Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may earn a commission if you click on the link and make a purchase.
This is a step-by-step, very easy guide on how to soften brown sugar. If you have found yourself with rock hard brown sugar, not to worry! This post will show you how to get it back to normal brown sugar that’ll be perfect for these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies–a crowd favorite!
The Dilemma of Hard Brown Sugar
Have you ever gone to your pantry wanting to make cookies and then realize that the brown sugar is totally hard and dried out? I recently was craving these Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies and it was such a bummer! Don’t worry because I realized this is a common problem and there are a few fast and easy solutions.
The Best Ways To Soften Brown Sugar:
- Use an apple – You can actually place a sliced apple into your brown sugar bin and the moisture from the apple should transfer to the brown sugar.
- Using clay tiles. They sell clay tiles specifically for keeping brown sugar moist. Most bakeries use these and they are very effective. But unfortunately it’s not always something easy and assesble.
- Microwaving the brown sugar. You can always add the brown sugar and a drop of water or two to a bowl. And then turn the microwave on high for 1 minute. This works like a charm. (I don’t own a microwave. I know, I know…)
- Bread – White sandwich bread works best for this but any bread will work. Add a slice of bread to the bin and all of the moisture from the bread will transfer to the brown sugar.
How to Soften Brown Sugar
My favorite method is with a piece of bread. It’s so simple and I usually have a piece of bread readily available to sacrifice to this endeavor.
- I added the blocks of brown sugar to a bowl. If you have a big container of brown sugar, you can simply skip this step and just add the slice of bread to the bin.
- Add the bread. Wrap the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. And wait. I like to give it at least four hours but ideally just leave it overnight.
- Unwrap and it and be stunned at the soft brown sugar.
Brown Sugar FAQs
First we have to discuss, what is brown sugar. Each granule of sugar is coated in a thin layer of molasses. That’s really what brown sugar is: brown sugar coated and mixed with a bit of molasses. When the sugar is fresh and moist, the molasses that coats it, slips against the other granules easily. When it looses its moisture, that molasses hardens.
The good news with hard brown sugar is that it can easily be re-hydrated. Molasses can absorb moisture from either bread or a clay plate or water (see above) and then you can proceed to use it in whatever recipe or way you like.
Cookies That Call for Brown Sugar
If you tried thisย how-to on How to Soften Brown Sugarย or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟ย star ratingย and let me know how it went in the 📝ย commentsย below. Thanks for visiting!
How to Soften Brown Sugar
Ingredients
- 1 hard brown sugar
Different Options:
- 1 slice bread, (white bread works great)
- 1 sliced apple
- 1 clay tile , (for brown sugar softening)
Instructions
To Soften Brown Sugar:
- Add the brown sugar to a large bowl (or if your brown sugar is stored in a big bin, you can just add the things to that) and place the apple or bread right on top. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and let it sit for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
- When you wake up, you can unwrap the bowl and you'll be met with soft brown sugar.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I didnโt have an Apple, I used honey wheat read, (all I had).
I needed the brown sugar for my marinade for my steak.
Thanks for putting this out there for those of us that are not great in the kitchen.
wonderful!
Thanks a million for this information. I intend on using one of these methods.
While it is years later since your original post, I sure do appreciate your helping me with my hardened brown sugar. Thank you so much!
You can also break into manageable chunks and chuck in the food processor and using the chopper blade break it all up. And if you are baking you may already have the processor out already.
Isn’t it great? Bread has been my ‘go-to’ save for years. But sometimes when you have those “BUT I NEED THE BROWN SUGAR NOW!!!” it’s frustrating. I bought one of those terracotta bears (they have a flower one too) that is sold anywhere they kitchen equipment. You soak it in water (about a half an hour) and it keeps your BSugar soft for a really long time. The good thing is that when the terracotta bear/flower finally loses all it’s water the bread trick works much faster because it will never get THAT rock hard. Just a Family and Consumer Science teacher sharing her two cents!
Add a slice of bread to your homemade cookies and they stay nice and soft.
Once I open the bag, I put a slice of apple in it.
You can leave a slice in your container or bag the entire time and it stays soft so you won’t have to soften it. That’s the way my grandmother did it, that’s the way my mother did it, that’s the way I do it! Hope this helps.
Donna
My mom always put the bread into the brown sugar…she also used that with oatmeal cookies if they got a little dried out in the container. I laughed at your part of the post that said that people were rolling their eyes at common sense advice but not everyone knows it. I had a mother who taught me most of the recipes and cooking that I use today so I was really lucky ๐