Vaniljsocker

Vaniljsocker is Swedish vanilla sugar. It is a very fine powder of sugar mixed with vanilla flavor, sold in small tubs in the baking aisle. Most of it is flavored with vanillin, the main flavor compound of vanilla, which is often made synthetically. Versions labeled äkta ("real") contain real vanilla seeds or powder. It tastes sweet and strongly of vanilla. Swedish recipes use it in place of vanilla extract, which is less common in Sweden.

How to use it

Swedish recipes measure vaniljsocker in teaspoons (tsk), usually 1 to 2 tsk for a cake or a batch of cookies.

• Mix it with the flour or other dry ingredients in cakes, cookies and buns for fika.
• Stir it into cream before you whip it, for desserts and cakes.
• Add it to custards, vanilla sauce and porridge.

It dissolves easily, so it does not need to be creamed with butter.

Substitutes

Outside Sweden, use vanilla extract:

• For each 1 tsk of vaniljsocker, use about ½ teaspoon of pure vanilla extract. Add it with the wet ingredients.
• The sugar in vaniljsocker is so little that you do not need to add extra sugar.
• Vanilla bean paste works the same as extract, in the same amount.

To make your own vanilla sugar, scrape the seeds of one vanilla bean into 100 g (about ¾ cup) of powdered sugar (icing sugar in the UK) and mix well. Keep the empty pod in the jar for more flavor.

How to store it

Keep it tightly closed in a dry cupboard. It keeps for a long time but slowly loses its scent.

Common mistakes

• Using it one for one with extract by volume. Extract is liquid and stronger. Use about half as much.
• Using it in place of a vanilla bean in a custard where vanilla is the star. It works, but the taste is flatter and you will not get the black specks.