Soften Up Hard Brown Sugar With One Fresh Ingredient

If you've ever baked, you've probably experienced that crisis of opening your brown sugar container only to realize it's hard as a rock. Thankfully, this doesn't mean it's unusable. There are a few ways to bring it back to life, but if you have an apple on hand, then all you need to do is slice it up and add it to the sugar. Believe it or not, the apple's moisture brings that brown sugar back to life. Just keep in mind that it takes about a day to return to its original state.

Brown sugar gets its soft, almost-doughy texture thanks to a ratio of molasses to sugar; the molasses also gives brown sugar its signature color and flavor. But, if you don't seal it properly, longterm air exposure evaporates the moisture the molasses brings for a completely stiff pile of sugar. Combining an apple with brown sugar helps liven up the sugar because it absorbs the apple's moisture, softening it.

You have to slice the apples in order for this trick to work because the apple's insides contain the moisture. Also, make sure the brown sugar bag is airtight after you add the apple slices to prevent any of that moisture from evaporating. Any apple you have on hand gets the job done, but double-check the brown sugar the day before you need to prepare your recipe to give it enough time. 

Apples are the fruit of choice here because they have a mildly sweet flavor that works nicely with brown sugar; as the apples transfer their moisture, some of that flavor transfers to the sugar, too. If you don't have any apples, you can say goodbye to hard brown sugar by storing it with a slice of bread. This has the same effect but doesn't bring the sweet flavor. In a time crunch, the apple trick doesn't work quickly enough. In this case, you can soften brown sugar in a few easy steps: Add the brown sugar to a bowl, place a damp paper towel on top, and microwave it for about 20 seconds (or until it returns to its original consistency).