Healthy DIY Vanilla Sugar (it’s Sugar Free!)
Want to know a little baking secret? Well here it is: this DIY Vanilla Sugar! Don’t just add sweetness, add some flavor too.
Vanilla Sugar is every baker’s secret weapon, and for good reason.
Just like DIY Vanilla Paste, this DIY Vanilla Sugar is an ingredient that will set you apart from all the other bakers out there. This will make your cakes, cupcakes, cookies, and muffins that much better than the competition.
But this DIY Vanilla Sugar has a secret… it’s healthy. It has just a fraction of the calories and carbs as regular sugar, and it tastes better too. Add this to your coffee, sprinkle some in your tea, or use it as a 1:1 replacement for sugar in baking!
Who doesn’t want a more flavorful baked good??
Healthy DIY Vanilla Sugar
Ingredients
- 4 cups Granulated Erythritol
- 4 Vanilla Beans
Instructions
- Put the erythritol in a large, airtight container.
- Slice the vanilla beans in half, lengthwise. Scrape the beans out with the dull edge of the knife and add to the container with the erythritol. Place the vanilla bean pods in the jar as well.
- Seal the container and shake, shake, shake! Let sit for 1 week.
- Remove the vanilla bean pods and give the sugar another shake. It's now ready to use!
Ummmm yes, puh-lease. An entire CUP of this Healthy DIY Vanilla Sugar has just 48 calories, while 1 cup of typical sugar has 768 calories. Can you believe that difference?!
Can you believe how many calories you would save if you used this in place of regular white sugar? Not to mention, you will save yourself from a pretty dreadful sugar-rush and sugar-crash.
So, make this Healthy DIY Vanilla Sugar ASAP! It’s incredibly delicious, shelf-stable, and will make everything you bake worth it’s weight in gold. Seriously.
Enjoy!
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With love and good eats,
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– Jess
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Indulge − no strings attached!
I know sweeteners like aspartame have a lot of bad effects, but do you know if there are any known problems with erythritol or sucanut? I tend to cluster all sugar substitutes together, and I figured you must have a good reason for using these, but I’d love to hear your opinion! Thanks!
I have done quite a bit of research on erythritol and I have not found one conclusive study proving that it has any negative side effects. I experience problems when I consume aspartame, Splenda and other artificial sweeteners, but erythritol is natural and I feel perfectly fine when I have it. Erythritol has far less calories than xylitol, too, so it’s good for making lower calorie desserts 🙂
And sucanat is just unprocessed sugar, so it contains the natural molasses, vitamins and minerals of the sugar cane. Hope I answered your question!
I am diabetic so always like to be known about sweetener or sugar contain in recipe. It is important to me. It sounds good with healthy ingredients for sweet lovers who have a glucose problem.
I’ll have to try this, if only so I can give me (slightly one-dimensional) brownie recipe a nice vanilla-y undertone!
So pretty Jessica. Never saw sugar looking that good and healthy! And your new layout is just beautiful 🙂
What a brilliant idea to add real vanilla beans to a natural sweetener! I still have yet to try erythritol… is it similar to xylitol? How does it compare with sugar in baked goods? PS- I am in love with those tea cups!!
Erythritol is very similar to xylitol, just with much less calories. It depends what baked good it’s used in, for cakes and cupcakes I feel like it works like a perfect sugar replacement, but in brownies and some difficult baked goods (like meringues, marshmallows, etc), it does not work as the only sugar replacement, it works best when paired with something else (like sucanat, coconut sugar, etc)
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Is there anyway I could make this with vanilla powder (I think it’s just ground up vanilla) instead of vanilla beans, I can’t find them. If so, what would be the measurements and would I still use the same instructions or not? Thanks 🙂
Jessica-
I’m sure vanilla powder will work! Good idea!
I would use 4 cups Granulated Erythritol + 4 tsp Vanilla Powder. No need to process the vanilla beans in a food processor, just shake the two ingredients together in a large jar that is tightly sealed. You probably don’t need to wait a week either, you can use it right away 🙂
-Jess
Yes, I use vanilla powder with sugar also
I couldn’t find any erythritol nearby, can I just substitute it with stevia powder?
Stevia powder is too concentrated and will result in a super sweet vanilla sugar. Erythritol is at a 1:1 ratio with sugar. You can try using Stevia in the Raw, but the texture will be off and might affect baked goods.
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What if you didn’t plan for the beans to soak the week, is there a way to speed up the process? I need to make your Healthy Angel Food Cake tomorrow for a birthday party! Will 24 hours soak do the trick just less vanillaie?
Apologies for the delayed response! But, if you’d like to make vanilla sugar without the wait, simply blend one DRY vanilla bean with some erythritol in a high-speed blender (I like using my NutriBullet for smaller tasks like this). Then, you can mix this brownish powdered “sugar” in with some regular granulated erythritol for super-fast vanilla sugar! 🙂
Will other herbs/plants infuse erythritol? I want to do violets but don’t want the sugar hit.
I’ve only tried vanilla sugar. I’m sure lavender works, but I haven’t experimented with other foods.
Can you use the bean pulp from making vanilla bean paste in this if you let the pulp dry out?
I’m pretty sure that would work! Great idea! Just make sure to sift out any chunks or pulp strands before using it to make recipes, so you don’t get pulp in your cake or cookies 🙂
Hi
how long does this keep? stored in a cupboard?
thanks