Elegant Sugar Cubes For Tea Time Recipes

Steps:

• Mix the confectioners sugar and water.
• Add 1 or 2 drops of food coloring to tint the frosting the color you desire. You can use red for roses, blue for forget-me-nots, green for leaves - or whatever colors or designs you want!).
• Scoop some of the icing into a decorating bag, fitted with the tip of your choice.
• Make tiny flowers and leaves on your sugar cubes, or create your own designs.

Steps:

• In a glass measuring cup, place the sugar and a half teaspoon of water (don't use more water or you will dissolve the sugar). You can add drop or two of any shade food coloring you wish. Stir together until thoroughly combined. The sugar should feel and look like wet sand.
• Press your sugar into little silicon ice cube molds. Be sure to press really firmly so your sugar will hold tight together. Once you've pressed the sugar firmly down into the mold, turn the mold over and the hearts will fall right out onto a plate. They turn out of the molds very easily. If one breaks when you turn it out, just press it back into the mold and then turn it back out again.
• I placed the plate directly into the freezer, uncovered. I left it there for 2-3 hours and the cubes hardened up nicely. Once they hardened up and were no longer so fragile, I tucked them into a baggies and returned them to the refrigerator. You can store them in either the refrigerator or the freezer. They hold together well once they harden up in the freezer.
• Right after you take them out of the freezer, that's a good time to clean up the edges of the heart. The little sugar crumbs around the edges break off and will leave a nicer looking edge.
• Notes: I always buy these molds at Dollar Tree or Michael's. They usually have them in fun shapes depending on the season and time of year. 1/4 cup of sugar makes about 8 sugar hearts. If you wish to make more, just double or triple the recipe.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
• Cut the 4 vanilla beans into 1/2-inch pieces and grind to a coarse powder in a coffee grinder.
• In a large bowl, mix the sugar, vanilla bean powder and extract until thoroughly combined (when the extract is completely incorporated the mixture will look a bit like dough). Pour the sugar mixture into an 8 by 8-inch pan and spread out evenly to a 1/2-inch thickness. Next, use a knife to score out 1/2-inch by 1/2-inch cubes by running the knife the length of the pan every 1/2-inch and the width of the pan every 1/2-inch. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Remove the pan from oven and let cool. Once cooled, carefully flip the pan over onto a large cookie sheet to remove the sugar. Allow to cool completely, and then gently break into cubes along the scored lines.
• To "round" the edges of the cubes gently pour them into a big pot with a cover and lightly shake. Check and repeat if necessary. Pour the cubes from the pot into a small holed colander or sifter and sift off any sugar particles that can be reserved as granulated vanilla bean sugar!
• You could have fun and experiment with these using orange zest and extract, mint, maybe cinnamon extract for teas -- what endless possibilities!
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Arrange cubes in a single layer in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Push cubes to one side; pack into pan with rolled-up foil to stabilize cubes for decorating., In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar, water, meringue powder and cream of tartar; beat on low speed just until combined. Beat on high for 4-5 minutes or until stiff peaks form. Keep unused icing covered at all times with a damp cloth., For decorating, remove 2/3 cup icing to a small bowl; add 2 teaspoons water. Add a very small amount of yellow food coloring to tint icing pale ivory so it will show on white cubes. (Leave icing white if using brown cubes.) , Cut a very small hole in the corner of a resealable plastic bag or insert tip #2 into a pastry bag. Fill bag with icing; pipe each sugar cube with a candy cane shape., Let dry at room temperature for at least 2 hours or overnight before painting stripes on canes. (For faster drying, heat oven to 150°, turn oven off and place tray of cubes in oven for 1 hour.), For stripes, add 1/8 teaspoon water to 1 teaspoon icing. Add enough red food coloring to make a dark red. With paintbrush, add stripes to canes. Let stand until dry.