Brown sugar is an ingredient that I use a lot. It gives a lovely caramel flavour to your baking and it is not that hard to make. Learn how to easily make brown sugar with only two ingredients.

How to Make Brown Sugar

Brown sugar comes in two different ways; a light brown sugar and a dark brown sugar. You can make both of these at home with just two ingredients.

Light Brown Sugar

1 cup (240g) white sugar
1 TBSP molasses (treacle)

Dark Brown Sugar

1 cup (240g) white sugar
2 TBSP molasses (treacle)

Combine the sugar and molasses in a small mixing bowl with a fork or you can rub them together with your fingertips. Mix until the molasses is completely incorporated into the sugar.

This homemade brown sugar should last for months when stored in an air-tight container.

As you may know, brown sugar does have a tendency to clump together. One way to prevent this is to add a slice of white bread to the air-tight container.

No Molasses Alternatives

If you don’t have any molasses you can use, then try one of these. They may have a slightly different flavour, but should still work.

Combine 1 TBSP of maple syrup with 1 cup of white sugar.
Combine 1 TBSP of agave nectar with 1 cup of white sugar.
Combine 1 TBSP of buckwheat honey with 1 cup of white sugar.

Clumping?

If you find that the molasses forms clumps and tiny balls while mixing, just work them out with a spatula. Press the back of the spatula crushing the clumps against the side of the bowl and grind until they disappear.

You could also mix the molasses and sugar together with a hand mixer which would help eliminate this problem as well.

Storing Brown Sugar

Homemade brown sugar should be stored in an airtight container or a ziplock bag with as much pressed out as possible. When stored correctly, it should last for a couple of months.

If too much air gets into your brown sugar, it will harden. So to keep it as soft as possible, remove as much air as you can.

If it does get hard, just place a slice of bread in the container or ziplock bag with it and it should soften within a few hours. The bread will pull the moisture out of the sugar and go hard, leaving the sugar soft.

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