The title of my blog includes the word “sprinkles”, so it should be no surprise that I am obsessed with them. What I have learned in my years of baking is that there are about 3,297 different types of sprinkles. Jimmies. Sanding sugar. Quins. Crystal sugar. Nonpareils. The list goes on and on.
I have no recipe to present to you today, but I thought I’d give you a lesson — Sprinkles 101, if you will. And this gave me a chance to take pictures of pretty, colorful things. :)
These are rainbow jimmies, my favorite of all the sprinkles. They come in all sorts of colors. Jimmies are great for funfetti cakes/cupcakes — because their color will not bleed out when added to batter.
More jimmies!
These are nonpareils. These are beautiful but perfectly round and will bounce and spill everywhere if you aren’t careful! Their color frequently bleeds when added to cake or cupcake batter, so avoid if you are making funfetti.
These are quins, my second favorite sprinkle variety. They can be cut into all sorts of shapes.
Leaf quins! Star quins! Heart quins! Mickey Mouse quins! Ice cream cone quins! Aren’t they cute?
This is sanding sugar, which is basically plain ol’ granulated sugar that has been dyed.
This is crystal sugar, which is much bigger/coarser than sanding sugar. I love rainbow crystal sugar because it reminds me of gemstones.
These are the types of sprinkles I use most often. There are others — like dragees (have you ever seen those shiny little silver balls that are edible — and will crack a tooth? Those are dragees), edible glitter, luster dust, etc. I’ve only used luster dust once and thought the experience was a giant pain in the a**, but that’s just me.
What are your favorite kinds of sprinkles? C’mon, I can’t be the only sprinkle nerd out there :)
