It’s Christmas Cookie Time! Hooray! Time to unpack my cookie cutters and whip up  a new batch of sanding sugars. Creating your own colorful sugars is easy to do, even better, homemade sugars cost a fraction of what you pay at the grocer or specialty store.

Ingredients & Supplies:

1/4 C of sugar

Food Coloring – Gel or Liquid

Jar or Plastic Bag

Toothpick if using gel

• Cornstarch (sometimes needed if using liquid food color)

Measure out your sugar into a jar or plastic bag. Add gel with a toothpick or drip 12 -24 drops of liquid food coloring into sugar. Start small, more color can  be added later. I found with the gel food coloring, mashing the colorant into the sugar through the baggie combined it quicker than shaking it in a jar. Liquid food coloring might work better with the shaking technique.

Let the  sugar dry for a few hours. I spread mine on a piece of parchment paper. The flexibility of the parchment made it very easy to lift and pour the sugar into a jar. You can also use a plate or bowl. A funnel is a good tool for pouring the sugar into the jar without mess. If you used liquid food coloring, you  might need a 1/4 tsp of cornstarch worked into the mix  for dryness. I didn’t need any cornstarch in my sugars.

I think the finished sugars have a brighter appearance than many of the decorative sugars available in the supermarket.