What is brown sugar?

Brown sugar comes from cane sugar and gets its dark colour and soft texture from molasses being added to it.

It's a pretty essential pantry item if you're an avid baker and gives recipes like Chocolate Coconut Slice and Brown Sugar Walnut Biscuits their tender texture with a hint of caramel.

But if you don't have any on hand next time you're baking, you can make it at home with just two ingredients in one minute.

Ingredients

Molasses

Molasses is a sweet and slightly bitter syrup created from refining cane sugar.

You can buy it at the supermarket or speciality baking stores or on Amazon.

It's best to use regular molasses not backstrap as it has a slightly bitter flavour.

Molasses will keep in the pantry for quite a while so is a good pantry staple to have on hand.

To make brown sugar you can use regular white, caster or raw sugar. Use whatever is on hand.

This question first depends on whether you are making dark or light brown sugar.

Light brown sugar: Use 1 tablespoon molasses for every 1 cup sugar.
Dark brown sugar: Use 2 tablespoons molasses for every 1 cup sugar.

Method One - bowl and spoon

Simply throw it all in a bowl and stir until the molasses is evenly mixed through.

Method Two - jar

Pop the sugar and molasses in a jar and shake until combined evenly.

Method Three - blender/food processor

Throw the ingredients in the blender or food processor and blitz until combined.

If you don't have molasses, the closest thing to use is maple syrup. It won't have exactly the same flavour but has the same effect.

Use the same quantity ratio.

There are a few ways to keep it soft.

Keep it in an airtight container - keeping it away from air will help seal in the moisture and stop it drying out.
Use brown sugar savers - these are little pieces of terracotta you soak in water then pop in your sugar. The moisture helps keep the sugar soft.
Marshmallows - probably the most talked about trick is to keep a couple of marshmallows in with your sugar. This works the same way as the savers.