White and Brown Sugar 101
Posted by stride4unity on May 25, 2007 · Member since Feb 2005 · 211 posts
I have yet another baking question :-[ When a baking recipe calls for a lot of sugar, such as in cookies, can you sub 1/2 white and 1/2 brown sugar? I ask because the recipe "Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip" cookies on this site look like tollhouse cookies and this recipe calls for white sugar only but the "Tollhouse-like Cookies" recipe on this site calls for both brown and white sugar (1/2 and 1/2), which I think I find to be a good addition as I have made the "Tollhouse-like Cookies" many times. So will I screw up the taste if I use 1/2 brown sugar and 1/2 white sugar for the "Happy Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies"? I plan to make these as sugar cookies but my white sugar is getting kinda low :-\ Any advice will be helpful!
I prefer brown sugar for cookies. I think you could do 1/2 & 1/2 with no problem. I like to use brown sugar and then reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe. I find that brown sugar has more flavor, so you can use less...but maybe I'm just imagining that...
I honestly have no idea about the difference. I always thought brown sugar was less sweet and more healthy. But, beyond that, I don't know the difference.
I never use white sugar. Processed sugar is just so bad for health. I try to use the most natural form of sugar as possible, i.e. honey, maple syrup, etc. Failing that, I go for the next level of natural - brown sugar.
So, I don't think you should have a problem substituting half white and half brown. I never use white, always use brown and my baking comes out quite good. And that's not just my opinion, lol. ;)
I'm pretty sure brown sugar isn't 'healthier' than brown (although my mom also thinks brown is healthier so she loads in on her oatmeal, sometimes forgetting that, um, it's sugar). I've read that brown has minimally more minerals than white, but so minimal that you would have to eat a lot of it (which no one should do...). Many types of brown sugar (i.e. major companies) just add molasses to their white sugar to make it brown (molasses has some minerals in it, so that would explain the *slight* nutritional difference).
I like to use brown sugar in cookies like OperaChic and use less sugar (which, I guess, IS healthier)--it tastes sweeter and richer to me.
http://www.sugarindia.com/brown.htm This is a site that sells sugar, but has a good explanation about brown sugar.
The difference in health is in the processing. White sugar has a lot of chemicals in it, not to mention it goes through bleaching. Brown sugar doesn't. Unless, of course, it's not natural brown sugar but white sugar mixed with molasses. Then, it's just as bad. Brown sugar is just closer to the sugar cane than white. But, obviously, it will depend on who processes it and how.
Sometimes when my mom and I baked chocolate chip cookies and it called for a mixture of brown and white, we'd sub in all white if we didn't have brown, or (usually) if the brown sugar had turned itself into a brick and we couldn't soften it enough to use it. The cookies (to me, at least) tasted exactly the same regardless of what kind of sugar we used. They did look a little pale when we used all white. I think the brown tastes slightly more...mellow...is the word I come up with. But I don't seem to notice it in baking, only when I add it to oatmeal.
Brown sugar would only be healthier than white (regardless of the chemical processing the company may do) because it has molasses in it. Molasses has more minerals than white sugar, but then again so does maple syrup, and I'm not about to chug the stuff.
I always use half white and half brown in chocolate chip cookie recipes, unless I'm running low, in which case I use evaporated cane juice (you know, the fine crystals of natural sugar. not the chunky stuff). I figure mixing brown and white will probably be equivalent to this light brown sugar anyway...
And I usually wind up adding molasses to the batter too. One time I added so much the cookies came out tasting like toffee. Wish I remember how much I added!
I think some people are mixing up natural brown sugar and processed brown sugar. These are TWO very different things.
1. Natural brown sugar is made from partially refined raw cane sugar that contains certain impurities (nutrients), which give them their brown color. The color can vary depending on the sugar cane.
2. Commercially produced brown sugar is made by coating granulated, refined white sugar with a thin layer of dark molasses.
So, if you buy commercial brown sugar, in terms of health there is no real difference between that and white. As it is essentially white sugar plus molasses. If you buy natural brown sugar, there is a big difference. As the "impurities" are actual nutrients from the sugar cane. Plus, no chemicals and no bleach is added to the sugar. Unlike with white sugar.