This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure.
I love making beautiful treats for birthdays, holidays…basically any and every occasion I can think of.
What I hate is how expensive a little jar of sprinkles or colored sugar is. Some of the packages are so small and upwards of $5…I’d have to buy several bottles just to use on one batch of cupcakes or cookies. That’s just not acceptable!
So, I started making my own a few years ago. What’s cool about making your own:
- it’s a lot cheaper
- use the type of sugar you want
- make colors to match the project exactly
- it’s easy
- the kids will love to help
What do I use my colored sugar for:
- cookies
- cupcakes
- cakes
- rim a smoothie glass
- rim a cocktail or margarita glass (oh yeah!)
- other desserts
This really isn’t a recipe, more of a technique that anyone can do…..and it’s so cheap that you will be using your colored sugar everywhere and not being stingy with it, like I was.
I have done this with regular granulated sugar and it works great, but for an upcoming project I wanted a course sugar. Here’s what I did and I included links to the exact items I used.
Colored Sugar
4 oz sugar crystals
3 drops food dye
ziptop baggie
Mix sugar and dye gently in a ziptop baggie.
Use a heavy duty freezer bag or double bag…those pesky sugar crystals will break a thin bag.
Store in bag until ready to use. If sugar sticks just gently break apart…it should break up easily.
Note: If you use gel colors instead of liquid colors (I’ve used them with great success), mix the a drop or two of gel with a drop of water on a spoon
and then add it to the bag of sugar crystals.
Wendy, what do I use for the gold color?
Hi Gina! You’d need to find gold food dye. I found a couple options here. w-
If you put the sugar and dye in a clear jar with a lid, shaking the sugar mixes much better too. No tears in the plastic to loose sugar.
Great idea Melody!
Oh I will NEVER buy colored sugar again!!!! This has turned out to be a great useful science experiment for my kidos. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!
It’s so easy, isn’t it?!?! You are so very welcome Vianey!
Thank You Wendy….I can’t wait to try this, and since I am a Purple Fanatic…this will be kewl…
oh..purple will be awesome!
Thanks so much, I had no idea it was so easy! This is a great money saver!
this looks cool gonna have to try it 😉 thanks for the info!
thanks for sharing
What an awesome idea!! I shall definitely use this next time I have a party commission!! 🙂
This is fantastic. My kids will love this!
I did this for the first time a few years ago when I wanted to make a King Cake for Mardi Gras. I knew I had green sprinkles in with the Christmas decorations, but purple and gold? Not so much. I was afraid the food coloring would just dissolve the sugar, but it worked great. After that, I found a local Amish store that has about a bazillion colors of sugar for sale. I just smirked and walked past knowing how cheaply/easily I can do it myself now! Great idea to post this. 🙂
That is exactly what I want to do too. A “King’s Cake” for Easter. Not sure if that’s proper. But I have the tiny child figure to put into it (carefully). And now I know I can make the purple sugar and not worry about ordering some online.
Wendy, what dye are you using that does not have the chemicals? Are the Americolor Food colorings, like in your picture, chemical-free? I would love to be able to find a good brand without chemical dyes. Thanks!
The ones I used for this project are Americolor. But I normally use India Tree if it’s just for my family. But mostly, we just do without any dyes. I’ve also used beet powder for red, but I haven’t had good luck with using it to color frosting.
So cool Wendy! I can’t wait to try this!
I’ve done this before, and it was inspired by the desire to not be ripped off, for me, as well. Of course, there are the other advantages you mentioned, along with the fact that it also frees you to use the KIND of dye you want. There are natural food coloring sets available out there for people who can’t have all those chemical dyes. You can even do things like use fruit juice to both dye and flavor the sugar to coordinate with what you’re decorating.
Great ideas!
I figured adding in liquid food coloring would dissolve the crystals but I love the way they turned out! Will definitely give this a try! Thanks 🙂
Rhiannon, we are a dye-free house! My daughter can’t have them at all. I just get really excited sometimes when I get to make a pretty dessert for a project so I share them here. I agree….can’t stand all chemicals in the dyes. After being dye free for over 3 years, we can totally taste the dye and it is HORRIBLE!