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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
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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 always knew this to be the way to soften brown sugar but you know what? Whenever my brown sugar hardens (which rarely happens in this yearlong hot humid weather), I just pretty much smash the bag on the counter a few times. haha.. So unladylike. I’d better start using the bread method.
Really?!?! Wow, I didn’t know that this would work!! I know that you can put bread with your cookies to keep them from getting hard but I didn’t think it’d work with brown sugar. I MUST try this because I literally have a block of brown sugar sitting in a container that I keep stabbing my knife at. It’s so frustrating but thank you so much for this wonderful solution!!
I just did this the other day! I am gluten free, though, so the soft bread thing doesn’t really exist and real bread would contaminate my sugar. For a quick and easy fix, you could either (1) grate the block of brown sugar (yawn) or microwave the brown sugar in a bowl with a cup of water in the microwave also. The moisture of the evaporating water goes into the sugar without the sugar getting all weird and melty!
Ah good idea! Yes, this trick is definitely not ok if you’re gluten-free. Good job on finding a solution!
i LOVE knowledge like this. And I love your cute labeling. Just did a huge spring (i say spring but it has been freakishly snowing in London….) clean blitz of my flat. Got really into it and a bit manic but after the craziness passed i felt very zen and smug superwoman. Please share more tips!!! xxx
I will! XO
Great advice. I have not tried the bread trick. But used the apple before. The best trick I want to share, is to keep the brown sugar air tight in a bag. If you don’t allow air in then it will never get hard. I do this now just to save on time. Especially when I want those cookies now! LOL
GENIUS, never even thought about doing this before!
I too, fell for the cute little clay disk thingy to soak in water and then put in with the brown sugar. It did not work. I’d recommend sticking with the bread idea. If anyone knows how to keep the dang stuff from drying out to begin with, that would be an awesome tip as well! I buy the organic hootsie tootsie stuff and have the bag folded over 1,000 times, and so far it seems to be working, but for future reference it would be nice to know if there is a secret trick to it never drying out to begin with. Great post!
This is completely life-altering news to me! I soften my hard brown sugar by, um, stabbing it with a butter knife. Your way seems a little less barbaric 😉
Thanks for the tip! The other day I was looking at my rock hard brown sugar, wishing that I knew how to save it. Now, I do! Will definitely give this a try.
So cool! Thanks Bill Nye!