How to Make Brown Sugar
Now wait just a second.
Why did no one tell me how dang easy it is to make my own brown sugar?
I sorta blew my own mind this morning. It turns out that granulated sugar and molasses when combined with a bowl and fork (or mixer, if you’re feelin’ fancy) produces the freshest and fluffiest brown sugar. Man… that’s satisfying.
And! Bonus! You can make the brown sugar as dark and flavorful as you like by controlling the amount of molasses.
This is just too good… and I’m just dorky enough to freak out at this kind of thing.
Alright . Let’s put on out big, fat, brainiac caps. This is about to get tough. We’re mixing together two ingredients. In a bowl. With a fork… or a mixer. If you use a mixer, you’ll still need a fork. Don’t fight it.
How to Make Brown Sugar
1 cup granulated cane sugar
1 Tablespoon unsulfured molasses
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sugar and molasses. It’s that easy. There’s a part in this process where the molasses is super gunky and clumpy. You’ll think to yourself: Joy, you were wrong… this is coming out all wrong. Don’t worry. keep mixing it all together. It will even itself out. Work it until completely incorporated and no big molasses globs remain. For dark brown sugar, add another tablespoon of molasses. Use as you would in your favorite cake and cookie recipes. Store in an airtight container or in a ziplock bag with the air pressed out. Dang that’s easy!
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I am a long-time follower and I am usually too shy to comment , BUT…. good gracious, this is a wonderful, WONDERFUL thing to know! Thank you! *happy dance*
My mom was over one day and was thumbing through my pile of recipes, sloppily handwritten and with a lot of short cuts and abbreviations. She looked puzzled when she came across “BS”, yup, sits in the cupboard next to the box of fun and the shaker of magic. Like I am really going to put “bulls*&t” in my cookies! haha
You know, I am a food blogger too and it never ceases to shock me how some ppl feel the need to POUND verbally and publicly. She could have simply put her two cents about brown sugar and moved on….but why oh why did she need to finish it off with the verbal upper cut of “you must not read any other food blogs but your own. ‘Cause I think there isn’t a single one of them that hasn’t beaten you to this post” SO unnecessary to say THAT *SMACKS ‘not brown sugar*. Ummmm NBS, were you not aware of the millions of food blogs out there and how eventually there IS OVERLAP? The reason is that all of us followers CANNOT possibly read all those informative blogs. One blogger reads a good idea, finds one in a magazine, hears from a friend….and we want to share it….you know PASS IT ON? Joy, I am sorry you had to deal with such blatant hostility or uncalled for. Funny how the rude ones always leave their mark ‘anonymously’!
Love ya Joy….keep on sharing no matter what it is!
Dang that IS easy! Thank you for the revelation!
Wow! This is crazy! I had never thought you could do that it’s like when I saw the vanilla extract who woulda thunk it? I’m just amazed at things like this but that’s ok bc I apparently am not the only one :)
I was halfway through making cookies today when I discovered that no brown sugar existed in my house. Your quick tip saved them, and they may be the best cookies I’ve ever made!
Holy Crap, you just blew my mind! I’m beyond excited!
So easy….so very easy….thank you.
OMG, what a brilliant idea!!
I will definitely keep that in mind when I run out of brown sugar.
But how long will these last?
I love it! I want to do this just for fun sometime!
I can’t believe this never occurred to me before! Thanks for sharing. I can see this being very helpful in the future. By the way, I love your yellow measuring cups. They look just like the ones my mom used to have :)
Tupperware! My mom had the same ones, only orange!
Thanks for posting how to make brown sugar! Now I can make my own & never have to struggle with the cement like brick of brown sugar currently in my pantry! This is simply wonderful.
How wonderful! I did not know this was possible (or so easy) either! Thank you for enticing me to make my own brown sugar from now on. You rock!
I haven’t bought brown sugar in almost a year. I usually just put the sugar and molasses in my ingredients without mixing (does that make sense?). Good on you!
what the hay?! I wasn’t aware of this either! If getting excited over this fantastic discovery is dorky..i’m okay with it…:) yay!!!
