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Question:

My question always is when reading a recipe is what is the difference between confectioners sugar and powdered sugar. Why do all recipes call it the first and not the second? - Pat Colvin (3/20/99)

Answers:

As you already know, confectioners' sugar and powdered sugar are the same thing - there is no difference. I believe it is a regional thing on which term is used in recipes.

In the northwest, where I live, we call it powdered sugar and use that term in our recipes. I noticed that most of the southern cookbooks call it confectioners' sugar. In Canada and England, it is called icing sugar.

It is no different than the terms used for butter. On the west coast, that is where I am from, we say cubes of butter. On the east coast they say sticks of butter. There are probably a lot more cooking terms that are used regionally, but that is all I could think of right now.