How to Soften Hardened Brown Sugar

DIY 3 Minutes

Nothing is more frustrating than getting out the ingredients to bake something and find out one of your brown sugar has turned into a rock.  The Pioneer Woman has these tips forsoftening that rock into a useable ingredient again.

From The Pioneer Woman website:

Every home cook has been there: You’re getting ready to bake, you reach into your pantry to get your ingredients and you realize your brown sugar is hard as a rock. Don’t worry! Once you know how to soften brown sugar, you can get back to business—and back to making treats like Ree Drummond’s brown sugar oatmeal cookies or her favorite turkey brine for Thanksgiving. Don’t just toss your brown sugar and use granulated instead—brown sugar has a unique molasses flavor and adds tons of moisture to baked goods.

So what went wrong? The main reason your brown sugar is super hard is because it dried out. After you open a package of brown sugar, you instantly release some of the natural moisture in the sugar. The exposure to open air dries and hardens both the sugar crystals and the molasses in the sugar, making the sugar crystals stick together. The end result: brown sugar that feels more like stone than damp sand! But the good news is your brown sugar is still totally usable. The even better news is that reviving your solid brown sugar is simple—just restore the moisture. Read on to learn how to soften brown sugar in a few different ways. And to keep your brown sugar from hardening in the first place, store it in a tightly-sealed food storage container that isn’t prone to rust (don’t just fold down the top of the bag and hope for the best). You can also add a brown sugar saver to your container, like a brown sugar bear, which can help maintain moisture in brown sugar for up to six months.

How to Soften Brown Sugar in the Microwave:

This is the fastest and easiest way to soften hardened brown sugar. Just place your block of brown sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Wet a paper towel and squeeze until just slightly damp. Lay the paper towel over the brown sugar and microwave it in 20-second intervals, loosening the sugar with a fork between each interval, until the sugar has returned to its normal texture.

How to Soften Brown Sugar Without a Microwave:

This method will take a little longer, but it’ll do the trick! Place your hardened brown sugar in a secure plastic container or bag. Then, lay a slice of sandwich bread on top of the brown sugar and cover the container with the lid or seal it if using a bag. Let sit for at least 12 hours (or overnight). This method works like magic—the moisture from the bread is transferred to the brown sugar, helping it get back to its normally soft texture. You can also use the same method with apple slices. All you have to do is lay an apple slice or two on top of the brown sugar and apply the same technique as with the slice of sandwich bread.

How to Soften Brown Sugar in the Oven:

To soften brown sugar in the oven, place the hardened pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the brown sugar in the oven and warm at 250 degrees. Check on the brown sugar every couple minutes or so and break it up with a fork until soft. Allow the brown sugar to cool slightly before trying to use it in a recipe. Remember, you don’t want to cook or melt the brown sugar, you just want to soften it—so don’t try to speed up the process by raising the temperature of the oven.

How Do You Keep Brown Sugar From Hardening?

Store brown sugar the right way to keep it from hardening after you’ve opened the package. Chances are, your brown sugar came in either a plastic bag or a box with plastic packaging inside. In either case, once you’ve opened the sugar, you should transfer it to an airtight container to keep it moist, or stick the whole thing in a large resealable plastic bag. This way, your brown sugar will maintain as much moisture as possible and be “scoopable” and ready for baking. That way, you won’t have to resort to using a brown sugar substitute.

SOURCE: THE PIONEER WOMAN

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Published by pat frederick

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107 thoughts on “How to Soften Hardened Brown Sugar”

  1. Morning All
    cloudy this morning…hubby says rain is on the way. i took the jelly feeder out to tie to the railing and there were several orioles in the trees scolding me…gees fellas…it’s only 6 o’clock!

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Good morning! Temp is 65 but windy – had a humdinger of a storm pass thru during the night. Wheezer came and ate at some point. Of course the jelly feeder was nothing but water. The WP block was down to just a few clumps so I broke them up and scattered them on the ground under the feeder – the Turtle Doves enjoyed a rare treat…..until the squirrel chased them away. I haven’t gotten my Menards rebate check yet so no WP blocks for a while. Another storm moving in today, unfortunately, but most of this week should be nice – clear for the most part, with temps in the high 70’s to low 80’s, allegedly.

      The last suggestion – put the opened package inside a ziplock bag – is what I do with my brown sugar and it always stays soft.

      Liked by 1 person

        1. Huh….it’s always worked for me. I used to keep it in the smallest of the 4 cannisters on the back of my stove and it did get hard in that. That’s when I switched to leaving it in the original bag, folding over the top and sealing it in a zip lock bag. I’ve not had another issue since then.