I just made this today. I don’t think I’m ever going to buy brown sugar again. Thanks for a great recipe! I don’t comment very often, but I Love your site!!
Call me dumb… “1 cup granulated can sugar” < Is that cane sugar? Or just regular white sugar? Thanks!
my oh my! you’re not dumb at all! sorry for the typo!
I had no idea either! About this OR the pancakes! We can all *headsmack* together on this :)
I have those very same yellow plastic measuring tools! Not sure why that’s surprising to me, given that they’re surely mass-produced, but it is. :)
And what is this about brown sugar?! You not only blew your mind, you blew MY mind. I never knew one could make their own brown sugar. Wow! Next thing you know, someone will tell me there’s a way to make homemade water as well. I’m just that out of the loop sometimes.
Wow. I knew full well what made brown sugar brown sugar, yet it never OCCURRED to me to do it myself. I’m never buying brown sugar again.
I love this!! Thank you.
TY! TY! TY! I am always running out of brown sugar when my funds are low but I always have molasses & granulated on hand…go figure! Keep inspiring us Joy!!!!! Luv ya!
Genell (CT)
How ridiculously easy! I’m glad I read this blog post now — I’m almost out of brown sugar and I can easily make my own as I need it.
LOL! I don’t know if I want to hug you or smack myself in the head!!!
Seriously!
I can’t tell you how many times I have had to run to the store for brown sugar, and every time I have perfectly good white sugar and molasses in the pantry! sigh …
;-)
r
This is too cool! What a great tip that will save tons of $$$. Thanks!
Cheers! Leslie
Love it! I just moved to Germany….where their version of brown sugar is sugar that is the color brown:) Vanilla extract is pretty hard for me to find too….they call it vanilla “Aroma”….I call it vanilla poop. I am going to pass this on to my fellow Expat lovers of all things sweet! Thanks for making my move a little bit easier.
Here’s how I make vanilla extract: split or cut up a couple of vanilla beans and let them soak in a small bottle of vodka for a few weeks, shaking it every now and then. You’ll need a bit more than the recipe calls for, but it does the trick. I’ve been using this concoction for years.
Cheers from another expat!
This only came together for me once I used my hands to blend the last bits of molasses with the granulated sugar.
ok! glad it worked out though!
I wish I can find Molasses here in India :( If not…it’s back to buying Expensive, Imported Brown Sugar :(
My family’s Bangladeshi and they use molasses all the time to make sweets – I think it’s call ghur. See if that helps you :)
Hey…thanks Tiara. Gur is actually jaggery, but I think I know exactly what you’re talking about now. Will harass my local vendor to get that for me now :)
I just had to respond – I hope you’re still reading the comments – I made my own brown sugar about 15 years ago following a recipe I saw on a bottle of Grandma’s brand molasses … the same as in your picture. Then I lost the bottle, forgot the recipe, and went back to buying brown sugar because I never got around to writing to Grandma’s Molasses for their recipe book. It never occurred to me until tonight to look up the proportions on the Internet, even though I’m a computer programmer and have had Internet access for years … duh! I looked it up tonight after I improvised on my own. My pumpkin pie recipe called for 2 tbsp dark brown sugar, and I had light brown, so I added 1 tsp of molasses – way more than I needed to make it dark, but I figured the filling could take it, my best friend walked in just then and commented on the yummy molasses smell, and the pie turned out fine. Now I’ll just remember the proportions when I need to make my light brown sugar dark, until it runs out, then I’ll start making my own again. I liked the lighthearted tone of your little article.
I found this beacuse I was wanting to email Dixie Crystal sugar because they suddenly have big lumps in the brown sugar and came across your blog. I had to sift it and in 1/4 cup I had 1 tablespoon of pea size lumps that I could not crush!!! Poo on Dixie Crystal I’ll make my own. I don’t have Grandma but always always have some version of sorgham molasses. Just another comment about the measuring cup—-I bought them years ago from Tupperware. I am 65 years young and our generation had more Tupperware Parties then you can imagine.
I’ve been baking for over 30 years and when I saw this, I wondered why in the world I didn’t know about making your own brown sugar! I made it myself a few weeks ago and felt a little giddy – kind of ha-ha I don’t have to buy brown sugar anymore! Thanks for sharing.
