I have this brown sugar problem

[carbonel]

I like to bake, but I don't do it all that often. And lots of the things I bake call for brown sugar. So my usual modus operandi is to decide I'll bake today, go to the cabinet, realize that I have a pound or so of brown sugar (left over from previous baking when I bought a two-pound package), but it's rock-hard. I know about the bread-to-rehydrate-brown-sugar trick, but it takes time, more time than I usually have. So when I go to the store, I buy another package of brown sugar, so I have fresh.

Right now, I have three one-pound lumps of brown sugar, plus a cup or so crumbly but dry brown sugar that was probably rehydrated once and then dried out again.

1. Can I use the crumbly stuff as is? If so, how much (if any) water should I add to compensate for what dried out?

2. If I whiz the rock-hard stuff in my food processor, will it be usable? If so, (again) should I add some extra water to the recipe?

3. Or am I better off going back to the grocery and buying another two-pound package of brown sugar?

4. To avoid this problem in the long run, is there a significant difference between using white sugar plus molasses to substitute for brown sugar? The texture is completely different in the bag, but I don't know if it makes a difference in the baking.

Any help, especially if based on actual experience, appreciated.

Comments

[naomikritzer]

I have been known to whack rock-hard brown sugar on a countertop until it breaks apart. It's fine.

Alternately, if it just won't get crumbly, I eat it straight, like maple sugar candy.

[thomasyan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'll put the lumps in a plastic bag, and whack them with a hammer to repowderize them.

[carbonel]

Thank you very much! This response was both quick and (based on my subsequent experience) correct.

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

This won't help with your current problem, but K has taught me to store brown sugar in two nested Zipock baggies, with as much air removed as possible. This is enough to prevent it from hardening.

B

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

That should work.

I find I can often just very carefully close up the plastic bag the brown sugar comes in, and keep it closed with a fastener or a long rubber band wrapped all around the bag, and THEN put that inside a canister, and that keeps it soft enough.

[pameladean]

Brown sugar is directly substitutable for white, despite its apparent greater moistness, so you would probably need to reduce liquid if you wanted to add molasses.

You can allegedly soften brown sugar in the microwave by putting in a small bowl of water and the open bag with the brown sugar rock in it. Just do it in very small increments of time, because apparently it can simply melt.

P.

[guppiecat]

This is not alleged, I have done it myself. (Though, I suppose, I am alleging that I have done so.)

Tips!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

http://tipnut.com/10-ways-to-soften-hard-brown-sugar/

I like the last one best: Keep it in the freezer.

Re: Tips!

[lsanderson.livejournal.com]

Too Cheap tip:

Once to save a piece of quite hard Parmesan cheese, I threw it in the blender. It broke the blender cap, which (had I replaced it) cost more than the cheese, and the cheese with plastic blender cap bits didn't exactly appeal either.

Re: Tips!

[carbonel]

Keeping it in the freezer only works if you have time to thaw it. My basic problem is failure to plan ahead with regard to brown sugar. It's an elegant solution, though.