Make It Yourself: Brown Sugar

I recently discovered you can “make” brown sugar. Fancy that. But, why on earth would you?

Because you live in Germany, the land of no-brown-sugar-as-we-Americans-know-it. Naturally.

We do have something here called Brauner Rohr-zucker which is raw sugar, the crunchy crystal kind. I much prefer this to white sugar, but it just doesn’t hold up in certain recipes. Say, a caramel glaze for instance..

I’ve always thought that brown sugar was more nutritionally high brow than white. In some way, somehow. But, that’s unfortunately incorrect, unless it’s the less refined (raw) kind. Brown sugar is just white sugar with molasses put back in.

And that’s the plain truth.

Sad, ain’t it?

Well, no matter. Some recipes just HAVE to be made. And sometimes those recipes call for molasses-y white sugar.

So, let’s forget about nutrition and make our own brown sugar!

I had plenty of Zuckerrubensirup left over from making gingerbread men and gingerbread cake.

This is so very simple, it might blow your mind. Two ingredients: molasses and white sugar.

1 cup white sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons molasses

That’s it.

But, it would be right up my alley to make a mess out of something so (seemingly) mundane.

Pour the molasses in the sugar, but don't bother using the spatula to stir. It'll just get in the way.

Let’s talk technique.

I read somewhere you can use a fork. Or a handmixer. Or a food processor. After my experience making colored sugar for Christmas cookies, I was up for trying something different. I went with the handmixer since my food processor isn’t very big. I apparently have size issues, because I picked the smallest of my (three) bowls.

Big mistake.

If you’re going to use a handmixer (and I advise that you don’t), be forewarned that the sugar will whimsically spray about in the air before landing on your mopped-the-day-before floor. You will then step in the brownish-crunchy bits and track your project all over tarnation.

The fork looks nice, but if you go this route, it'll take you ages. Which is fine if you're watching Person of Interest.

Trust me, use the food processor. A bigger bowl won’t help you (and yes, I tried that).

After cleaning up three times the dishes you should have, store your fancy schmancy brown sugar in an ordinary ziploc bag (or airtight container with a customized label if you really ARE fancy schmancy).

Finally! The right texture for brown-sugar-as-I-know-it. The color was a bit more orange-y than I remember, but perhaps that's because I used zuckerrubensirup and not ACTUAL molasses.

Now, make something delicious. Oh, and send me a piece. God knows I love to eat. Sweets.