Vanilla Beans and Daydreams: Everything's Better with Sprinkles

We may not all agree how to spend our time, but we all have the same hours in the day. You may spend your time outside, at the gym, in church, or putting in some over-time at the office. You may find relaxation in running, yoga, reading, or watching TV. Me? It comes as no surprise that you'll usually find me (surrounded by children) in my kitchen either crafting, cooking, or baking.

You may spend the hours before bed cleaning the house and getting ready for the following day. I usually spend that time working on a spontaneous project for no real reason other than I want to. We may disagree on what is important and what is simply a waste of time. But, most people can agree that everything's better with sprinkles.

Like most moms I struggle with comparing myself to others as well as being judged. We all want to highlight our strengths but when that's all we see on social media it's easy to forget that everyone has their weaknesses. My husband would love me to spend more time cleaning or putting away laundry (he'd even settle for keeping my crafts in one space instead of all over the house). My kids no doubt would love me to spend more time away from the computer/phone. I would love to not lose everything. I'm constantly doing something, but rarely feel productive. I think that's why it drives me crazy when people say "I wish I had the time" or "how do you do it all?" because they assume that I actually do it all and I don't. Moms are all busy whether you work outside the home, from the home, or your job is being a stay at home mom. We are ALL busy doing what we do. We all have 24 hours in the day. We all sacrifice some things to do others. So when I'm up at midnight making homemade sprinkles (because yes, that's where this post is going) for no reason at all other than I have some left over royal icing to use, there are other things that aren't getting done (most importantly sleep). But, most importantly EMBRACE what you do best! Don't be afraid to show it off. Learn from each other and support each other.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's focus on what is really important - SPRINKLES! If you've ever bought specialty sprinkles (because you needed one specific color for example) you may know how crazy expensive they can be. However, these royal icing sprinkles are SIMPLE and CHEAP!

These sprinkles use the same royal icing that you would use to decorate cookies. I prefer using meringue powder instead of egg whites (but that is entirely up to you). Here is the recipe I use.

3 Tablespoons - Meringue powder

4 cups - Powder sugar

5 Tablespoons - Water

I first mix the meringue powder and water then slowly mix in the powder sugar. Once it is all combined turn the speed up and mix for about 5 minutes (some recipes call for you to mix up to 10 minutes, I don't find it necessary).

*NOTE* - This recipe makes about 3 cups of icing. You will be making sprinkles for DAYS with that. I used some leftover icing after decorating cookies, but if you are just making sprinkles I would recommend making half (or even less).

Once your icing is mixed, separate it into bowls to make as many colors as you want. I mixed all of it light pink then piped some sprinkles, then added more pink, piped some more, then added more pink and finished piping, to create an ombre effect.

I used a Wilton Piping Tip #134 to pipe rows of icing onto a silicone mat. Do not worry about making these perfectly straight. It's okay if they have breaks in them. Trust me, it doesn't matter at all!

Let the icing sit over night. By the morning they should be dry and easily release from the silicone mat. Gather them all together and begin cutting/breaking them. You can make them as long or short as you want. Again, don't worry about being too perfect with these.

That's it! Simple, right?

I'm not really naive enough to think that most people are going to read this and think "of course! I will make my own sprinkles tonight!" But, I do hope to show that just because something is homemade doesn't mean it is difficult or time consuming. Also, you can make custom sprinkles to match any party without having to spend the money.