Can you use brown sugar instead of light brown sugar?
Moreover, can you use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar?
Dark brown sugar has more molasses in it than light, producing a sugar with a full-bodied flavor with distinct overtones of molasses. You can successfully substitute dark brown instead of light brown in recipes depending on your taste preference.
Accordingly, is light brown sugar the same as brown sugar?
The ingredient that separates brown sugar from the others is molasses, added after white sugar is refined. The darker the brown sugar, the more molasses it contains. For light brown sugar, that usually means 3.5% molasses. This helps dark brown sugar have a more deep, complex flavor that's closer to toffee or caramel.
Just add a tablespoon of molasses to a cup of light brown sugar to turn it into dark brown sugar. This will give you the real deal. If you don't have molasses, use a tablespoon of maple syrup instead, or just use your light brown sugar in place of the dark brown sugar that's called for.