TAKE YOUR BAKING TO THE NEXT LEVEL WITH ROASTED SUGAR

October 3, 2017

Would you believe me if I told you sugar doesn’t have to melt in order to be caramelized? Well, it’s true. In fact, it’s a process independent of melting, which means you can actually make caramelized sugar without having to brew a syrup concoction. The secret is to roast it. All it takes is to heat up sugar in the oven for a few hours–it’s less work than making a syrup!

Why use roasted sugar?

Before we get to the roasting details, we should talk about when you would want to use roasted sugar. To start off, roasted sugar smells and tastes amazing. It’s essentially what you would expect, a saccharine roasted aroma with a caramelly flavour that’s not overpoweringly sweet. It can also take your baked goods to the next level. Whether you’re making icing, cookies, or cakes, roasted sugar will bring a rich flavour yet retain a light fluffy texture in situations where a caramel syrup would make it too heavy and sweet.

How do you make roasted sugar?

Roasted sugar is simple to make and requires minimal effort. The only things to keep in mind are the volume, temperature, and duration.

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.

2. Layer sugar in a baking pan no more than 1 centimetre thick.

3. While the sugar is in the oven, stir the sugar every hour to reduce any clumping.

4. The longer you leave it in there, the more caramelly it will be. Four hours of roasting will produce beautiful results, but you can always leave it in the oven for a longer time. This is what an unroasted sugar looks like compared to sugar roasted for four hours.

5. If your sugar comes out in clumps, don’t panic! This is normal, as there is moisture in the sugar. This can easily be fixed by simply breaking the sugar apart with a fork. Or if you prefer fine sugar, put it in a food processor or blender.

Have you tried roasted sugar before? It’s definitely a great way to add flavour and texture to your baked goods. Let us know what you would use roasted sugar for!

MAKE YOUR OWN ROASTED SUGAR!

Daniel Huang

Daniel is a Digital Marketing and Content Strategist at SPUD. He graduated from UBC with a degree in English and International Relations with a focus on environmental topics. A wordsmith by day and a bookman by night, he's a self-proclaimed gastronomic snob, a buck-a-shuck addict, a sub-par skier, and a devoted kingsguard of the oxford comma. He also frequents the dog park with a schnauzer named Duke. | Instagram: @dannnyellow