Sometimes… and tell me if you can relate to this, I feel like I literally do not know how to be a person in the world. I hate to use the world literally hyperbolically but I think the word might actually have a place here. Save for my lungs that breathe and heart that beats thankfully on their own, I feel like I do not know how to be a thinking feeling person at times like these.. I don’t know what to do with the feelings that we’re tasked to feel when things seems so heavy and cruel. I just deeply like… do not know.
In times like these I’m glad that there are a few things my heart and my head know how to do with minimal emotional effort but end with a deeply satisfying reward. Things like, stirring a pot of pasta for dinner, setting butter out for chocolate chip cookies, slicing carrots for soup, crumbling streusel for cake.
Cooking is more than just… I dunno… those overhead videos of rainbow cakes we all watch on Facebook these days. It’s deep. It’s tangible proof of our resourcefulness, of desires and hope, of know-how and execution. All for good.
Proof of that resourcefulness is here – right in front of our faces with two very simple ingredients. Granulated sugar and molasses. Proof that we can always make it work. + cookies.
How To Make Brown Sugar:
By now you’ve checked the pantry three times looking for a stray box of brown sugar. Sure, positive, cautiously confident, welp… actually not so certain at all that you remembered to buy a box at the store the time before last.
There’s no brown sugar. This much we know is try.
While you’re in the pantry, set your despair aside and reach for the granulated sugar and the molasses. The good news is, things in this realm are going to be fine. You’ve got know-how.
Measure out 2 cups of granulated sugar. If you need more brown sugar for your particular recipe, well… measure out what you need.
Place the granulated sugar in a medium bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of molasses. If you’d like a darker, richer brown sugar – add 1 tablespoon more.
Use the back of a spoon to work the molasses into the sugar. It will feel gloopy and awkward at first but I promise the mixture will come together.
Keep mixing. Don’t loose faith.
Once the mixture starts to come together, you might want to use your fingers to gently ease any lumps of molasses into the sugar.
As in all things, do your best.
And… after a few minutes – you’ll have brown sugar. Lightly pack it into a measuring cup just as you would a store-bought brown sugar. Consider making The Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Feel content. One problem, solved.
Other ways in which we are resourceful, capable, thriving people:
• Well-equipped: How To Choose The Right Whisk
• Life skill: How To Frost a Cake
• Thoughtful and conscious: How To Make Vegan Eggs
Be good this day.
xo Joy
Sherry
Yes, I agree, it’s been rough, I have friends in Texas who were affected, friends in Puerto Rico who were affected, and friends in Las Vegas, who thankfully were not directly affected. But with or without friends or family in those areas, we all feel the pain and horror of what’s occurring around us, and really aren’t sure what to feel, other than helpless and extremely sad, and even frightened. And then how can we help and what do we do. I pray a lot, and I make sure I tell God how thankful I am for my life, and everyone in it, pay more attention to what’s around me and appreciate it all daily, and then I bake, I bake cookies for my friends and it makes them and me happy. And I know anyone who has suffered or passed on, would want all of us to live what we have left in joy and do what makes us happy. So I bake.
Kristen
Excellent post. Thanks, Joy, for helping me feel like I have some power.
STH
Yes, “heavy and cruel” is exactly how it feels. Overwhelming and exhausting, with terrible things everywhere you look. I need to write my Rep about gun control (again), then I think I’m going to get off the computer for a while. Wishing for strength for all of us to endure.
Carolyn
Yes. Yes to all.
Laura
Thank you for this. I feel the exact same way. Yesterday I freaked out, gave money to Puerto Rico, called my legislators re: gun violence, freaked out some more and then made a pie. I definitely needed some time in the kitchen to create some good.
Susan
Times like these make me grateful for the time I spend with my father in his memory care facility, where he knows who I am but thinks I am still 26 years old with two babies at home. (Those babies are now 29 and 27.) Living in that past for a short time is kind of a nice break from the current realities of this world. It makes me grateful that I can bake a batch of cookies to deal with my stress, pack them up, and bring a little bit of joy to the residents that are in that facility. And it makes me grateful that those babies I had are both in careers where they are helping children (and the families of those children) who have mental health issues so that hopefully these children will grow up supported and with the help they need and deserve.
Tina
Thanks, Susan. Your words made me feel better about right now and about the future.
Theresa Nichols
In times like these I just try to send a prayer & to remember that there is awfulness in the world only to show us that there is goodness and light. For without one the other would not exist.
And sometimes it is the most basic and simple task that can bring us a bit of Joy!
Me Jess Coyle
I too find life is always better in the kitchen, where all the things I lack in the outside world I am infinitely better at. Thanks for reminding me of this. Jess in Melbourne,Australia
Cindy
Your encouraging words framed by a simple task become more than the sum of their parts. Thank you.
lee
I have to admit being amused by the thought of not having brown sugar, but having molasses…mainly because I don’t know many people (besides me) who keep molasses in their pantry. But this is a super helpful hint that I will definitely remember for the future.
joythebaker
My Dad always put molasses on his pancakes instead of maple syrup so I guess I think of it as a pantry staple, but I totally see your perspective.
Paula
I keep both in the pantry but am far more likely to run out of brown sugar than molasses, because I use brown sugar more frequently and in greater quantities. If you’re not a regular baker or cook, I could see having neither; but if you *are*, the odds of having a jar of molasses when you’ve plowed through your (inconceivably-small sized packaging, really) brown sugar are relatively high!
Emily
I always manage to have a half full bottle of molasses on the top shelf of my pantry, because I go through brown sugar quickly, but go through molasses as slow as…. [I won’t finish that awful joke for all our sakes]
I make gingerbread cookies every Christmas, and with gingerbread comes molasses. And molasses is totally good for years, right? Right? [don’t tell me if it isn’t]
Dawn
I take the easy route and just add the molasses to the wet ingredients when I’m baking something that can benefit from brown sugar!
joythebaker
I respect it!
Analida Braeger
Sometimes when I run out of something at home it brings on a creative surge to make it from scratch like brown sugar. I now make my own curry powder blend, garam masala, chili powder, vanilla sugar and zatar. It’s so easy! Thanks for sharing!
Kelsey @ Appeasing a Food Geek
I loved reading your words. I feel very similarly about being in the kitchen. It can be exactly what you need to provide clarity or a place to meditate–whatever it happens to be that day. Also thanks for the kitchen know-how. xoxo
Rena
Wow, how refined :) Thanks for sharing!
xx from Bavaria/Germany, Rena
http://www.dressedwithsoul.com
Laura
or….be lazy because you live in a place in a country where there is no brown sugar for sale so the novelty of making it yourself wears off, and simply dump the molasses in with the wet ingredients and the sugar in with the dry, and most of the time, no one will know the difference. (That being said, making it is kind of amazing. I told a friend I was making brown sugar awhile ago and they looked at me like I had lost my mind. Thanks for sharing this so others can benefit.)