Plastic Free Brown Sugar
As holiday baking is upon us, do you find yourself reaching for brown sugar more often than other times of the year? If you are purchasing brown sugar at most grocery stores, it will be sold in plastic bags. But there is a way around those non-recyclable plastic bags. Making it at home only requires two shelf stable ingredients, and you never have to worry about your brown sugar going hard unused on the pantry.
What is Brown Sugar?
Brown sugar is commercially made by adding molasses back to refined granulated sugar. The amount of molasses will make the sugar categorized as light or dark. Some recipes call for simply "brown sugar," while the majority of recipes will specify dark or light. With most recipes, they can be used interchangeably, but dark brown sugar does contain more molasses meaning there is a higher moisture continent. Evaluate the final texture before using them interchangeably.
Why make Brown Sugar at home?
Other than the obvious pro to making you own brown sugar to avoid plastic packaging, making it yourself can save pantry space. While you can make up you of pre-mixed brown sugar to use whenever you need, if you make it only when a recipe calls for it - you will save pantry space and avoid the dried out brick of sugar that can happen when brown sugar sits unused. The other reason to make it yourself, is that you can control the base sugar and quality. If you care about eating organic you can use organic sugar. Personally, I prefer using raw sugar. Making it yourself, you can use your preferred sugar.
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DIY Brown Sugar
Ingredients:
1 cup Sugar (Raw, granulated, organic, etc.)
1-2 Tbsp Blackstrap Molasses
Directions:
Combine sugar and molasses in a small mixing bowl. For light brown sugar used 1 tablespoons of molasses for every cup of sugar; for dark brown sugar use 2 tablespoons of molasses.
Mixed brown sugar can be stored in an airtight container for up to a year. If it hardens, storing with a slice of bread will soften it long term. If you need to quickly soften it, heat for 5 seconds to softened in the microwave.