Photo: Courtesy of A Tale of Two Kitchens

Most of us know brown sugar as a molasses-infused sweetener that provides the extra density and moistness for a chocolate chip cookie, warm muffin, the delicious crumble perched on coffee cake and all other manner of classic baked goods. Yet, despite its ubiquity in the baker’s oven, brown sugar remains an unsung hero for dinner time dishes. Luckily for those of us stuck in a brown sugar baker’s haze, A Tale of 2 Kitchens has stepped in to toot the proverbial horn for this ingredient’s more unusual usages.

Written by two young foodie friends, A Tale of 2 Kitchens is a contagiously fun blog featuring one basic ingredient each week. The women collaborate on the ingredient, but research and test it alone, coming up with two quite diverse, often inventive, recipe responses.

This week’s exploration of brown sugar is no exception. Amy’s brown sugar turned up in her spicy glazed carrots with kale and goat cheese, while Hillary slow-roasted hers with pork shoulder, producing a melt-in-your-mouth pulled pork sandwich. (It seems that these ladies’ molasses sugar dinner variations are in a position to make baked goods a bit jealous.)

Once you’re finished with your own brown sugar experiments, check back in with A Tale of 2 Kitchen’s next ingredient, coffee. According to these experimental bloggers, coffee makes “a perfect complement for sweet and savory dishes alike.”  As a tea person myself, I’ll withhold judgment till next week.