Half Baked Ideas – Bizarre Brown Sugar

Sometimes my Make Your Own creations sure don’t turn out like I think they will. I had jotted down a recipe I came across for making your own brown sugar. It said to mix together a 1/2 cup of white sugar and 2 tablespoons of unsulphured molasses. Well, I thought, that sounds easy.

The result, however, was not brown sugar. It was a wet clump of sugar that smelled to high heaven of molasses. It did not resemble brown sugar in the least and I couldn’t imagine putting that in a recipe and having it give off the same taste as brown sugar would. It ended up in the trash can.

I’m setting up a category in my blog for these little experiments that don’t turn out, but debated for quite a while on what to call them. Failures? The Hall of Shame? But that’s not true because there is no shame and no failing in trying something even if it doesn’t turn out perfect. Every time we try, we learn. And every time we learn, we grow.

So these are going to be my Half Baked Ideas. I know that someday all these learning experiences will add up to some fully baked ideas that do turn out!

Update: When at first I didn’t succeed, I tried, tried again. Read the updated post about successfully making homemade brown sugar.

= = > How To Make Brown Sugar

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4 Comments

  1. To make your own brown sugar you take 1 cup white sugar and 1 tablespoon regular mollasses. Perfect every time.I use this.

  2. The process works; traditional brown sugar is literally white granulated sugar with molasses mixed in. I haven’t bought brown sugar in about thirteen years!

    The proportions you were given, though are way off. I never measure, but Wikipedia suggests something along the lines of 1 tablespoon molasses to 1 cup regular white sugar. The best thing about it is that it’s so easy to fix! Too dark? Add a tad more sugar. Too light? Just a bare drizzle of molasses.

    I like to mix small batches with with my pastry blender or a fork. But if I’m using my blender or food processor for a recipe containing brown sugar, I’ll mix up four cups or so In it before I start the recipe. Easy, and no unnecessary cleanup; after all, I would have been cleaning it anyway.

  3. I have made my own brown sugar and once you get the ratio right, it is WAY better than store bought! I would use about 1 TBS molasses to 2 cups sugar. I put it in a big ziplock bag and mix. Start with a little molasses and then add more until it looks right. I like mine a little darker than store bought. It is the best.