving away 5 pairs of containers of sugar and you get to pick which kind you want! So that means you can have one of each or both the same it is up to you, and if you don't want them labeled so you can pass them off as your own I can do that too! :) All you have to do is leave a comment making sure to leave an email address, or post something on twitter and leave another comment, if you do both so you have double the chances of winning!
This is open to US and Canada only and will close at 5pm Central time on May 26th! So pass it on and Good Luck!


Vanilla Sugar

5lbs of sugar
8 vanilla beans

Pour sugar into an airtight container and place halved vanilla beans into the sugar so that the sugar completely covers them. Wait about a month and you have vanilla sugar, and just like the extract just keep putting more sugar into the container and you will continue to get vanilla sugar for a few years with out changing the beans.

Lemon Lime Sugar

10 lbs of sugar - 5 for lemon and 5 for lime
Zest of 6 lemons
Zest of 10 limes

Zest the citrus and let it sit out for about 15 - 20 minutes to dry slightly. Then mix together with the sugar and let sit out at room temperature for a few hours so that the citrus zest dries out and you won't have clumps of sugar. I think I'm going to run mine through the food processor too so that it can be superfine sugar and can dissolve better into drinks.

Speaking of Drinks, you might be thinking what could I use these for or what could I tell the recipient to do with the sugar. Well I have a few ideas, Both can be used as a sweetener for a multitude of drinks, iced tea, coffee, and mojitos just to name a few! And they could also be used as rimming sugar for glasses, And try using vanilla sugar and cinnamon to make your cinnamon sugar it adds a little something extra! And you can use vanilla sugar to replace regular sugar in any baked good, I would suggest giving them a little more than my small jars if you were going to do that. But honestly the possibilities are endless, so make some already!