How To Make Brown Sugar

If you have ever run out of brown sugar before, don’t stress. It’s so easy to make your own. Learn how to make brown sugar with just 2 ingredients!

Making brown sugar at home is so stinkin’ easy. I honestly don’t know why I haven’t been doing this for years.  And I don’t know about you but once in a while I find myself without a bag of brown sugar in my pantry. 

Ok, truth be told, I usually find myself without some sort of ingredient when I want to bake. Now, normally, I would go rushing off to the store. 

But, what if I told you that you could skip that annoying trip to the store and make brown sugar at home? Seriously, it’s so easy you will wonder why you haven’t done this before.

The best part is you can make a small batch or double, tripe it in fact, if you want. It’s easy.

What is brown sugar made of? 

Brown sugar is simply granulated sugar with molasses added to it to make it moist. That’s it! 

Brown sugar because of the addition of the molasses gives baked good a caramel-like flavor and can help add moisture to your desserts and helps make them chewier.

Ingredients Needed

You only need two simple ingredients to make your own brown sugar at home. 

• Granulated sugar – Make sure to use granulated sugar and not powdered sugar. 
• Molasses – I used unsulphured blackstrap molasses. The amount you use will depend on if you want to make light or dark brown sugar. 

How do you make brown sugar? 

Food processor method: 

1. In the bowl of your food processor (or a high speed blender also works), add the sugar and molasses. 

2. Blend or pulse until the molasses is mixed in thoroughly. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl if some molasses is stuck on the sides. After blending, I still find I need to work in some of the molasses by hand. I simply transfer by hand and rub in the molasses with my fingers.

By hand: 

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar and molasses. 

2. Stir together with a spatula, wooden spoon, fork or whisk. After an initial mixing, using clean hands rub the molasses into the sugar to evenly combine.

Light vs. Dark brown sugar

You can make a light brown sugar version or dark brown sugar version. The only difference is how much molasses you will add. Dark brown sugar will have twice as much molasses added. 

For light brown sugar: Add 1 Tablespoon molasses for every cup of sugar

For dark brown sugar: Add 2 Tablespoons molasses for every cup of sugar. 

Molasses substitutions

If you don’t have molasses, you can swap it out with another liquid sweetener that will make for a sticky, moist sugar. Try swapping and using: 

• Honey
• Maple syrup
• Agave nectar

How should I store brown sugar? 

Brown sugar over time will lose moisture and turn from softy and fluffy into a giant hard brick if left exposed to the air. Be sure to store in an airtight container to keep it moist and from drying out. 

You can also add a few things to your container to help keep the brown sugar from drying out: 

• Brown sugar bear:
• Slice of bread
• Tortilla
• Apple slice
• Marshmallows.

How to soften your brown sugar quickly

If your brown sugar has hardened, it’s not too late. It can be saved! 

Place your brown sugar in a bowl and cover with a dampened paper towel and microwave for about 20 seconds until it’s softened.

Recipes to use up your homemade brown sugar

Now that you have a batch of brown sugar, it’s time to get baking! Here are some of my favorite recipes that use brown sugar: 

• Cookies: I love baking with brown sugar in my cookies to make them wonderfully chewy. Try making my Brown sugar chocolate chip cookies , these soft Gingerbread cut out cookies, or these decadent Oatmeal cream pies. 
• Frosting: I love stirring in some brown sugar and making this brown sugar buttercream. You can frost some pumpkin cupcakes with it!
• Brownies and bars: Use some brown sugar to make chewy brownies or blondies.
• Pumpkin bread: I love using brown sugar to my quick breads to add wonderful flavor. Like my easy pumpkin bread for Fall, or try this Nutella pumpkin bread version.
• Fruit crisp: Brown sugar adds lots of flavor to a fruit crisp topping. Try my easy apple crisp, mixed berry crisp, or this strawberry rhubarb crisp.

More recipes and tutorials

• Ginger Molasses Cookies
• Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Guinness Brown Bread
• Brown Butter Pumpkin Cookies
• Food Processor Pie Crust