Chris Medina

I am searching for a good recipe for crumb topping for my apple pies. I tend to prefer a more crunchy crumb topping vs a smoother topping. Is the type of sugar used part of the issue?

Janiece Lien

Do you sell sanding & sparkling sugar at your store? Can it be ordered on line from Bob’s Mill?

Whitney BarnesJaniece Lien

Hi Janiece, those items are not available for purchase online. For answers to real-time inventory questions at the Whole Grain Store in Milwaukie, OR give them at call at (503) 607-6455.

Anonymous

Turbinado is tropical smoothie cafe smoothie sweetener; you have to tell them no sugar or ask for other sugar substitutes; sanding sugar is white for some bake goods why do you combine dry out syrup and food coloring in a bag; people are icing the cookies using a tube or laying cookies flat and dipping into the glazes.

Janice Simmonds

I no longer use granulated refined sugar. I have switched to erythritol which exchanges 1:1 and I use it for anything that requires a sugar addition.

Morro Schreiber

Thanks for the great article, and I love Bob's products.
It looks like you're saying that sanding sugar is made from evaporated sugar syrup; would this be possible to do at home with a concentrated simple syrup made from regular cane sugar/granulated sugar? Like in the old days when we'd make "rock candy" on a string or a stick?
(The rock candy never came out quite as pretty as the store bought kind, with its big shiny crystals, so maybe there's a trick to getting those nice big reflective crystals?)
Or does sanding sugar have to be made from the actual cane juice or something? Thanks for your time; I live right next to the middle of nowhere, so I either have to mail order, make myself, or do without. :-)

Whitney BarnesMorro Schreiber

Hi Morro, I think your suggested method would work! You would then need to crush the sugar into smaller pieces then sift to separate the larger crystals from the fine powder.

Dee Day

Since I am diabetic, I no longer bake with fine and/or course sugars. My favorite sweetener is stevia. Could I use stevia as a replacement for decorating sugar? I could try experimenting with coloring stevia with liquid food coloring + cornstarch and see where this leads me. In the past, I ofen coloured regular sugar with food coloring, if I ran out of decorating sugar, and this substitution worked well on gingerbread cookies, in a pinch (for color more than sparkle.) Thank you for your insightful articles. ~ Dee

Whitney BarnesDee Day

Hi Dee, that's not something we've tested. If there is a granular version of Stevia that might work for decorating and dying with food dye.

Pat

This question may seem a little random but hopefully you can help. I accidentally bought too much clear Sparkling sugar. It’s a national brand that is quite course compared to their Sanding sugar. If I were to put this Sparkling sugar into a blender would I be able to grind it down to Sanding sugar consistency or will it become too fine by the time it’s completely blended? Will it lose its sparkle? I will be using the Sanding sugar as accent on cookies decorated with royal icing. Thank you!

Whitney BarnesPat

Hi Pat - Sparkling Sugar is typically just larger granules of cane sugar. You could try pulsing in a food processor carefully to achieve the consistency you're looking for :)

Joline Clark

Hello,
After reading about the different types of sugar, I have a question for you I hope you can answer. I have and old cookies recipe made with graham crackers, butter, sugar and pecans. You melt the butter and add the sugar and boil for several minutes. The recipe was great years ago, but now when I make it the cookies are soggy. The sugar butter glaze does not get transparent. I have tried beet sugar, and cane sugar . Was wondering if one of the above sugars would be better. They are my 94 year old Mother in law’s favorite treat. Thanks

Whitney BarnesJoline Clark

Hi Joline! Hm, that's a bit difficult to say. I actually don't think the type of sugar is the issue. My two thoughts are it's either the moisture content of your butter and/or climate or that the butter/sugar (essentially a caramel) is not reaching the right temperature. If the butter/sugar glaze is making your cookies soggy then the glaze has likely not been cooked long enough or reached a high enough temperature. Refer to this chart if you don't have a candy thermometer, it gives a visual guide to sugar temperatures. Good luck!

Jackie Trace

I have a question: "Can your turbinado sugar be used in baking? I take it that it is only used as decorating or topping cereals, etc. I can't substitute it for regular white sugar that is used in a baking recipe for cookies. Please confirm.

Whitney BarnesJackie Trace

Hi Jackie! You can use turbinado sugar just as you would white sugar in a recipe. It's still sugar made from sugar cane, it's just less processed than white sugar and has larger granules. Depending on what you're making it may take a bit longer to dissolve and will give your baked goods a slight caramel taste.