There is nothing more simple than making flavored sugar and it adds a wonderful dimension to baked goods or sprinkled over just the right thing.

My pantry has vanilla sugar in a big bin, which ends up being the sugar I use for almost all my sweet baking.  Any time I use vanilla seeds for a recipe (which is not that often but that’s okay) I put the pod in my sugar bin.  As the sugar runs out I just refill it with plain sugar and give it a little shake.

You can flavour your sugars with just about anything.  I’ve put lime zest (which I kept in the fridge because I was worried about the moisture in the sugar but I think it would have kept quite well in the pantry too.

Flavored Sugars in my pantry:  cardamom sugar, vanilla sugar, star anise and vanilla sugar.