Holiday Gift Idea Alert: Orange & Cinnamon Scented Sugar

As little as two ingredients. SO EASY

I am super exciting to be writing this post because I got a great lightbulb moment from the foodie talk show The Chew. Let's start with the simple,easy(and might I mention cheap)holiday gift idea for friends and family. Today the show  featured easy and inexpensive holiday gifts. One great idea they presented was FLAVORED SUGARS!  I know. How have I not done this before?



They had a few kinds you can make. All you need is a cup of sugar for one small  sealed jar. If you are making multiple jars just keep adding cups of sugar and ingredients. The main source of the sugar's flavoring is essential oils from the ingredients you put in with the sugar. On the show they did lemon flavored sugar,cinnamon flavored sugar and vanilla flavored sugar. If you decide to use citrus-use the zest not the juice. The easiest way to do this is with a zester. Make sure when you are zesting to not zest the white part of the rind. It is bitter. If citrus is not your thing you can even use a vanilla bean.

Bury them in the sugar and store in an airtight container

So we are clear :for one serving/jar you will need one cup of sugar and the zest of one lemon, lime, orange, grapefruit (maybe 2 limes if they are small)etc. Use whatever sounds good to you. After you add the ingredients mix together and store in an airtight container for 2 weeks so the flavors can meld. Make sure the container is airtight. You can give these as holiday gifts and put in mason jars with a tag! I used 2 cinnamon sticks (I wouldn't use powdered cinnamon) and orange zest. I cannot wait to use it! In case you were thinking - what will I do with these yummy scented sugars. If you are feeling adventerous you can add a dried chilli to the sugar for a spicy & sweet treat. You could use it to rim margaritas and mexican hot chocolate! Well rest easy-I thought of some other awesome ideas:

• Sprinkle on top of creme brulee before you torch 
• Rim martini glasses for a lemon drop martini etc 
• Add to buttered toast 
• Use in cookie or cake batter(like lime sugar to use in key lime cake Mmmmmm) 
• Put in your coffee or tea Sprinkle on top of ice cream 
• Sprinkle on the nutella stuffed french toast I made a few posts ago Any other great uses?? 

Comment and let me know! This took no more than two minutes to put together and if you buy a large bag of sugar and a package of mason jars this could be a inexpensive and thoughtful holiday gifts for your friends,family,coworkers,teachers he'll even the mailman! In two weeks I will put mine in a mason jar so you can see what it looks like! Just remember if you do want to do these for Christmas presents do them two weeks before Christmas!!