$0.24 per cup 27% savings save $3.63 yearly
A while back, I was baking a chocolate cake with the sole purpose of trying out a cooked chocolate frosting recipe a friend had given me.
Well.
I don't know WHAT was going on in my head, but I set the baked cake on the counter to cool, and went to the lazy susan to pull out my bag of confectioner's sugar, only to discover that somehow, I was down to like 1/2 cup.
Color me stumped.
I had never not had confectioner's sugar on hand before. I live about 10 minutes from the grocery store, and my little ones were down for naps. I sat there stewing for a minute, then consulted good old
Google. After a little looking, I discovered that I had everything I needed to make my own confectioner's sugar in a pinch.
YES!!! Fist-bump to the sky!
Later that day, my family enjoyed chocolate cake covered in a divine chocolate frosting.
Wanna know how it was done? It was so easy, it makes me laugh.
I used my cheap-o blender.
I used regular white sugar.
I used a little bit of cornstarch.
Blended it all together to create a fine powder and, voila! Perfect confectioner's sugar!
This is not a recipe that's going to save anyone much money. In fact, I still buy it from the store rather than make my own... but if you're in a pinch (like I was) this was a LIFE SAVER! (Because obviously, I would have ceased to exist if I was unable to make that chocolate frosting).
You know what I mean.
There's the sugar and cornstarch, flying around in my little blender. Great work little blender that could. The article I read mentioned you could also use a coffee grinder or spice grinder if you were worried about etching up a plastic blender. I have neither of those things, and my blender is made of glass.
*Yields approx. 4 1/4 cups
INGREDIENTS
4 cups white sugar
4 Tbsp cornstarch
DIRECTIONS
Place ingredients in a blender. Blend on high till fine and powdery (about 5 minutes). Use or store in airtight container.
~ Savings ~
Cost Breakdown:
25 lb. sugar - $13.98 = 945 T = $0.015/T = $0.96
35 oz. cornstarch - $2.48 = 124 T = $0.020/T = $0.08
Total Recipe Cost: $1.04
Cost Per Cup: $0.24
The Contender:
Domino Pure Cane Confectioner's Sugar (2 lb): $2.49
Cost Per Cup: $0.33
Savings:
27%
"Over a Year" Scenario:
Make Homemade Confectioner's Sugar 10 times = $10.40
Use equivalent Domino Pure Cane Confectioner's Sugar = $14.03
*Money Saved = $3.63
This fascinates me! So you are saying that the homemade stuff had the same texture as bought confectioner's sugar? Somehow it just seems like it would be more gritty.
ReplyDeleteAt any rate, it is good to know about since I'm like you and on the rare occasion notice that I am out just when I'm ready to ice a cake.
Pretty much the same consistency. Any difference is hardly noticeable. :) Kinda cool, huh?
DeleteIf only it worked the other way too lol I found myself with no granulated sugar, but an excess of confectioners sugar when trying to make cornbread the other day :-)
ReplyDeleteI tried a similar recipe a few weeks ago when I found myself without confectioners sugar and needing to make frosting. It was really granular...and the frosting was too! I used a food processor. I'm wondering if it would work better in a blender or if my ratio of cornstarch to granulated sugar was off. I may try it one more time just to test it out. thanks for posting!
ReplyDeleteps Congrats on your pregnancy!
I "accidentally" made powdered sugar just the other day. I needed orange sugar and instead of putting sugar in a baggie adding a few drops of orange food color (well red & yellow) I had the bright idea of just throwing it in my blender and letting it go at it. Well, it was orange, but it was powdered sugar. Everyone had a good laugh and I had to get out my baggie and start all over. Still trying to decide what to do with orange powdered sugar though... ha ha ha
ReplyDeleteStill trying to decide what to do with orange powdered sugar?? Use it for frosting on carrot cake.
ReplyDeleteMac