Yep, this definitely works. Blitzing for about 30 seconds give you caster sugar, blitzing for a bit longer gives you icing sugar. I use a blender rather than a food processor, but I expect you'd get the same results with the spinny blade thingie.

kodokan

You can find the sticky brown sugar in Aligro.

I tried to make choc. chip cookies the other day (I was using mini MnM's instead of chips, I brought them back from NEX in Italy) And they turned out HORRIBLE! I think b/c I used raw sugar and the Leger brand light butter Oh well...live and learn, eh?

Great tip, I'll have to try it!

It must be the butter. The Rohzucker works quite well.

Get some electronic ones with a metric/imperial switch. You can definitely get them here in Switzerland.

I would agree, I use Rohzucker instead of brown sugar quite a lot, for things like Sticky Toffee Pudding I find it works better.

[quote=Tonyasam;605486]JanerMacP > Where do you order brown sugar from? I use Coop's Jacutinga Bio Vollrohrzucker with good results in cookies, but would love some nice sticky demmarera (sp?) Was going to bring some over, but my suitcase was full of Alberta beef ;-)
[quote]

I order my sugar from www.americanmarket.ch. The sugar they have is Domino (I'm not familiar with the brand from Canada) and you can order it in dark and light brown, it's exactly like we have back home.

I've used the light yellow vanilla extract (?) capsules here, and they were OK. I've also seen actual dried out vanilla pods at Coop and Globus; does anyone know if and how these can be used in place of extract?

As for chocolate chips, I've also seen a non-"Fine Foods" version Coop in an orange bag in the baking aisle. I guess they are actually little chocolate cubes, but they still tasted good!

When you make custard (creme anglais) , scrap the seeds of a pod into the milk and chuck the pod in as well. After scalding the milk, leave the pods to enfuse for half an hour before removing (I leave the seeds in) and then proceed.

To flavour sugar, just leave pods in a jar of sugar for a month or so and then use the sugar in place of normal sugar in your recipe.

WOW! I love all the tips I got from reading through the feedback. I couldn't imagine that I would get all of these solutions. I'm definitely going to try the sugar & molasses combo for brown sugar, the homemade vanilla and perhaps even the chocolate chips.

I haven't been this excited to get baking in a while!

Anyone looking for brown sugar? Try this recipe -- super easy!

http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2010...e-brown-sugar/

FYI: For "dark brown sugar", increase her recipe to 2 tbsp of molasses.

I bought a non digital scale here that has grams/ kilos as well as ounces/pounds. Brand is called Typhoon and looks like this:

I CAN'T EVEN FIND ANY OF THAT YELLOW LIQUID TO SUBSTITUTE FOR VANILLA ! ! ! No one in the stores can tell me where to go get any vanilla extract. Are there any specialty stores in the Zurich/WInterthur area that sell vanilla extract?

THANK YOU ! !

BETSY GOOD, Winterthur

Could you not use real vanilla - just scrape out the seeds from the pod. They come in glass tubes (of 3) in the baking section of local supermarkets.

I have a vanilla aroma paste in the range, however currently out of stock. Next delivery in 10 - 15 days.

There are tons of options for putting vanilla flavour in your cooking.

In my local coop on the baking shelves we have:

1) In the fine food range: real vanilla pods (scrape contents, do as previously mentioned in this thread)
2) Bio ground vanilla - comes in a little glass pot - use about 1/4tsp for equivalent of 1 vanilla pod
3) Dr. Oetker "finesse" Bourbon vanilla aroma - this is a liquid in a sachet
4) Coop brand (or Dr. Oetker as well I think) little glass vials of vanilla "aroma"
5) little packets of vanilla sugar - which is not the same as what I'd call vanilla sugar, I've actually not tried this as I bought some and then it didn't look right for what I wanted.

So..... vanilla.... I use options 2 and 3 for basically all baking.

Try El Mais near the main train station in Zurich.

If you want to make your own vanilla it's really easy. You need quite a few pods, but you can order them by the pound and half-pound on eBay and they will deliver to CH.

To make, take a 1 L bottle, scrape at least 20 pods and put seeds in the bottle. I also put in the scraped pods. Fill with a decent quality vodka and put in the cupboard (dark place in any case) for a month. Give it a good shake once a week.

Yes it takes a month to rest and you have to order the pods, but it's worth it. I purchased 1 lb from a seller on eBay and got 1 lb for free, cost me $40 with shipping. I've been using the pods and making vanilla for over 2 years now to make my own vanilla and it's better than anything you can buy. I keep the unused pods stored in an airtight container and they are wrapped in Saran wrap so they stay fresh. Honestly, it's worth it!

Thank you SO MUCH for all of your suggestions. I will do ALL of them, including making my own. And, Crumbs, please post when you have your paste in and how to find you or buy it from you, and I will do that, too. I am an absolute Vanilla FREAK - - - and I am looking forward to trying all the things that you kind folks have suggested to me.
SIncerely,
Betsy Good, Winterthur

I buy my vanilla extract from Peace Foods in Baar, they have a mail order service if it is too far to travel.

Vodka? Now I'm really tempted to try making my own vanilla flavoring. Thanks for the tip.