Kitchen Hack: How to Soften Brown Sugar

November 21, 2016

brown-sugar-title

Holiday baking season is finally here! Woohoo! If you are anything like me, I don’t do a ton of baking during the summer because I hate turning on my oven when it’s sweltering outside. However, if you haven’t baked anything recently, you might go to pull out ingredients for your favorite cookies and find a brick where your brown sugar used to be…

Don’t fret! This is a super quick and easy tip to freshen up brown sugar that has dried up.

Take a piece of bread – any bread will do – and place it in an airtight container with the brown sugar. It will be back to soft and usable in a day or two. The bread won’t get moldy, so you can keep a slice in there all the time.

If you don’t have time to wait, you can microwave the hard sugar with a moist paper towel for 20 seconds.

brown-sugarbrown-sugar-softening-hackbrown-sugar-hackhow-to-soften-brown-sugarI’ve also heard that marshmallows or apple slices will achieve the same results to soften dried up brown sugar. Most importantly, make sure to store your brown sugar in an airtight container. My favorite is the OXO Good Grips POP container.

One last bonus tip: After you’ve made all your holiday cookies, throw a slice of bread into the container to keep them soft and chewy.

Happy baking!

xo,
Rachael

17 Comments

  1. Reply

    watchmeblather

    Wow never thought about this usually i just throw it away or smash it up with a spoon lol, thanks for the tip

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      I have definitely thrown away my fair share of brown sugar before I knew about these tricks! 🙂

    2. Reply

      Stormy

      New answer to old problem. I never used brown sugar much and would throw out more than I used. No matter what I store6it in, it would hard as a brick bat the next time I got it out to use. One day I stored the bag in a gladware take along storage container. I haven’t thrown brown sugar out again. And I did the same with coconut and mini marshmallows. Unbelievable.

  2. Reply

    guilbertmargot

    Nice tip! I will remember it! thx for sharing!
    xo, Margot
    http://thepastelproject.com/

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      Thanks, Margot! 🙂

  3. Reply

    Katja Knox

    That’s like magic! What a great tip! I’m always forgetting my brown sugar out and it’s like SAND after a while, thanks for the tip 🙂
    Katja xxx
    http://www.katnapped.com

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      This will hopefully save your forgotten brown sugar from now on! 😉

  4. Reply

    Anastasia Nicole

    I do the moist paper towel in the microwave and it works like a dream. I should probably just invest in proper storage and throw some bread in there though.
    xx | A

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      Ha, whatever works! The wet paper towel works in a pinch but long term, an air tight container is worth it!!

  5. Reply

    Keerthana Makwana

    Wow this is interesting :D… It a great tip to be shared with everyone 🙂 Thanks!

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      Thank you! I’m so glad you stopped by and found it useful!

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      Thanks for stopping by and checking it out! 🙂

  6. Reply

    michenn (@michennblog)

    That is SUCH an interesting tip! I did not know that. We actually have a bunch of brown sugar at home that is super hard so I might try this tonight. Thanks so much for sharing!!

    michenn

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      It works like magic, so glad you could use this little tip!

  7. Reply

    Maca

    No way! I’ve always wondered HOW on earth I could do this. AMAZING! 🙂
    xo,
    Maca

    http://www.heymaca.ca

    1. Reply

      shutthefrontdorr

      No need to throw out the hard sugar anymore! Woohoo! 🙂

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