Recently, I needed to use some brown sugar to make chocolate covered matzoh. I knew I had some in the cabinet, and I also knew it was probably rock hard by now. It's been months since I last used any of it and sure enough when I found the sugar, it was unyielding and hard. I took a rolling pin and started banging at it until enough chunks came loose to get approximately what I needed.
Today, I came upon some tips on how to keep your brown sugar soft. Common tips suggest putting a slice of bread or slices of apples with your brown sugar and it should soften in a day or two. My favorite suggestion is to use an unglazed piece of terracotta or clay pot. Soak the piece for 10 minutes, wipe it so it's not dripping wet and place it in an airtight container with the brown sugar. I like this method because the clay piece won't rot and is reusable.
However, if you need to soften brown sugar right away and can't wait a day or two, you can place your brown sugar in a covered bowl with a wet paper towel or cloth and microwave it for about 20 seconds or so. I wish I had known of this trick earlier when I needed to make chocolate-covered matzoh, which came out delicious, by the way.
Anyways, the chocolate matzoh recipe I used is from here:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2006/04/caramelized-mat-1/
Enjoy!
