Homemade Powdered Sugar for Half the Cost

As Thanksgiving and the holiday season rapidly approaches, keeping a well-stocked pantry is essential for any baker. My mom and I love baking festive cookies and pies every year, but the one thing we definitely don't love is the cost. Ingredients like flavored extracts, special spices, and nuts can really drive up costs, and so every dollar saved on the less glamorous ingredients helps a ton.

In this article, I'm going to show you how you can make your own powdered sugar at home using just a few common ingredients and kitchen tools. Powdered sugar is a staple of many recipes including pies, brownies, and frosting, and having to buy powdered sugar in large amounts can add up quickly. Luckily me and my mom have found a way to make it ourselves at home, and compared to the store-bought stuff, ours costs half the price! It's shockingly simple, and after learning the technique behind making it yourself at home, you won't ever want to buy it from the store again!

Making your own powdered sugar is easy! All you will need is:

1. Granulated Sugar - I use regular cane sugar, but any sugar used for baking works
2. Cornstarch - keeps the sugar from clumping
3. Set of Measuring Cups - 1 Cup and 1 Tbsp measurements
4. Blender or Food Processor

When making powdered sugar at home, the most important thing to keep in mind is the ratio of ingredients. You might need to adjust this ratio slightly depending on the brand of granulated sugar, but in general, 1 Cup Granulated Sugar + 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch = 2 Cups Powdered Sugar. Determine how many cups of powdered sugar you need for your recipe, and measure out the proportional amount of granulated sugar and cornstarch. You can also just make one big batch, and store it in an airtight container.

With both ingredients measured out, add them to your blender or food processor. As I've learned from experience, its worth taking a few seconds to make sure the lid is on tight.

Start blending the ingredients together on a low-speed setting, and gradually work your way up to the max-speed setting. Blend for 30-40 seconds on max-speed, or until it reaches that classic powdery-snow consistency of powdered sugar. Your final product will be about twice the volume of the initial ingredients, as the blender introduces air into the sugar as it breaks apart the individual granules.

That's it! Congrats, you just made your first batch of powdered sugar, at a fraction of the cost of the store-bought stuff. Use your homemade powdered sugar anywhere it is called for, and enjoy the fact that your baking endeavors were just a little less heavy on your wallet.