Sprinkles

No offense to the big sprinkle corporations, but I am done buying sprinkles!

Sometime last year I was lightly social media stalking the person I want to be when I grow up, Joanne Chang of Flour Bakery in Boston. She posted her home made sprinkles for her baked goods. So, because she makes her own sprinkles, I have to make my own sprinkles. I did some research, but never really experimented until just the other day. Now, I am totally hooked and made two kinds of sprinkles in three days. The recipe yields about 1 1/2 quarts of sprinkles. So, many sprinkles.

A friend lit the fire under my butt to start sprinkle production. He asked me to make him a cake for his friend. I asked him how he wanted the cake to look and he didnt care. For starters, every birthday cake should have sprinkles and since I was given creative freedom what better way to make this cake special than with home made sprinkles! Sprinkle production was under way.

I tried two different recipes. A vegan version using corn starch, corn syrup, confectioners sugar, vanilla and water from sugarspunrun.com. I found I had to add more water and corn syrup to make the batter more pipable and it was a small yield. I was able to get one color made with one batch of the recipe.

Back to the drawing board. Then I found a quasi royal icing recipe and decided to give it a try. BRILLIANT, thelittlemeraldthumb.com! I did use egg whites from a refrigerated box, instead of separating eggs, but this recipe was spot on perfect. Super easy. The hardest part is the time it takes to pipe out the batter. However, I have added tips for making the process easier below. You could also work with meringue powder if you are concernd about the egg whites.

For this post, I went with a halloween theme.

SPRINKLES or JIMMIES:

3/4 cup of egg whites

1 1/2 pounds of confectioners sugar (about 3 cups)

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Food Coloring

I use egg whites from the box for this recipe. One, I trust the whites to be pasteurized and two, I won’t have a bunch of egg yolks I would have to get rid of in a delicious pastry cream that would work wonderfully in a batch of eclairs. Drool

Add the egg whites, powdered sugar and vanilla into a stand mixer. You can use a large bowl and a hand mixer too.

Turn the mixer on low for about 1 minute, then increase speed to high. Beat the mixture for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy.

Split the batter amongst several small bowls and add food coloring. I choose the Halloween colors for this batch. Black food coloring sometimes takes a little while to look black. It sort of has a grayish tone, but will deepen in color as the batter sets.

Fill piping bags with each color and cut the tip of the bag off. Start with a small hole and test it. Adjust the size as needed. If you are using a reusable piping bag, make sure you cover the other colors with plastic wrap to keep the batter from drying out.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. This batter will yield a TON of sprinkles. You could even cover a table with parchment paper. Start piping long strands and some dots until all the batter is gone!

PREPARATION TIP: They make piping tips with several openings to make the process go A LOT faster. The one I had was chewed up in the garbage disposal. It happens more than I would like to admit. They make parchment paper piping bags for a more environmentally friendly option.

Once all the batter has been piped, do your best to restrain yourself from touching the sprinkles for at least 6-12 hours. Dry time will depend on how humid it is inside the house. Best to wait as long as possible. Trust me, it is hard to keep from playing.

After you have impatiently waited the allotted time for the sprinkles to dry, pull out a bench scraper or a spatula and start scraping them off the paper. This is the most satisfying part and will make you forget the hour it took you to pipe them. These sprinkles will hold indefinitely in an air tight container.