How to Make Brown Sugar and Quick Softening Tips

This guide shows how to make brown sugar very easily and quickly in your own kitchen. It requires only two ingredients: granulated sugar and molasses.

And I've included three ways to soften brown sugar that's hardened into a block in your pantry.

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Want to make this recipe perfectly the first time? I want to help with that. So, check out this Table of Contents to see which sections of this post will help you the most.

Jump to:

• 🥣 How to Make Brown Sugar
• 🎯 Tips
• 🤓 What's the difference between light and dark brown sugar?
• 💡 Ideas for Variations
• 👩‍🍳 Are there substitutes for molasses when making brown sugar?
• 👩‍🍳 How To Soften Brown Sugar
• How to Make Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is a common ingredient in cookies, like these Figgy Snickerdoodle Cookies, cookie bars, like these Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, and even some breads, like this Brown Sugar and Plum Pull-Apart Bread and Cinnamon Rolls. It is essential to the distinctive caramel flavor that elevates the treat.

🥣 How to Make Brown Sugar

But sometimes, although we could just swear we had a whole bag of it in our pantry, we discover we are completely out. And we're in the middle of making a batch of chocolate chip cookies.

If this happens, all you need to make homemade brown sugar is granulated sugar, molasses, a bowl, a spatula or fork, and 5 minutes, and your problem is completely solved.

Simply combine the ingredients in a bowl and fold the sugar into the molasses with a spatula or a fork until it's completely mixed in.

I often finish mixing the two together with my fingers to massage any remaining small lumps of molasses into the sugar. That's it! It's really that easy.

The flavor is identical to that of the bags of brown sugar at the grocery store, and it can be used in literally any recipe that calls for brown sugar.

🎯 Tips

• When measuring the molasses, first coat the measuring spoon with a very small amount of olive oil or other vegetable oil. This allows the molasses to pour easily from the tablespoon.

• The bowl should be large enough to comfortably massage the lumps of molasses into the sugar at the end.

• You can use a food processor to make brown sugar instead of using a spatula or fork, but while it might be faster, the cleanup is much longer.

🤓 What's the difference between light and dark brown sugar?

The only difference between light and dark brown sugar is the amount of molasses added to the sugar. Dark brown sugar uses twice as much molasses as light brown sugar.

Light Brown Sugar uses 1 tablespoon of molasses for every cup of sugar. But Dark Brown Sugar takes 2 tablespoons of molasses for every cup of sugar.

💡 Ideas for Variations

You can customize the brown sugar to your preferences by adding a little more or less molasses as mentioned above. Here are a few additional ideas of flavors you can add:

• Vanilla extract
• Use vanilla sugar in place of plain granulated sugar
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground cardamom
• Ground allspice

👩‍🍳 Are there substitutes for molasses when making brown sugar?

Molasses is the only ingredient that gives the distinctive caramel flavors found in brown sugar. But if you don't have any molasses, use the following substitutes with a 1:1 ratio. Just understand the flavor won't be the same.

• Maple syrup - it should be 100% pure Grade A maple syrup; the darker the better.
• Honey - I prefer raw, unfiltered honey.
• Lyle's Golden Syrup
• Dark corn syrup
• Sorghum syrup

👩‍🍳 How To Soften Brown Sugar

We've all had it happen. We're ready to use brown sugar in a recipe, but it's hard enough to be a weapon. There are at least 3 ways to soften brown sugar.

1. Fastest. Place the hardened sugar in a microwave-safe bowl and cover it with a dampened paper towel. Zap it on high in 15 to 20-second increments. After each zap, nudge the brown sugar lump to break it up.
2. Pretty fast. Wrap the brown sugar in foil and place it on a baking sheet. Slide it into a 250˚F oven and check it every 5 minutes.
3. Longest. Place the brown sugar lump in an airtight container with either a slice of bread or large piece of apple. The brown sugar should be soft by the following morning.

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