          Liked by 1 person

  7. how to turn the tables on the maggot…legally…

    (((tedfrank))) Profile picture

    (((tedfrank)))

    @tedfrank

    13h• 3 tweets • 3 min read •

    Read on X

    Let’s have some fun with the new norms.

    Iowa Code § 39A.2(d)(1) makes it a felony when someone “Pays, offers to pay, or causes to be paid money or any other thing of value to a person to influence the person’s vote.” Pretty confident a lot of other states with ambitious attorneys general have similar laws.

    Student loan forgiveness is a thing of value.

    Biden aficionados have said that loan forgiveness would influence the vote; it’s generally understood that the White House has been pushing the terrible regressive policy for electoral reasons. There are probably smoking gun emails or memos or texts among Biden staffers saying just that. Biden is certainly campaigning on it.

    Now, normally, the official acts of a president would be beyond state law. But as we saw from the Georgia indictment victims’ attempts to remove to federal court, illegal acts aren’t official acts. And these acts in particular were ultra vires; indeed, Biden supporters like Nancy Pelosi said as much in 2021, so he should have known he didn’t, and the Supreme Court ultimately agreed.

    And there sure were a lot of government staffers who conspired with Biden on this.

    Now, this is certainly an extension of a law never used this way before. But when has that ever stopped a prosecutor from going after a president under the New Normal? After all, no one is above the law unless they’re violent criminals or shoplifters or Hamas supporters blocking roads.


    Oh, look, Florida. “No person shall directly or indirectly give or promise anything of value to another intending thereby to buy that person’s or another’s vote or to corruptly influence that person or another in casting his or her vote.” Fla. Code § 104.061(2). Is acting unconstitutionally corrupt?

    It would be entertaining to see hundreds of reporters required to spend weeks in Cheyenne, WY, over whether dozens of Democrats conspired to feloniously violate § 22-26-109(a)(1). Just because Biden lost the state 26-70 doesn’t mean he can’t get a fair trial.

    Liked by 1 person

  9. Liked by 1 person

  10. interesting article about bragg’s case. it’s a criminal case–therefore a key element is missing–the police. a criminal case says a crime was committed and therefore there should have been a complaint or a police officer witnessing a crime. then there is the investigation which then lands on the prosecutor’s desk and he decides if there’s enough evidence that a crime has been committed.

    didn’t happen here. AND the documents they claim were falsified were INTERNAL Trump Company documents. no one ever should have seen them. they weren’t used in trying to obtain a loan or mortgage so they were not used in fraud at all.

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/06/the_missing_element_in_bragg_s_case.html

    Liked by 1 person

  12. Liked by 1 person

  19. National Pulse, Jack Montgomery, Sunday, June 2, 2024

    “Farage Stands by Trump After Sham Conviction: ‘The World Will Be a Much Safer Place with Him in the White House.’

    farage

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Brexit leader Nigel Farage is sticking by his decision to forgo standing in the British election on July 4 in favor of campaigning for Donald Trump, despite the former President’s sham conviction in Manhattan.

    “Yes, of course I’m going to stand up and defend Donald Trump,” Farage told British media when asked if he has any regrets. “And I’ll tell you why, because I believe the world, uncertain as it is, will be a much safer place with him in the White House than Joe Biden,” he explained, citing the former president’s record of negotiating peace and trade accords between Arab states and Israel, in particular.

    Reacting to Trump’s conviction directly on X, formerly Twitter, Farage wrote that the “verdict is a disgrace” and predicted Trump would “win big” as a result.

    Earlier this month, Farage said a “strong America as a close ally is vital for [Britain’s] peace and security” and pledged to “help with the grassroots campaign in the USA in any way I can.”

    He campaigned for Trump during the 2016 election. The then-future president, in turn, backed Brexit ahead of Britain’s prior European Union referendum and hosted Farage, National Pulse Editor-in-Chief Raheem Kassam, and other Brexit leaders at Trump Tower after he became President-elect.”

    Liked by 1 person

  20. National Pulse: “Ohio Mandates Biden’s Inclusion on Ballot Following RINO Gov. DeWine’s Demand”

    ENTIRE ARTICLE: “Ohio’s Republican-majority legislature has passed a bill to ensure Joe Biden’s inclusion on the state’s November ballot. This action concludes a period of partisan disputes over a deadline traditionally adjusted without controversy. The legislation was approved during a special session of the state Senate on Friday and now awaits the signature of Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, who demanded the session to address the Biden issue. DeWine is anticipated to sign the bill.

