Homemade Brown Sugar

I finally made an amazing batch of cookies. And it came just in time for someone's birthday. When I presented him with the double batch I proudly exclaimed, "I just want you to know, this is the best batch I've ever made here." He didn't skip a beat in asking how I knew. "I had to test them to make sure they weren't poisonous, of course!"

He agreed and promptly hid his stash from his roommate and birthday visitors.

I mostly only bake white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies (ala Subway) and brownies (someone's favorites) and they always turn out different -- every.single.time.

There are so many variables when using American recipes outside of America. Sometimes it's the conversions -- not so much my math. Sometimes it's the ingredients. A couple of times it was the oven.

Two very important ingredients that appear in many American baking recipes are vanilla extract and brown sugar. You can't buy these in Germany.

Vanilla Extract

There are some close substitutes for vanilla, but I haven't had to deal with them thanks to my sister (another girl gone international -- München!) who hooked me up with a large bottle of Kirkland vanilla extract from Costco. However, if the day comes that the bottle runs dry, there is another way to make vanilla extract. You just need vodka and vanilla beans -- and the patience to wait about six weeks. Check out this video if you're interested.

Brown Sugar

I've known for a long time that you could make your own brown sugar, but I kept fighting it. I kept trying different types of "brown sugar" that are available here. Some came somewhat close to having the consistency of real brown sugar, but the end results were just not close to the desired outcome. I knew that making brown sugar consists of mixing molasses with white sugar, but I could never find the molasses. I memorized a couple of words (of course there's more than one word) and for months and months I'd always peruse the baking section. I always came up empty handed. Finally, the topic came up and my friend, Alisa, said she had done it. I felt inspired again. However, this still didn't help me find molasses. I kindly asked Alisa to pick some up for me and was happy to give her the €1,30.

One tablespoon to one cup of white sugar was all it took. I added a little more molasses to make it dark brown sugar. I used a fork to mix it up and in no time I had packable brown sugar.

P.S. After three days of: wringing sopping wet laundry, mixing brown sugar, cutting white chocolate in chips, chopping up macadamia nuts, mixing cookie batter, cutting up mushroom stems, and mixing filling for stuffed mushroom caps, I gave myself a slight dose of arthritis. Maybe this is why the German women are so strong?