How to Make Homemade Brown Sugar

How to Make Your Own Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is a staple ingredient in my pantry, but there are times when I find myself running out of it and needing a replacement in a pinch. Usually, I would zip over to the store and buy some brown sugar, but you can also make brown sugar easily at home. This …

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How to Make Your Own Brown Sugar

Brown sugar is a staple ingredient in my pantry, but there are times when I find myself running out of it and needing a replacement in a pinch. Usually, I would zip over to the store and buy some brown sugar, but you can also make brown sugar easily at home. This basic recipe will produce a brown sugar that is similar in color and flavor to the “golden brown” brown sugar that you can buy at most grocery stores, a great all purpose brown sugar that can be used in any recipe.

How to Make Homemade Brown Sugar
Combine 1 cup of white sugar with 1 tablespoon of molasses. Mix until completely combined and uniform in color.

You can mix the molasses in by using a fork or, believe it or not, by using your fingers to “rub” the molasses in the exact same way you might rub butter into a pie crust. That said, the process goes much more quickly if you combine everything in a food processor and whizz it a few times. I only pull out my food processor if I’m doing a large batch, however, and generally mix it by hand if I need a small amount.

For a lighter flavor, simply cut back the molasses to 2 teaspoons. If you want a stronger molasses flavor for a “dark brown” brown sugar, increase the molasses by 2-3 teaspoons.

Homemade brown sugar can be substituted for store-bought brown sugar in baking recipes. The texture and flavor will be almost exactly like store-bought brown sugar. The brown sugar should be packed in a measuring cup when measuring it out, just like store-bought brown sugar. You will also need to store it in an airtight container for it to maintain its soft, moist texture (see also: How to Keep Brown Sugar Soft). A ziploc bag is a great airtight option for any brown sugar (homemade or store-bought), but a tupperware-type container with an airtight lid is a good choice, too.

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How to Use Rice as a Pie Weight

How to Use Rice as a Pie Weight

The crust is the foundation of most pie recipes and many of those recipes call for the crusts to be blind baked. Blind baking is when you partially bake (or sometimes fully bake) the crust before adding the filling, which helps ensure that the finished pie and crust combination …

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How to Use Rice as a Pie Weight

The crust is the foundation of most pie recipes and many of those recipes call for the crusts to be blind baked. Blind baking is when you partially bake (or sometimes fully bake) the crust before adding the filling, which helps ensure that the finished pie and crust combination will both be completely cooked through.

Most pastry doughs have layers of butter or other fats that are intended to make the baked pastries tender and flaky. They also tend to puff up during baking if they aren’t weighed down – so bakers tend to use pie weights to keep the crust in place while its in the oven. You can buy pie weights at most baking stores, but dried beans are a commonly recommended substitute. But what if you don’t have beans to use as pie weights? Learn how to use rice as a pie weight instead!

How to Use Rice as a Pie Weight

Rice is extremely easy to use as a pie weight and it is my go-to when it comes to baking pie crusts. You will need 1-2 cups of uncooked rice to weight down your pastry for an average 9-inch pie. To use the rice as a pie weight, roll out your pie crust and shape it into your pie dish. Gently press a piece of aluminum foil over the top of the unbaked crust, then fill the foil with the uncooked rice. Bake the crust as directed by your recipe.

When the crust is baked – either partially or fully – lift out the aluminum foil and pour the uncooked rice into a plastic bag or small storage container to use for the next time. You can use parchment paper in place of foil, but the foil is a bit easier to press into the corners of the pie and will often give you better coverage. There is no need to grease the foil, since there is plenty of butter or other fat in your pastry crust already.

How to Use Rice as a Pie Weight

Rice works beautifully here for a few reasons. First, even more people have rice on hand than uncooked beans. Second, the rice really fills the pie crusts evenly, getting into small corners where beans and other pie weights find it difficult to fit. Finally. uncooked rice has very little moisture, so it doesn’t change shape and cools down easily after baking.

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