    State Sen. Rob McColley, a Republican, expressed support for the measure, emphasizing that Ohioans deserve a choice in the upcoming election. “I don’t think anybody on this side of the aisle really feels like they’re going to be voting for President Biden, but at the same time, Ohioans deserve a choice in this election, and that’s what we’re seeking to give them today,” McColley said on Friday.

    The bill’s approval may not halt the Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) initiative to nominate Biden through a virtual roll call vote before the state’s August 7 deadline. Democratic state Sen. Bill DeMora remarked during the session that the measure could potentially eliminate the need for a virtual meeting, though he was not certain.

    The DNC has scheduled a meeting on Tuesday to progress a resolution for the virtual roll call, with a full vote planned thereafter. Historically, both parties have adjusted their late summer conventions to meet earlier state certification deadlines. Ohio adjusted its deadline four years ago for both parties without significant issues. This year, the complication affects only Democrats, as the GOP has a mid-July convention.

    The bill now awaits Governor DeWine‘s decision.”

    Liked by 1 person

  21. EXCERPT: “Following the conviction of former President Donald Trump in the New York hush money trial, multiple legal experts explained the various possibilities of sentencing and appeal routes that could occur in the upcoming months.

    With Trump’s sentencing over a month away, several legal experts weighed in on the sentence that Trump may receive and how his appeals process could unfold. While the experts believes that Trump will win on appeal, they said it won’t be before the election, and that his sentencing could include prison.

    On Thursday, Trump was found guilty by a New York jury on all 34 counts of falsifying business records during his 2016 presidential bid to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet an alleged sexual encounter with her for the purpose of “influencing the election.”

    Trump, the 2024 presumptive GOP presidential nominee, is the first U.S. president to be found guilty of felony crimes.

    —————-

    Several legal experts believe that Trump would win on appeal, but disagree on the timing of the appeals process. Some of them also noted that Trump could end up in prison.

    Heritage Foundation senior legal fellow Hans von Spakovsky told the “Just the News, No Noise” TV show on Thursday that “the New York appeals court has to put this all on an expedited schedule.”

    He added that if Trump’s appeal to the New York Appellate Division is not successful, then a direct appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court instead of the New York Court of Appeals — New York’s highest court — might be in the cards, because the violations that occurred in this particular case violate the federal Constitution and the substantive due process rights of a defendant….”

    https://justthenews.com/politics-policy/all-things-trump/appeal-sentence-possibilities-after-conviction-trump-hush-money

    Liked by 1 person

  22. Just The News: “Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., on Saturday called for New York to receive no federal funding due to the recent conviction of former President Donald Trump.

    “NO Federal funding to New York!” Greene wrote on the social media platform, X.  “I’m calling for it!!! New York needs to drop their conviction of Pres Trump!”

    A New York jury found Trump guilty on all 34 counts of falsifying business records during his 2016 presidential bid to conceal a hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with her.

    Trump, who is also the 2024 presumptive GOP presidential nominee, now becomes the first U.S. president to be found guilty of felony crimes. Multiple Republicans have spoken out against this verdict and Trump has vowed to appeal it. 

    “The whole thing was illegal! Republicans should not vote to fund a single penny to that corrupt state,” Greene’s post continued.”

    Liked by 1 person

  23. Just The News: “Celebrities who previously endorsed President Joe Biden in 2020 have come out and said they won’t endorse him in 2024. Some of the celebrities include rapper Cardi B and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, both of whom endorsed Biden in 2020. 

    Johnson told “Fox and Friends” in April that he would not endorse Biden this year and said he regretted endorsing him last time due to the division he believes it caused in the country, according to Fox News. 

    Cardi B, who endorsed Biden in 2020, said she won’t endorse him this year because she feels like “people got betrayed” due to the high cost of living, adding “damn, y’all not caring about nobody.” She said during an interview with Rolling Stone magazine that she felt “layers and layers of disappointment” over both foreign and domestic mismanagement by the Biden administration. 

    Comedian Michael Rapaport previously endorsed Biden, but withdrew his support due to the president’s handling of the Israel-Gaza war. He felt that Biden’s support of Israel was insufficient. He even said that he was open to voting for former President Donald Trump in the next election.” 

    Liked by 1 person

    1. I just watched Eric Trump on Maria’s show – they are up $200M – Sheldon Adelson’s surviving spouse committed more than $100M to his campaign.

      Liked by 1 person

  28. “Charitable Devils: Philanthropy and the Deep State — How the deep political establishment utilize tax-exempt foundations to subvert America”

    RYAN DELARME, JUN 02, 2024

    EXCERPT: “The international deep political establishment is not a single cohesive entity but a massive network with many moving parts, some of them operating in full view of the public while others move below the surface, undetected.

