Bean There, Done That

• Real vanilla comes in the form of a long, thin pod usually described as a vanilla bean. It's actually the seedpod of a tropical orchid, harvested and fermented to bring out its complex natural flavors. Vanilla beans are flavorful but clumsy to work with, since the flavor must be first infused into your other ingredients. Extracts and vanilla sugar do that step for you. Real vanilla extract is made by infusing alcohol with vanilla beans, capturing the hundreds of flavor compounds in vanilla with varying degrees of success. Artificial vanilla flavoring synthesizes just the dominant flavor compound, called vanillin. Commercial vanilla sugar is made by infusing ordinary granulated sugar with the same artificial flavoring.

A Standard Sachet

• Both liquid vanilla extract and vanilla sugar serve the same purpose, which is to easily spread the vanilla flavor throughout your dough or batter. A standard-sized sachet of vanilla sugar weighs 8 to 9 grams -- they're mostly from European manufacturers, where metric measurements are used -- and is roughly 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons of sugar by volume. European recipes are typically scaled to use this quantity of vanilla sugar, calling for either a whole or half sachet, depending on the size of the batch.

Extracting the Equivalent

• Commercially prepared vanilla sugar is intensely infused with vanillin, and it doesn't take much to flavor a recipe. It's roughly equivalent to liquid vanilla extract in strength, so if a recipe calls for a full sachet, you should use up to 2 teaspoons of extract as a replacement. But not all vanilla extract is created equal. Low-quality artificial vanilla can be assertive and cloying, and you might find your baked goods improve when you use less than the amount called for. If you have good-quality natural vanilla extract, take advantage of its more complex flavor and aroma by using more.

Build Your Own

• Although the substitution from vanilla sugar to liquid extract is an easy one, you might consider making your own vanilla sugar as an alternative. Simply fill a small sealer jar with sugar, then split a vanilla bean or two and bury them in the sugar. After a week or two, the sugar will be richly aromatic and -- because it's real vanilla -- have a much better flavor than commercial vanilla sugar. Every time you take out a spoonful or two, add the same quantity of fresh sugar and shake the jar. Your vanilla will retain its potency for many months, perfuming a large quantity of sugar. If you use vanilla beans in your baking, this is a fine use for leftover pods once they're rinsed and dried.