How To: Turn Skittles into Fruity Sprinkles for Vivid, More Flavorful Desserts

Baking used to be a fun, relaxing hobby and a way to make treats for friends and family. These days, this hobby has become a creative battleground among out-of-work graphic designers with Pinterest accounts. People everywhere are now upping their baking game by adding interesting ingredients or daring designs. Presentation has become just as important as taste.

So how can you taste the rainbow while making something that looks as beautiful as one? Turn Skittles into sprinkles (aka sanding sugar), and you'll do just that!

What You'll Need

• High-powered food processor or blender
• Skittles
• Food coloring that matches your Skittles colors
• Spatula
• Bench scraper or knife with a sharp blade
• Baking tray
• Parchment paper
• Sieve

How to Make It

1. Separate the Skittles by color. Put them into cups to keep them apart.

2. Pour a cup of Skittles into your food processor or blender and pulse until it looks like fruity sand. This could take a few seconds or a few minutes depending on how powerful your equipment is.

3. To heighten the color of the sprinkles, add a couple of drops of the same color food coloring. Don't add too much or the mix will become clumpy. Blend the food coloring in for another 10 to 20 seconds.

4. With or without the food coloring, however, the mix will be fairly sticky because of the chewy centers in Skittles. You'll need to dry it out so it's easier to use later on. Start by placing a sheet of parchment paper onto a tray and pour the Skittle mix onto the sheet.

5. Use the bench scraper, dough scraper, or knife to break up any clumps and spread the Skittles into an even layer.

6. Put the tray in the oven on the lowest setting (most likely 200°F) for a couple of hours. Take the tray out and sift the Skittle mix into a bowl to separate the clumps from the fine-grained sugar. You really want to make sure that the final product is dry and evenly processed.

Skittles sanding sugar can be stored inside air-tight ziplock bags for several weeks, or a few months if kept in a cool, dry place.

Uses for Skittle Sprinkles

While sprinkles are usually just a pretty decoration, using Skittle sprinkles as confection will add a fun, fruity effect to your food. You can mix them together or create patterns to turn any dessert into an art piece. You can add them to ice cream, cupcakes, or find an old pumpkin template online and use it with the sprinkles to create a cool drawing on a cake. There are plenty of creative ides you can come up with to decorate your sweets.

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