HELP! sugar?

Question

How do you make confectioners [powder] sugar if you don't have any??!

Answer 1

I found this q and a on ochef.com, thought it may help with your query as I am not sure what you were wanting the sugar for:

Q. What is the difference between white sugar and confectioners' sugar? And when cooking does it matter which I use?
A. Confectioners', powdered, or icing sugar is granulated sugar that has been beaten, crushed, trampled, stomped, trodden, squashed, and ground into a fine powder. Because it tends to form clumps, confectioners' sugar is augmented with about 3 percent cornstarch to keep it loose and flowing.

Confectioners' sugar is ground to different degrees of fineness, the most common of which are XXX, XXXX, and 10X, where the grains are finer as the number of Xs increases.

Because confectioners' sugar dissolves almost instantly, it is generally used in dishes and recipes that don't require cooking, such as icings, sauces, and some candies. You can cook with confectioners' sugar, but very few people do. First, it is about twice as expensive by weight as granulated sugar. Then you have to use 1-3/4 cups for every cup of granulated sugar, making it nearly twice as expensive again.

On top of that, you have to take into account that 3 percent cornstarch, which will provide some degree of thickening as it cooks. There may be times when you want that little bit of thickening, such as a cooked sauce. But there are certainly some recipes where the texture would not be benefited by the additional cornstarch.

Answer 2

Powdered sugar (the stuff you buy already packaged) contains some cornstarch in addition to the sugar. I think the cornstarch is in there mostly to keep the sugar from clumping during shipping.

You can make your own powdered sugar easily enough. Just put regular white (granulated) sugar in your food processor bowl, with the S-shaped chopper blade. Don't fill the processor bowl more than half-full (you might have to work in batches). Whiz the sugar around in the processor until it's powdered--it might take up to a minute. Use pulses; don't run the processor constantly, or you risk burning the motor.

After it's been powdered, sift the sugar through a wire strainer, to catch any larger crystals. Remember, you'll end up with about half of what you started with...1 cup of granulated will produce about 1/2 cup of powdered.

Answer 3

I believe that it is all the same stuff just a different texture. I would start with icing sugar, but any white sugar would do and pound it - grind it into a powder with a pestle and mortar if you've got one. Have fun.

Answer 4

take sugar and put in blender and mince it to powder thats hows its done