Madagascar Vanilla Sugar

If you have ever followed a European cake recipe and stalled at a line calling for vanilla sugar, this is the pantry staple it wants. It is cane sugar slowly infused with real Madagascar vanilla beans until it carries their deep, floral aroma. Whisk it into cookie, cake, and pastry dough, dust it over French toast, pancakes, and fresh berries, sweeten and perfume whipped cream, or rim a coffee cup. Anywhere you want vanilla without adding liquid, this does the job.

Across Austrian and Dutch kitchens, a small packet of vanilla sugar goes into the dough of almost every pastry, an everyday habit most American bakers meet through extract instead. We make ours the traditional way, with whole Madagascar vanilla beans rather than synthetic vanillin, and blend it in small batches in Portland so the aroma stays true.

A blend of cane sugar and Madagascar vanilla beans. No fillers, no preservatives. Naturally gluten-free and vegan.

My recipe calls for both vanilla sugar and vanilla extract. Do I need both?
That is a real European convention, not a typo. The sugar folds vanilla and sweetness evenly through the dough while keeping the batter dry, and the extract adds a rounder, deeper vanilla hit on top. Use both when a recipe asks for both. The two do different jobs.

What if I only have plain sugar and extract?
Yes, in a pinch. A traditional packet of vanilla sugar is roughly 6 to 8 grams. Replace it with the same weight of plain sugar plus about a quarter to a half teaspoon of extract. You lose the fine, even distribution the infused sugar gives, but the flavor lands close.

What is a packet, and how do I measure this?
European recipes reference vanilla sugar in single-serving packets of about 6 to 8 grams, close to one and a half to two teaspoons. If a recipe lists packets, that is your conversion. Ours comes loose in a jar, so measure by the spoon or the gram.

Is this real vanilla or synthetic?
Real. It is made with whole Madagascar vanilla beans, not vanillin, the lab-made compound behind most cheap vanilla sugar. That is why it reads warm and floral rather than flat and one-note.

How do I use it beyond baking?
Dust it over oatmeal, yogurt, and cut fruit, stir it into coffee or a latte, or fold it into whipped cream and custards. It also sweetens the sugar rim on a dessert cocktail and finishes a bowl of berries with a soft vanilla note.