Vanilla sugar, fresh beans, powder, paste, or extract?
Baking is a science, still, there is wiggle room for a little fun as long as you aren’t substituting broccoli for chocolate chips. Come on, I know you’ve seen those recipe reviews.
With rare exceptions, you can substitute the sugar AND vanilla in your cookie recipe with our Vanilla Sugar. You can always be extra and still add extract, for even more depth of flavor. Our Vanilla Sugar is organic cane sugar blended with Vanilla Powder.
Vanilla Beans are a real treat. If you get dried beans, they are good for making paste, powder, sugar, and/or to simmer in a liquid or a beverage. Fresh plump beans are wonderful to slice length wise and scrape out the seeds (caviar) to add you your recipes. The seeds will not dissolve but are “softer” than the whole ground bean. You might find noticeable fibers. Some varieties are more fibrous than others, but they are completely edible. Just don’t try eating a vanilla bean straight. Yuck! Whole beans are also great for making extract. That will be another post.
Vanilla Powder is concentrated flavor that is released when heat and liquid are applied. It doesn’t dissolve and is perfect for when you want to show off those vanilla specks in your baked goods. It doesn’t require much liquid so don’t be afraid to try it in thicker batters or doughs. Vanilla Powder replaces Vanilla Extract in your recipe. Because of it’s intense flavor, only half to a third of the amount is needed. For example: Recipe calls for 1 Tablespoon. You only need to use between 1 Teaspoon and 1/2 Tablespoon. Of course, if you are like me and have zero vanilla boundaries, use both!
Vanilla extracts are perfect for when you do not want specks or the possibility of feeling the texture of powder in your finished product. For example in a pudding or whipped cream. All of our extracts are about 1.25 fold or 1.25 strength except for our special blends. This means you could use a little less than what the recipe calls for. Our special blends – Beanboozeled and Mad Scientist – are 3 Fold meaning if you want to, you can use a third of what the recipe calls for.
Vanilla Paste is the best of every vanilla world. It is liquid-like with the same sugar cane and corn based alcohols used in the extracts, but with whole vanilla beans and two types of sugar ground into it. Organic cane sugar and partially inverted sugar cane provide stability and sweetness. Many pastes use water, and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but ours does not in an effort to help you extend it’s shelf life. Just like the powder, the vanilla bean will never fully dissolve and so you will have specks in your final product. We also don’t add a thickener. You might need to stir your paste before using, just make sure you are using a clean utensil. Paste, like extracts, powders, fresh beans, and sugars, never get stored in the refrigerator. The cold can, and usually will, cause condensation which creates mold. Keep them with the rest of your spices in a comfortable, room temperature location in the dark.
** Did you know that vanilla makes chocolate taste more chocolatey? Try adding vanilla extract to your favorite chocolate recipe and see how it enhances the flavor!