Doesn't it drive you crazy when you go to use your brown sugar and find it hard as a rock? I use brown sugar in both my baking and even in savory dishes so I'm always opening the jar to get a teaspoon or more while in the kitchen. I just used brown sugar the other day when I baked my Pineapple Upside-Down Cake for Easter. So the last thing I wanted while happily baking was to deal with brown sugar that was like a concrete rock. I heard a while back that you can place a slice of bread with the sugar and it would keep the brown sugar from turning hard. It actually worked. The only problem I had with the bread was it also got stale and dried out then it would leave bread crumbs in the sugar. I certainly don't want little bread crumbs in my cake!
Then my mother sent me an email a while back about using store bought marshmallows to keep the brown sugar from getting hard. I had to give that a try. I knew an airtight container was necessary to also help in the process of keeping the brown sugar fresh and softened. So, I layered a few large marshmallows in the bottom of a glass jar and then placed a whole bag of brown sugar. I finished off with a few more marshmallows on top and sealed the lid. I waited a couple of weeks to see if it would stay soft and ....... YES it did!
What I like about the marshmallow method is that they don't crumble like the bread and they are also sugar so it's not as bad even if they did.
Now if you run into some hard brown sugar and your need it fast, you can soften it by placing it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time. In between microwaving you will have to try to break it apart until it's all loose and softened. Now I can't guarantee that's not frustrating to do because I tried it a few times and sometimes it works and sometimes that brick of brown sugar is just not going to budge. I say it's better to prevent the sugar from turning into that concrete brick first. Happy Baking!
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| Place a few marshmallows at the bottom of the jar |
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| Place brown sugar and then a few more marshmallows |
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