How to Make Powdered Sugar

Sweetening your dishes and drinks is made so much better with powdered sugar from your kitchen!

Powdered sugar, also known as confectioner’s sugar or icing sugar, is a popular condiment in cooking, especially baking. Instead of buying it, why not make it from scratch for a practical alternative?

Using powdered sugar for your recipes can make baking, decorating, frosting, and icing so much easier for you. It’s also effortless to work with this sugar, so you can always get the best results.

If you have a sweet tooth, then you need to try this hack. It’s so easy; just let your blender or food processor do all the work. You’ll certainly look forward to making dishes and drinks with it!

How to Make Powdered Sugar

Making powdered sugar – confectioner’s sugar or icing is so easy that you can make it with your eyes closed. In fact, all you need is granulated sugar. After trying it, you’ll never be able to stop making it. 

And it would surely be a staple ingredient in your kitchen!

Ingredient

You only need one thing to make powdered sugar:

Granulated sugar

What is there to know about the granulated sugar?

It is one of the most common sweeteners in cooking, baking, and even making drinks. In essence, granulated sugar is sucrose from the sugarcane or sugarbeets. The sugar is produced by extraction, purification, and crystallization.

Granulated sugar is known for its fine and uniform crystals. It usually comes in a white color but some variants may be a little golden. Compared to other sugars, it is highly sweet, making it best for drinks, baked goods, and desserts.

Whenever you use it to bake, not only does it sweeten the food, but it also improves the color and texture. It also tends to last long in storage, even after you transform it into powdered sugar.

I suggest using this because granulated sugar is always available in grocery stores. You might even have it in your kitchen right now. Even other sugar like brown sugar can also give you similar results.

Granulated sugar has larger granules and a coarser texture than other kinds of sugar. I have tried using it for French Toast, Soft Bread, and Nigerian Buns. It has given me great results.

However, you can always make it better, so let’s make it together!

Directions

Add this to the condiments you can make at home because you’ll surely do it more often.

1. Put the granulated sugar into a blender or food processor.
2. Blend until the texture is fine. 
3. Transfer the powdered sugar into a jar to store! 

How do you plan on using it? Don’t forget to share your favorite recipes in the comments section! 

Tips

No-Blender Powdered Sugar

Did you know you can still make powdered sugar without a blender or food processor? You can also use a miller, mortar and pestle, or spice grinder to process the sugar. Filter the powder with a sieve to get a finer texture. 

Powdered Sugar Variations

Are there ways to upgrade your powdered sugar? Yes, there are!

Aside from using pure sugar, you can also add cornstarch to prevent the sugar from clumping. Here are other types of sugar so you can compare them and use them as needed:

Confectioner’s sugar

The confectioner’s sugar is plain sugar with cornstarch. According to Martha Stewart, you need to add starch to prevent it from melting. You can best use it as a garnish for cakes and sweets.

Meanwhile, the powdered version can easily melt into whatever you’re cooking or preparing.

Icing sugar

Powdered sugar is a versatile kind of condiment. On the other hand, you can use icing sugar for frosting and filling. I suggest using icing sugar for cakes, donuts, and cupcakes. 

Brown sugar

Brown sugar consists of white sugar and molasses, giving it its color and texture. It usually hardens if you don’t use it for a long time. Kitchen Stories suggests using brown sugar to give your dishes a caramelized quality.

Conversely, it has a fine texture that does not easily clump over time. It is always white because of the sugar used. 

Recommended Tools

• Blender or food processor: Make the powdered sugar in a blender or food processor.
• Jar: Store the sugar in a jar.

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How to Use Powdered Sugar

Now that you know how to turn granulated sugar into powdered sugar, you need to know the best ways to use it in its new form. Make the most out of your powdered sugar by using it for the following purposes: 

• Simply add a sweet flavor to dishes or drinks with this sugar. 
• According to Southern Living, you can also use powdered sugar to soften meat. Use it as a dry rub or marinade. 
• Give your baked goods a golden brown and caramelized quality by using this sugar.
• Decorate your desserts using it for fondant, ganache, and more. 
• Add it to a sweet, smooth, thick juice or drink. 

Looking for dishes and drinks where you can use this? Here are the best ones I suggest:

• Plantain Bread – sweeten the starchy plantains with some sugar.
• Avocado Banana Milkshake – use powdered sugar to add more flavor to your milkshakes.
• Chocolate Almond Milk – it’s surely going to be a chocolatey sweet drink with sugar and almonds.
• Banana Bread – improve the flavor of bananas with sugar in the bread batter.
• Vanilla Cake – give your cakes an extra rich flavor.
• Strawberry Jam – make it a real jam recipe with strawberries and sugar.

Storage Tips

At room temperature: According to I Scream for Buttercream, you can store powdered sugar for up to a year.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is powdered sugar and regular sugar the same?

Powdered and regular sugar are not the same but are made of the same ingredient. You can make the powder from regular sugar. Moreover, regular sugar is ready to use. On the other hand, you must put in a blender or food processor to powderize.

How do I make powdered sugar?

It’s easy to make powdered sugar. Just blend the granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until it’s fine. Then, you can use it for your recipes or store it for future use.

What is powdered sugar called in the UK?

In the United Kingdom, powdered sugar is also called “icing sugar”. Hence, if you’re looking for sugar in the United Kingdom, remember to look for icing sugar.

What is in powdered sugar?

It is a one-ingredient recipe that uses granulated sugar. The original version comes in larger crystals and turning it into powdered sugar gives it a finer texture.

Why is it called 10x sugar?

10x sugar is a term that describes powdered sugar that has been ground. It indicates the size of the sugar crystals as it is milling during processing.