Imagine: you measure your ingredients before cooking or baking, but when you get to a bag of brown sugar, it seems to have hardened into a hard, stone-like substance. Chances are, if you are a frequent baker, you have found yourself in this situation. But can this problem be solved? Fortunately, the answer is “yes” – there are several proven and real tricks that restore brown sugar. How to soften brown sugar?
If you have 2 to 3 days
If you have several days to revive your brown sugar, your results will last longer. Moisture is reintroduced gradually and the sugar will remain soft as long as you keep it in an airtight container.
How to do it
Place the cured brown sugar in an airtight container. Before replacing the cover, cover the sugar with a sheet of foil (creating a small barrier). Also, put a piece of wet (but not dripping) wet paper towel. Place the lid on the container and seal it tightly. After two to three days, the sugar should absorb moisture, and you should be able to move it with a fork and separate it. Store in an airtight container; sugar should remain soft.
If you have about 20 minutes
Oven method:
If you are going to use your hardened brown sugar soon, preheat the oven to 250 F. Remove brown sugar from the packaging and transfer it to a safe oven where there is little space so that the sugar does not fly when you break it out of the oven.
When the sugar is in the oven, monitor it carefully, checking it every few minutes. You will start to notice that its texture is starting to soften. Remove from the oven and check the breaking of brown sugar with a spoon. If it is soft enough, measure the amount you need immediately. Use extreme caution when measuring because sugar may become quite hot. But do not wait for the sugar to cool down, because unlike the 2-3 day method, the sugar will harden quite quickly after this method.
If you need it now
Remove brown sugar from the packaging. If the sugar has formed into a large block in the bag, you can spread it a bit, like a large piece of ice. Put it in a microwave-safe bowl with a spacious room to have some space so that sugar does not fly after breaking it when it comes out of the microwave.
Cover the sugar with two pieces of moist (non-dripping) paper towels. On top of paper towels, cover the bowl with a plastic wrap with microwaves. Heat high in the microwave in 30-second increments until soft. This may vary depending on the microwave and the degree to which brown sugar has become. Remove from the microwave and mix with a fork, but be careful because the sugar may be quite hot. As with the oven, be careful with hot sugar, but measure it as soon as possible, because the sugar again moistened with this method will harden quickly when the sugar cools down.
