How To : Homemade Dark Brown Sugar (with vanilla beans)...

How To: Homemade Dark Brown Sugar (with vanilla beans)...

Hi everyone! Today I'm going to be posting a new series called "How To", which simply is gonna be "how to" make things that I use on a daily basis and in all my recipes (shocker, I know). So today I got a real hankering to make my own nifty version of a hot buttered rum. Well actually, I'm going to make Hot Brown Buttered Bourbon's-- yum in my tum. Anyway, I go to the pantry to find some dark brown sugar, for the compound butter component, and to no such luck, we're out of it. SHOOT. I can't muster up the energy, or courage, to venture out into the cold, cold world to get some. Lucky for me, there is a quick solution to this common problem... just make it yourself! Simple dark brown sugar just calls for granulated sugar and robust molasses, and in the case of my recipe, I like to throw in a vanilla bean (but that's completely optional). The process is super easy peasy, just toss everything into a food processor and pulse away... here's a step-by-step pictorial of the homemade dark brown sugar.

step one: put everything into the food processor

step two: pulse until everything is combined (a rubber spatula is helpful)

step three: dump out your brown sugar into a bowl and mash up any small clumps
with a fork to make it a little smoother 

step four: it's ready to be measured & used!

See, it's as easy as that!! No lie, so if you are ever like me and you find yourself in a bind, keep those few ingredients in the pantry and you'll be baking in no time!! Enjoy your first "How To" post :)

For the Homemade Dark Brown Sugar:

2 ½C Granulated Sugar

½C Robust Molasses

1 Vanilla Bean, Split & Scraped for Seeds

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a food processer, add the granulated sugar, robust molasses, and vanilla bean seeds.

2. Pulse the ingredients until the mixture begins to turn brown and becomes the texture of wet sand.

3. Dump the brown sugar into a bowl and mash up any clumps of molasses with a fork until everything is incorporated.

4. Spoon into a measuring cup and continue baking!