How to Make Homemade Light Brown Sugar

Learn how to make Homemade Light Brown Sugar with just two simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry! Making organic light brown sugar at home will make it last so much longer, and it's cheaper than store bought!

If you're looking for more homemade ingredient recipes, check out some of my other favorites like Homemade Organic Cake Flour, Homemade Blueberry Syrup, How to Make Vanilla Sea Salt, Homemade Pumpkin Pie Spice Mix, or Organic Buttermilk Recipe.

A Quick Look At The Recipe

• Recipe Name: Homemade Light Brown Sugar
• Ready In: 5 minutes
• Makes: 1 pound
• Main Ingredients: cane sugar, blackstrap molasses
• Flavor Profile: light molasses flavor
• Dietary Info: vegan, gluten free, no seed oils, eggless
• Difficulty: Easy!
• Why You’ll Love It: stays fresh much longer than store bought

Why You'll Love This Recipe

• 2 Ingredients: This recipe only has 2 ingredients: organic cane sugar and blackstrap molasses.
• Never Run Out: With this simple recipe, you'll never worry about running out of organic light brown sugar! It's much easier to keep cane sugar and molasses in the pantry for a longer time, allowing you to easily make homemade light brown sugar when you need it.
• Fresher: When you make your own homemade light brown sugar, it's so much fresher than buying it at the store. So, it can last much longer in your pantry!
• Saves Money: Making your own homemade light brown sugar will save you money as it's cheaper than buying it!

What is light brown sugar?

Homemade light brown sugar is just cane sugar with a little bit of blackstrap molasses added to it and mixed together. This creates a light caramel colored sugar that is sweeter in taste than regular cane sugar. It also provides a somewhat caramel flavor, lending well to baked goods like cookies, brownies, and cakes.

Most companies will have a very similar ratio of cane sugar to molasses. But, that doesn't mean that all organic light brown sugar is created equal. I find that sometimes some are a little bit lighter and some are a little bit darker.

For example, I think Florida Crystals is on the lighter side compared to Wholesome. I tend to favor Wholesome here personally. But, just because one organic light brown sugar is a little different, doesn't mean you can't use it. You can use different brands in any recipe, the only difference you may find is a slightly different flavor based on the amount of molasses, which will be very minimal if you even notice it at all.

What's the difference between light brown and dark brown sugar?

The only difference between light brown and dark brown sugar is the amount of molasses. Light brown has less and dark brown has more. This results in a light or darker color and translate to a lighter or darker flavor. If you're looking for a recipe for dark brown sugar, check out Homemade Dark Brown Sugar.

Ingredients

• Cane Sugar: I use organic cane sugar as the base.
• Blackstrap Molasses: You'll need organic blackstrap molasses.

*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.

Baker's Tips

• It is important to remember that when making homemade light brown sugar, you need to use blackstrap molasses. This is different than just molasses, so be sure to read the label. My favorite blackstrap molasses is Wholesome. If you're wondering about the difference between molasses and blackstrap molasses then read that article to learn more.
• Making a well in the cane sugar before adding in the molasses is really helpful as this prevents the molasses from sticking to the sides of the bowl. This ensures it mixes in easily with less sticking!
• Store in an airtight container in the pantry.

How to Make Homemade Light Brown Sugar

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the cane sugar and molasses. It helps if you add the cane sugar first, then create a small well in the center and add the molasses in there. This helps because then it won't stick to the sides right away and it will mix in more easily and more uniform from the start.

2. Turn the mixer on low, and mix until combined. Using a hard scraper spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle to remove excess molasses, and mix again.

Benefits of Making Homemade Light Brown Sugar

• Lasts Longer: I do find that homemade light brown sugar, it will last longer than if you buy it in a store. This ingredient can dry out clump easily, but that's also because it's been on the store shelf for quite a while before it even makes it into your pantry! That's a lot of time it has to start drying out. So, if you make your own, then it does last longer in your pantry.
• Don't Need to Buy: Another benefit of homemade light brown sugar is that you'll never need to buy it. That means you won't have to worry about running out, because when you do, all you need to do is grab the cane sugar and molasses and mix some up!
• Cheaper: It's actually cheaper to make this yourself, instead of buying it. This was the reason we did this at my bake shop, to save on cost. So, you can save money at home too simply by making this ingredient yourself.

Recipe FAQ's

How to Use Homemade Light Brown Sugar

• Use in recipes just like traditional store bought light brown sugar.
• Use in chocolate cookies like Eggless Brown Sugar Pumpkin Snickerdoodles as it gives a richer flavor to sugar cookies.
• Try it in chocolate cookies like Double Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies or Vanilla Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies to provide more moisture and chewiness to cookies.
• Use light brown sugar as a way to add in more flavor into cakes like in Maple Spice Cake With Brown Sugar Frosting or Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes.
• Use in frosting to make cookie dough frosting like in the Cookie Dough Layer Cake.

More Homemade Ingredient Recipes

Homemade Dark Brown Sugar

How to Make Homemade Organic Cake Flour

Homemade Blueberry Syrup

How to Make Vanilla Sea Salt