    It is not wholly American, though it has made this once great nation its primary host. Like the Cordyceps fungi, the transnational, criminal ruling class has infected the very minds of this nation and spread its crippling ideologies to many other nations in the process.

    Former New York mayor John F. Hylan accurately described what he called an “invisible government” back in 1922, when he claimed:

    “The real menace of our republic is this invisible government which, like a giant octopus….At the head of this octopus are the Rockefeller—Standard Oil interests and a small group of powerful banking houses generally referred to as the international bankers [who] virtually run the U.S. government for their own selfish purposes.”[#]

    Hylan’s depiction of the invisible government as an octopus is still relevant today, more than 100 years later, though the players and institutions have changed with the times.

    In Hylan’s era, Standard Oil played a significant role, and the influence of the Rockefellers and their Foundation is still evident today. However, in contemporary times, the leading globalist think tanks, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, the Bilderbergs, the Trilateral Commission, and the World Economic Forum, dominate the scene.

    But the head only serves to house the brain, it is the nervous system and the extremities, or tentacles, of the octopus that facilitate the will of the head, and in the case of the Deep State, those tentacles are a tightly woven network of tax-exempt foundations, charities and nonprofits.

    Foundations and non-profit organizations play a significant role in the US economy. The IRS estimates that 1.97 million nonprofits were active in the United States in 2022, of which 1.48 million were 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations……”

    https://postliberalnews.substack.com/p/charitable-devils-philanthropy-and

    Liked by 1 person

  29. Post
    Conversation
    Bonchie
    @bonchieredstate
    He’s citing God to justify mutilating kids in the name of trans ideology.

    However evil you think this guy is, it’s not enough.

    President Biden
    @POTUS
    To the entire LGBTQI+ community – especially young trans Americans – know that your president and my entire Administration have your back.

    We see you for who you are: made in the image of God and deserving of dignity, respect, and support.

    Liked by 1 person

  32. Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 Profile picture

    Julie Kelly 🇺🇸

    @julie_kelly2

    2h• 2 tweets • 2 min read •

    Read on X

    A new defense motion in FLA documents case accuses Jack Smith of continuing to slow walk handing over evidence.

    This relates to a disclosure in bombshell Jan motion that outlined collusion btw NARA, Biden WH, DOJ, and other agencies to manufacture some sort of documents crime against Donald Trump right after he left office.

    Part of the motion revealed that Dept of Energy (run by former MI Dem gov Jennifer Granholm) discovered AFTER Smith filed his June 2023 indictment that Trump still maintained a “Q” (not that Q) security clearance.

    DOE then retroactively terminated Trump’s security clearance.

    Trump’s lawyers asked—and Cannon ordered—the production of some records related to how the termination of the clearance came about. Smith, of course, is attempting to conceal the paper trail.

    And it appears the special counsel is referring to the post-indictment
    discovery and termination of Trump’s clearance as an “after action” report.

    I can only imagine how Judge Cannon reacted to that (appears that description was discussed in sealed motion and/or hearing)

    The last paragraph seems to suggest the defense will ask Cannon to order the special counsel to produce similar records from other departments.

    For example—did DOJ or Biden WH ask every fed agency including DOD to search for security clearances for Trump and if any such clearances existed to retroactively terminate those as well?

    Judge Cannon took quite a bit of time during an April hearing to walk through how security clearances worked. She wanted special counsel on the record to explain the government’s position on the conferral and termination of a clearance.

    Jay Bratt claimed a clearance automatically ends once an individual leaves office or his position.

    Of course that’s not true (I believe in one motion disputing that claim, Trump raised John Brennan’s clearance, which he terminated.)

    If Trump still held official clearances at the time of the indictment, it blows a huge hole in the “willful” and “unauthorized” elements of the Espionage Act charges.

    Liked by 1 person

  33. “RFK Jr. Campaign Hurt Most by Trump Conviction!”

    CLANDESTINE, JUN 02, 2024

    “The biggest loser from this “convicted felon” fiasco might be RFK Jr.

    RFK Jr.’s campaign revolves around being the alternative to the “duopoly”, implying Trump is part of the Deep State.

    But this blatant lawfare has solidified that Trump is the biggest threat to the Deep State. Trump is drawing more attention and eliciting a bigger response from the enemy than RFK Jr. is.

    This blasts a hole in the entire RFK Jr. narrative and campaign strategy. How are they going to convince people that Trump is part of the Deep State, when the Biden regime are expending this much ammunition to stopping him?

    The enemy are telling us who they fear most with their actions. It’s Trump.”

