Hello there!
The mad tea party is right around the corner, a perfect time to make tea treats.
I was thinking about making something pretty and easy, then it came to me.
Homemade sugar cubes!
Only, they ended up being more like little sculptures than cubes :-)
I used my exact technique for making panoramic sugar eggs here and here.
Remember those?
It worked great for sugar cubes.
I am smitten with this new fun and highly addictive craft of sorts.
Moons & hearts & sugar, oh my!
Bonus, it is sooooo easy.
All you need is sugar, water, food coloring, parchment paper and any objects you can find to press sugar into.
Plus, a little drying or low temp.oven time to set the sugar (more on that below).
So, just like the panoramic sugar eggs, you will use 2 teaspoons of water for every 1 cup of sugar.
I like to use 3 cups of sugar and 6 teaspoons of water, which is a decent size batch.
You mix it up really well using a wooden spoon, or your hands, until your sugar is the consistency of wet sand.
Funny enough, it's also just like working with wet sand at the beach.
If you'd like to add some color, a drop or two of standard food coloring does the job.
When I was making the sugar eggs I found that I could make really pretty stands and extras just by pressing the sugar into fancy mini bundt tins and such.
So, I sought out some mini cookie cutters and mini tart molds I had for this project.
Line your work surface and your cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Then plunge into fun!
I also used a teaspoon as a mold to make teaspoon sugar cubes as well.
I quickly amassed a fun smattering of sugar shapes.
Don't worry, some will crumble & it's okay, just keep going.
I also made some minty colored sugar mixture by adding two drops of green food coloring to the sugar and two drops of blue.
I just add food coloring right to the wet sand sugar mixture and mix it in by hand, easy.
I was having so much fun making different shapes, and then I had a shazam moment!
What about edible gold dust?!
Gold disco dust no less :-)
I mixed some into my mint colored sugar and it looked great.
Then I went hunting for these moon face molds I had bought years ago for use with polymer clay.
I had never used them and thought they would work perfectly.
And....
Guess what?
They sure did.
Then I used a round mini cookie cutter to make dots.
Moons and hearts and other shapes jumped into the mix and I had a ball.
I also just sprinkled some edible gold dust right on top of some of the shapes.
So here's the final step.
To set them you can let them air dry in a dry place for 24-48 hours...
Or, my fave trick is to pop them in the oven at about 120'F - 150'F for 12-15 minutes.
Just make sure they do not brown.
And voila, they get nice and firm like proper sugar cubes should be.
Set in their shapes until you wet them.
Of course, I had to dunk a moon face in some earl grey tea right away.
And then it happened.
Pure magic!
I could not have been happier, doesn't sparkly tea make you happy?
I sipped away, enjoying it to pieces.
I really don't think a cup of tea could get any more magical, do you?
So, I have to say, the experiment worked.
I'm tickled to pieces and had to come share this project right away.
Especially since it's a great edible craft to do for all sorts of occasions, especially tea parties.
Although, I think I will keep some around all the time.
It's just super fun in general and sure to add some smiles to any tea day.
I'm so in love with these.
And bonus...
Who wouldn't love...
Gold dust at the bottom of their tea cup?!
You can get your own edible disco dust at all sorts of places online.
I like to order some of my supplies from Kitchen Krafts, right here.
So, there we have it.
A really fun, easy & inexpensive project.
It really was just like playing with sand.
You will get the hang of it after a couple tries.
You can see above, that my cookie sheets were a hot mess.
It does crumble sometimes but is also really easy to work with if you are a little gentle.
I hope you give it a whirl.
I had a blast.
Mad Tea Party fun!!!!
Just another week or so and we'll be clinking tea cups!!
Can't wait!
Love, Vanessa
ps: If you really want to experiment with this, you can add all sorts of spices or extracts to your wet sand sugar mixture. Just a tiny drop or pinch of this or that. Things such as vanilla or lavender extract, or a pinch of cardamom or cinnamon. You can also use rose water as a substitution for regular water. I personally like standard water and sugar, but experimenting is good fun, just make sure you warn your guests about the flavors.
