This was one of those things that I thought up all on my own. I was super excited about it and went crazy one afternoon making color after color. After I made a bundle of colors, I decided to see if anyone else had thought of making their own sanding sugar. After a quick Google search I found that I am not the only one who had this great idea. So, I am going to show you how I made simple sanding sugar, as well as give you some additional ideas and tips that others have shared. Get creative!
PRINTABLE RECIPE
Ingredients:
- Sugar
- food coloring (liquid, not gel)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 F. Scoop some sugar into a bowl. I used about a 1/3 cup of regular old white sugar.
- Squeeze a drop or two of liquid food coloring into the sugar. You can combine colors to make new colors. With this method, I recommend using only liquid food coloring, because I have heard that the gel kind doesn’t do well with the sugar in the oven.
- Using a whisk, briskly stir the sugar until the color is combined and no longer clumpy. Add more color if needed in order to get the hue how you want it.
- Lay down a piece of tin foil in a small rimmed cookie sheet. Place the sugar on the tin foil and spread out evenly. Bake for about 3-5 minutes or until the sugar is dry to the touch. Let it cool for a couple minutes. Using the tin foil to transport it, pour the sugar into an air tight container or a zip tight baggie.
- Place the tinfoil back on the pan and repeat the process with as many colors as you like.
The recipe above is the simple way that I made my sugar and it worked great! Next time, I am going to try some of the other methods and tips that I list below:
- You can use gel food coloring to get more exact colors. I like AmeriColor brand. Instead of drying it out in the oven, add a little bit of cornstarch to the sugar. The less corn starch you add,the brighter the color, so don’t add too much.
- Use different thicknesses of sugar. White sanding sugar or clear sparkling sugar make for more coarse, shimmery sugars. Sometimes you can find these at the grocery store, but you may have to order it online or go to a specialty store.
- Get your kids involved! Put the sugar, food coloring, and cornstarch directly into a Ziploc baggie and zip up tight. Let your kids massage the color into the sugar. Use heavy duty bags so the sugar doesn’t make holes in the plastic.
- Add flavors by adding a drop of extract or a dash of spices.
- Use old empty spice or sprinkle bottles to store the sugar.
- You can also skip the oven step, by letting the sugar sit out over night. Using the oven, just dries it out faster.
- You can also do this with salt instead of sugar and let your kids use it like glitter! Or, I guess, for savory dishes, but I’ve never seen a sparkly lasagna…what ever floats your boat.
Give this a try. You will be hooked. I love using sanding sugar when I make sugar cookies with royal icing!
Recipe by Edible Experiments. Additional tips from Baking Bites and Sweet Sugar Belle
