How to Make Strawberry Sugar

Vanilla sugar is the most common flavored sugar, and it’s one that you’ve probably made – it’s a great way to use up spent vanilla beans – or sprinkled on top of hot or cold cereal for breakfast. I keep a big container of it in my pantry and use it to add extra vanilla flavor to cookies and quick breads, too. But vanilla sugar isn’t the only flavored sugar you can make. For instance, you can stir in ground cinnamon, cloves or other spices for quick and easy spiced sugars. One of my favorite flavored sugars at the moment is Strawberry Sugar. This flavored sugar is one that I make with freeze dried strawberries, and I use it for all kinds of things – from topping off oatmeal for breakfast to sugar cookies and ice cream for dessert.

Freeze dried strawberries, which are often sold as a low calorie snack food at higher-end grocery stores, are so dry that they are easy to pulverize into a fine powder in the food processor. This powder, when mixed with sugar, is easy to use in all kinds of baking applications. And it is a fantastic dip for a batch of fresh strawberries that aren’t quite sweet enough on their own, as well as a nice garnish for other desserts that might need a little extra color and sweetness. Once you have a batch on hand, you’ll find all kinds of ways to use it up! And you can use the same technique with other freeze-dried fruits to create more flavored sugars.

Strawberry Sugar
1 cup freeze dried strawberries
3/4 cup sugar

In a food processor, combine strawberries and sugar and whizz until strawberries are all very finely ground. Transfer sugar to an airtight container and store until ready to use.

Makes about 1 cup.