The query this time comes from me--the Oatmeal Cookie Guy himself. After taking a little break from baking, I found that my big old bag of dark brown sugar had hardened into solid, unpackable, and unusable chunks. Arghhh...so frustrating!
I'm sure a few of you have found yourself in this situation as well. You're all set to start baking and are faced with brown sugar hard enough to bust your Kitchen Aid. But fear not! After some research, I found that you don't have to interrupt what you're doing and run out to the grocery store. You can reclaim hardened brown sugar in three easy steps:
1. Put your chunks of brown sugar in a large bowl and microwave on high, two minutes at a time, until soft and loose. (My sugar took four spins in the microwave for a total of eight minutes.)
2. After each two-minute interval, break up the chunks with a fork.
3. Once you've got the desired texture, let the sugar cool a little bit, and then put in an airtight container along with a piece of bread.
Voila! You've softened your haredend brown sugar and are good to go.
if you're not in a hurry to use it, all you need to do is add the bread. I usually only use the microwave if I have to use it immediately.
Posted by: Cathy | April 18, 2011 at 11:19 PM
Haha I do what Cathy does as well, the bread method works! Although I suppose it would only work if you knew in advance that you needed it, in which case microwaving would probably work better.
The problem I actually find is having butter at room temperature! I know its pretty simple and you have to leave it, but since my baking is usually spontaneous it's always such a pain to have to wait!
Oh also P.S. I'd just like to mention, in case you read this comment that I've just recently found this blog and what I like the most about it are the progress photos that you post with the recipe. Thanks a bunch
(Alsoo, I'm reposting this since it got wiped out after logging in, sorry if its already posted without me knowing!)
Posted by: Christycee.blogspot.com | April 19, 2011 at 01:14 AM