    Liked by 1 person

  34. I ran over to Bomgaars to pick up another small tomato cage; while I was rummaging for some appropriate wire, I spied some of those plastic baskets that are often used for kitchen utensils. Some of them have solid bottoms so the sun wouldn’t get thru but a couple of them have open grid bottoms. I found a yellow one that wasn’t too big and it works perfectly! I did get another tomato cage – cost a whopping $1.82 – but I still would have had to juggle the wire around the outside. This saves me a TON of work/effort! Finally, I’ve got all 5 hills safe from the bunnies now but open to the sun.

    Liked by 1 person

  35. Temp is up to 76, with clouds all around but mostly sunny and really windy off and on. There is a slight potential of some dangerous storms yet. The poor WP’s are baffled since there is no suet for them now. I put one of my smaller suet cakes in a small square hanger underneath the jelly feeder, with the nectar feeder on the other hook, but they’re not interested. The finches, OTOH, are all over it! LOL – I looked for WP blocks at Bomgaars, then remembered that they’ve never carried them in the Creighton store.

    Liked by 1 person

  40. “This guy may be a bigger scumbag than we’ve ever experienced, and it’s only now finally coming out in public. If she’s testifying against him, he may be screwed to the point that only a Presidential pardon will save his ass from jail. 

    He owes his ex-wife almost three million bucks, dumped her and started fucking his dead brother’s widow, he’s a crackhead and god knows what else. There may actually be a special place in hell for him, but can you imagine how the streets will erupt if Trump goes to jail and he gets off somehow? 

    Stock up on ammo, bubba. The full story is here.”

    Liked by 1 person

  43. i thought you couldn’t classify things that are an EMBARRASSMENT to officials?

    Paul Sperry

    @paulsperry_

    BREAKING: Attorney General Merrick Garland has classified at the highest level the audio tapes of Biden’s embarrassingly incoherent interview with Special Counsel Hur over two days, and has locked the tapes away in a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF

    Liked by 1 person

  44. Julie Kelly 🇺🇸

    @julie_kelly2

    2h• 3 tweets • 1 min read •

    Read on X

    Good. Chief Judge of 11th District stops the orchestrated attacks on Judge Aileen Cannon.

    “Although many of the complaints allege an improper motive in delaying the case, the allegations are speculative and unsupported by any evidence.”

    GFY @glennkirschner2

    The same “legal experts” who insist Juan Merchan is legit–even admitting to “man crushes” on the compromised judge–are aiding a coordinated attack against Cannon, which has already led to at least one serious death threat resulting in prison time for the threat maker.

    I do hope the court maintains records of who sent in the complaints.

    Any officer of the court who participated in the coordinated attack should be identified and reprimanded accordingly.

    Liked by 1 person

  45. his administration lies, cheats and steals their way thru everything…

    FTA

    While the Biden administration is attempting to look like it’s getting tough on the border, behind the scenes it’s operating a program of a “mass amnesty” for migrants, The Post can reveal.

    Data shows that since 2022, more than 350,000 asylum cases filed by migrants have been closed by the US government if the applicants don’t have a criminal record or are otherwise not deemed a threat to the country.

    This means that while the migrants are not granted or denied asylum — their cases are “terminated without a decision on the merits of their asylum claim” — they are removed from the legal system and no longer required to check in with authorities.

    The move allows them to legally, indefinitely roam about the US without fear of deportation, effectively letting them slip through the cracks.

    “This is just a massive amnesty under the guise of prosecutorial discretion,” according to Andrew Arthur, a former immigration judge who now works for the Center for Immigration Studies.

    “You’re basically allowing people who don’t have a right to be in the United States to be here indefinitely,” he added to The Post.

    ICE officers add that they have seen an increase in cases of such migrants committing crimes after their asylum cases have been dismissed, forcing agents to restart removal proceedings — which typically take years.

    https://nypost.com/2024/06/02/us-news/biden-admin-offers-mass-amnesty-to-migrants-as-it-quietly-terminates-350000-asylum-cases-sources/

    Liked by 2 people

    1. I’m seeing old news is new contexts. I’ve been going over September, 2018 issues of the NYT, saved in stacks of various papers. The NYT didn’t like Trump then and is gloating over his conviction now. Back then, Climate Change was the NYT’s focus, but it also played up stories about Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court appointment including an accusation of sexual harrassment in college days. There was also the flak about the EPA director, and about AG Jeff Sessions. Hmmmmm . . .

      Liked by 1 person

  48. I go for easy. I use brown sugar to sweeten coffee, so store it in a container that once contained pre-fab cake frosting, which I used on Vanilla wafers. I store salt in an old yogurt container, because salt hardens, too, in this humid climate.

    Liked by 2 people

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