Superfine vs Regular Sugar?

[mjaclyn]

My mom just made some chocolate chip muffins from a toddler cookbook I have. It calls for 1 cup of superfine sugar, but she just used regular because we didn't have superfine. Those muffins were ridiculously sweet. It also called for cocoa and chocolate chips...I can't believe how sweet those muffins were. I had to throw them out. How is superfine sugar different than regular sugar? Is it less sweet? I can't believe those muffins were in a cookbook that's specifically for young children. My daughter had one and she is bouncing off the walls.

 

[Christine]

No, it's not different it is just "milled" to a finer consistency. It is often recommended for use in beverages because it dissolves easier. Theoretically, one cup of superfine sugar might be sweeter than one cup of regular sugar because the smaller granules would allow for less "air space" between the granules when measuring so that you might actually get more sugar in the one cup measure than you would with regular sugar.

 

[NotUrsula]

No chemical difference. Superfine is normally used in situations where you need the sugar to dissolve fully and quickly, sometimes without using heat. As someone else said, beverages are a common use, but it is especially useful for cold whipped applications such as whipped cream, icebox pies, or buttercream icing.

If you think that the recipe is too sweet, cut back the sugar by a bit. 15% ought to do it without compromising the consistency too much. (I'm not sure I'd do it with a cake, but muffins don't require such fine mixing.)