DIY Flavored Sanding Sugar

Sprinkles make everything a little bit more special. I know that you can make your own jimmies, quins (sugar shapes) and other sprinkles with royal icing, but I prefer to buy those. I can't justify the time and effort it takes to make them compared to how cheap they are to buy. On the other hand, I almost always make my own sanding sugars. It's quick and easy and it's way cheaper to make a rainbow of colors than to buy them. Plus, you can make shades they don't sell in store. 

I've been making my own sanding sugars forever, but only recently started flavoring them. With my latest obsession, I have tons of options and am eager to try them all! Check out my newest creations:

 

There are SO many things you can do with flavored sanding sugars, which I'll be sharing as I use them. Today I want to show you how to make them. I used regular granulated sugar for these because I like the fine consistency. If you prefer a courser sugar, use it! Affiliate link here and below. 

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Flavored Sanding Sugars

Materials:

• small ziplock bags
• granulated sugar 
• Wilton Gel Food Color (NOT liquid food color)
• toothpicks
• LorAnn flavorings
• plastic pipettes

Pour some sugar into the ziplock bag. I do about 1/4 cup at a time, but you can make whatever amount you want. Just make sure the bag is less than half full. Dip a clean toothpick into the gel food color, then wipe it off on the inside of the bag. Repeat until you have a decent smear of color on the bag. 

Zip the bag shut, removing all the air. Gently massage the sugar into the color. Flip the bag over occasionally and continue to massage the color and the sugar together. When you get to the desired shade, stop. If you've used all the color and you haven't reached the shade you want, just put more gel on the inside of the bag.

When you have the shade you want, use the pipette to drip 6-8 drops of flavor onto the sugar. Close the bag, then massage the scent all around. 

Then, just repeat the process to make whatever flavors and colors you want! You can reuse the same pipette many times - just use it to suck up some clean water from a cup, squirt it out, and repeat. I have dedicated pipettes for mint and cinnamon since they don't play nicely with the other flavors, but otherwise I just rinse and reuse. 

I love how my flavors look together! 

I think I need to make a sky blue next... maybe Tropical Punch flavored? I have a true red that's not in the this photo. Tomorrow I'll show how I used it for an edible Valentine's Day craft.