Another fantastic tip! I’m just lovin’ all these great time-savers. I never thought a person could make their own brown sugar and with the holidays coming up, I can’t wait to try this. Thanks so much!
The color of the brown sugar in my bowl right now is gorgeous. You’ve saved my pumpkin pie. Thanks so much!
Thank you so much for posting this! I just made some brown sugar and I am in heaven. It is the most moist, soft, and fresh brown sugar I have even seen! I used it to make my chocolate chip cookies and I swear they taste even better! You rock!
Thanks I was out of BS which I did not discover until I was half way thru making dinner. I never have molassas in the house but bought it for the first time last week for a new recipe. You saved dinner thanks again.
Just another thank you! for posting this easy and amazing recipe! I am making my son’s birthday cake today and found a recipe for chocolate cake that calls for brown sugar. I am broke and out of brown sugar so when I found your blog I was SO happy! Thanks again!
You saved me – I am starting a tradition of homemade cinnomon buns Thanksgiving Morning and realized I was out of brown sugar. I quickly went to the internet and found your blog. You saved me~ I made 5 cups to have extra for the frig… I actually love the idea of making my own as I make my own buttermilk (1tbs white vinegar in a 1 cup measuring cup and fill the rest of the cup with milk).
I’m so happy to have found this – I live in Switzerland, and altho dry brown sugar is available, it lacks the moisture found in the American-style product. Now I can make my favorite recipes without fear of using up my supplies too fast. And to think I’ve been bribing US visitors to bring me over kilos of the stuff for 27 years – eureka!
Tho’t that might work, just like molassas and salt makes soy sauce. I’m going to try it with xylotol since I’m swearing off of sugar. I’m sure it will work. Or how about adding it to the butter or oil inatead. What would be the difference in taste or consistency and putting in the total amout of sugars it calls for?
I can’t believe it is so easy to make brown sugar. I live in Lesotho , it is hard to get brown sugar. now i can start cooking.
thank YOU!!!!!!!
Ok Joy. Making cookies ….need brown sugar….. don’t have any. I do have molasses. So let me be surprised too.
thanks – it worked great and I have a batch of peanut butter cookies ready to go to a party. Nothing worse then needing brown sugar and not having any.
You are too funny! Reading this was as if I wrote it myself. I was dorky enough to have the same epiphany. Today I had forgotten the amount of molasses to sugar so I googled it and got your site…THANK YOU!!!
Thank you!!! Worked great I thought that’s all you do ;-)
when i saw this post when it was first posted i was like i already know that but i still love this post. then tonight i needed to make brown sugar, and didn’t know the proportions, and i remembered you had posted it a while back so i checked and not only is it awesome but your picture has the same grandma molasses that i had in the house!
This just post totally saved me. You’re pretty much amazing (just in case no one has told you that today)!
Just made the brown sugar. Turned out great! Instead of using a fork, though, I used a pastry blender. Worked better than the fork!
Also have the Tupperware measuring cups, but mine are speckled, I think I got them in the 90′s.
You’re funny….I suppose it makes me a dork too!
Thanks for the info., gonna try this with raw sugar, hope it works.
OMG I just make this and it is awesome. I didn’t have brown sugar but remembered how to make that too, so I made my own homemade brown sugar and then made this syrup. What a great idea and so helpful
Oops, sorry was on wrong page. Another page stated how to make your own maple syrup so like I said above I didn’t have brown sugar and found this site to make it. If you want to make your own syrup use 1 c white sugar, 1 c brown sugar, 1 c water, bring to boil over med hi heat, then lower to med lo heat and add 1 TA maple extract and simmer for 3 minutes.
That is fantastic idea for maple syrup…may not be completely natural but that is so expensive in the store..thanks for tip.
This is a terrific idea!!! Cannot believe the hater on here though, and agree with all previous posters supporting you…good grief get a life if all you have to do is complain about a duplicate post about THIS! I had somebody tell me that they made their own after I found a recipe for making your own powdered sugar so I googled it and found this site first….Will be adding this to my favorite blog sites. Keep up the good work!!