Making Homemade Brown and Powdered Sugar

I'm sure you've had one of those moments when making cookies, frosting, or some other dessert when you realized your sugar supply had run dry. Certain recipes depend on brown sugar for moisture or powdered sugar for fluffiness...so you wouldn't want to simply replace these ingredients with their plain sugar alternatives. Nor do you feel like running to the store...

Well, no longer must you take either of those steps to meet your sugar needs. Brown sugar and powdered sugar can be EASILY made at home with ingredients most of us have readily available. Powdered and brown sugar can also be expensive at the grocery store, so if you're looking to save money and still make delicious desserts, its time to consider making these sugars at home.

Homemade Brown Sugar

Homemade brown sugar is a snap to make and requires only 2 simple ingredients- granulated white sugar and molasses. In order to make brown sugar, simply take a cup of granulated white sugar and add 1 to 2 tablespoons of molasses (keep in mind, the more molasses you add, the darker the brown sugar will be). You can then either mix the two ingredients with a fork or toss them in a food processor or blender to mix.

Store your homemade brown sugar in an airtight container. This is very important because brown sugar depends on moisture to stay malleable-if the moisture is lost, your brown sugar will become hard as a rock. If this happens, simply place a wet paper towel on the hard lump of sugar, seal in a container, and by morning it will once again be fluffy.

Homemade Powdered Sugar

Homemade powdered sugar is even easier to make than brown sugar and requires less ingredients! All you need to make homemade powdered sugar is granulated white sugar. Simply place 1 cup of granulated white sugar into a blender or food processor and let it rip! The result will be nice and light powdered sugar.

If you don't plan on using the powdered sugar right away and want it to store nicely, mix in a little cornstarch into the sugar as it processes in the blender. One tablespoon of cornstarch to 1 cup of sugar should be sufficient. Again, store in an airtight container!

FYI to Vegetarians and Vegans out there!

In case you all didn't know (I didn't until recently), most granulated white sugar that we buy at the store is not vegetarian or vegan! Sugar processing companies use bone char (yes, made from the bones of cows) to whiten granulated sugar. Yes, it is disgusting! Under resources, you'll find a website with a list of sugar manufacturers that do NOT use bone char as a filter to whiten sugar.