I like my chocolate chip cookies to be wider than they’re tall, with molten swimming pools of chocolate within the heart and a crunchy exterior that shatters between my enamel. I would like the butter to teeter on the sting of being too browned and the highest to glitter with flaky sea salt. My mother, then again, craves the precise reverse. She’s the smooth to my crispy, spherical to my flat, pale to my deeply browned. And my dad? Nicely, he could be pleased with Chips Ahoy. The one factor all of us agree on is {that a} good chocolate chip cookie wants brown sugar. Tasting of molasses with hints of toffee and caramel, this single ingredient is the lifeblood of a chocolate chip cookie and the flavour that differentiates it from its sugar and shortbread cousins.
Brown sugar is a necessary baking ingredient, particularly in chocolate chip cookies, nevertheless it hardens and clumps if there isn’t sufficient moisture within the container.
You should buy these intelligent instruments for lower than $20 at Amazon.
However brown sugar is a difficult ingredient to work with as a result of the added molasses tends to dry out, inflicting it to clump collectively or harden into a rock. There have been quite a few occasions in my life after I’ve tried to make chocolate chip cookies solely to comprehend my brown sugar is unusable. Fortunately, this received’t be a difficulty for me transferring ahead. After talking with three skilled bakers, I discovered methods to hold brown sugar from solidifying utilizing cheap instruments which are out there at Amazon.
Baker-Accredited Brown Sugar Saver Hacks
OXO Good Grips Pop Container
Amazon
Since moisture loss is the explanation brown sugar hardens, Chef Stefanie Bishop-Schmidt at Auguste Escoffier College of Culinary Arts mentioned that “storage is vital.” She steered shopping for an airtight container that’s “just a bit larger than it is advisable to scale back the quantity of airflow” and hold your sugar from drying out. Bishop-Schmidt additionally mentioned to maintain your container in a darkish pantry when not in use. I’ve used this mannequin for years and might confidently report that its hermetic seal protects my elements from undesirable critters whereas additionally conserving them recent for longer.
PrepSolutions Brown Sugar Keeper
Amazon
Marissa Stevens, recipe developer and founding father of the meals weblog Pinch and Swirl, echoed this sentiment, writing {that a} high quality storage container solves the issue of arduous brown sugar “as soon as and for all.” Along with this PrepSolutions container’s measurement, which holds a regular 2-pound bag of sugar, she appreciates the lid’s built-in terracotta disk that retains moisture ranges “good.” Terracotta is suited to this job as a result of it’s porous, so it absorbs water and slowly releases it into the sugar to maintain it smooth and pliable for months at a time. “It’s a kind of instruments that seems like a splurge — till you’ve used it for a number of months and marvel the way you ever lived with out it,” mentioned Stevens.
Enolvo Terracotta Brown Sugar Saver
Amazon
If you happen to already personal storage containers, cake artist Julie McAllister of her eponymous Charleston bakery, famous that you would be able to purchase a food-safe terracotta tile individually and place it in your current brown sugar container. Bishop-Schmidt additionally steered this, advising bakers to soak the tile in water for 10 to fifteen minutes and pat away extra liquid earlier than use. Merely repeat this course of each few months, or as wanted, and you’ll by no means be with out usable brown sugar once more.