A quick note to suggest that you all toast your sugar. I learned of the technique from Stella Parks (one of the greats!) over on Serious Eats. She uses granulated sugar in place of beans or pie weights when she is blind baking pie shells. The sugar eventually takes on color and a caramelized flavor. But you don’t need to wait for the next time you’re making pie, toasted sugar can be made anytime. Instructions here. I like the results after about 3 hours. And this stuff is great in a lot of places. Pavlovas! Ice cream! Scones! Cookies!
Speaking of Stella, she recently brought another pastry secret into my life. Her fruity whipped cream technique has you whip heavy cream with some sugar and some freeze-dried fruit in a food processor. The resulting thick and delicious cream (kind of like clotted cream) is super stable and can keep in the fridge for days. It is genius. I especially like raspberry. She explains the whole process here. Sweet!
Perrin Harkins says:
April 19th, 2017 at 6:16 pm
I tried this, and while it did have a subtle caramel flavor when tasted straight, it didn’t seem to make any difference when I used it in cookies, or to sweeten my coffee. Did you find something where you can taste the difference?
Louise says:
April 20th, 2017 at 9:27 am
I toasted a bag of sugar and also need some recipe suggestions where it makes a difference. Toasting sugar seemed to make sense, but right now it’s just taking up space in the pantry. Any ideas would be appreciated. I miss you. : )
Tim says:
April 20th, 2017 at 2:15 pm
Hi Perrin and Louise! So, I have used it in meringues, cake frosting, and as a sugar topping for scones. I thought I could taste it in all of those applications? Maybe I don’t know or it was psychosomatic. And maybe it depends on how long you cook for…?
Louise says:
April 21st, 2017 at 2:33 pm
I’ll have to try it as sugar topping for a certain cookie. I’ve been trying to duplicate a cookie and it’s missing something. This might be just what it needs. … I made one of Stella’s whipped creams using the remains of sour cherry pits and it was excellent. http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/06/cherry-pit-whipped-cream-recipe.html