Sugar does much more in baking than make food taste sweet. It can influence how a cookie spreads, how quickly it colours, how much moisture it retains and whether its texture feels crisp, chewy, grainy or fine.
That is why a recipe may specify icing sugar rather than granulated sugar, or brown sugar rather than caster sugar. These sugars are not automatically better or worse than one another. Each behaves differently because of its crystal size, moisture level, molasses content and the way it is used in a particular recipe.
This guide compares five common types of sugar used in baking and explains why substituting one for another can change the result.
Why Sugar Type Matters in Baking
In a cookie recipe, sugar can affect several things at once:
- Sweetness: the most obvious role, although perceived sweetness also depends on the other ingredients.
- Spread: the type and amount of sugar can influence how far dough spreads as it warms.
- Texture: fine sugar, coarse crystals and moisture-rich sugar can produce very different crumbs and surfaces.
- Browning: sugar contributes to colour and flavour development during baking, together with other reactions involving proteins and heat.
- Moisture: some sugars attract and retain more moisture than others, which can affect softness and chewiness.
- Aeration: when crystalline sugar is creamed with fat, it can help create small air pockets in the mixture.
The final result still depends on the full formula and process. Flour, starch, fat, liquid, mixing, dough temperature, baking time and cooling all work together with sugar. No single ingredient determines a cookie’s texture on its own.
Five Common Sugar Types Compared
| Sugar type | Typical form | Common baking effects | Often used for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Granulated sugar | Distinct medium-sized crystals | Can support aeration, spread, browning and a crisper texture, depending on the recipe | Cookies, cakes, syrups and general baking |
| Icing sugar | Very finely ground powder | Disperses readily and can help create a finer, less grainy and more tender crumb | Icings, dusting, short-textured biscuits and delicate cookies |
| Caster sugar | Fine crystals, but not a powder | Dissolves more readily than regular granulated sugar while retaining crystalline sugar behaviour | Meringues, sponge cakes, drinks and fine-textured baking |
| Brown sugar | Soft crystals with molasses | Adds moisture, deeper flavour and colour; often supports a softer or chewier texture | Chocolate chip cookies, ginger baking, sauces and rich cakes |
| Raw sugar | Larger golden crystals; style varies | Can add visible crystals, a coarse finish and light molasses notes; results vary by recipe | Toppings, hot drinks and recipes designed for coarse sugar |
These are general tendencies, not fixed rules. Changing the quantity, mixing method or other ingredients can produce a different outcome.
What Is Granulated Sugar?
Granulated sugar is the familiar white table sugar used in many homes. Its separate crystals make it useful for creaming with butter, because the crystals can help work small pockets of air into the fat. In many cookie formulas, it can also contribute to spread, surface texture and a firmer or crisper finish.
That does not mean every cookie made with granulated sugar will be thin or crunchy. The amount of flour and fat, the presence of eggs or liquid, dough temperature and baking time can all change the result.
What Is Icing Sugar?
Icing sugar—also called powdered sugar or confectioners’ sugar in some countries—is granulated sugar ground into a very fine powder. Some commercial products also contain a small amount of starch to reduce clumping, so formulations can vary by brand and market.
Because the particles are so fine, icing sugar disperses readily through a mixture and is less likely to leave an obvious crystalline sensation. In recipes designed for it, this can support a fine, tender, short-textured crumb.
Icing sugar does not create a melt-in-the-mouth cookie by itself. That texture comes from the balance of fat, flour, starch and sugar, together with mixing, shaping, baking and cooling.
What Is Caster Sugar?
Caster sugar has finer crystals than ordinary granulated sugar but is not ground into a powder. It usually dissolves more readily, which makes it useful in meringues, sponge cakes, drinks and recipes where a smooth mixture is important.
Caster sugar and icing sugar are not the same. Their particle sizes and behaviour differ, and icing sugar may contain added starch. Replacing one with the other can alter both structure and texture.
What Is Brown Sugar?
Brown sugar contains molasses, either retained during production or added back to refined sugar, depending on the product. The molasses gives it moisture, colour and caramel-like flavour.
In cookies, brown sugar is often associated with a softer, moister or chewier result. It can also deepen colour and flavour. Light and dark brown sugar are not identical: darker versions generally contain more molasses and have a stronger taste.
Brown sugar should usually be chosen for its baking properties and flavour, not because it is assumed to be a meaningfully healthier sweetener than white sugar.
What Is Raw Sugar?
“Raw sugar” is a broad retail term rather than one single standard product. Demerara, turbinado and other coarse golden sugars can differ in crystal size, processing and molasses character.
Their larger crystals can add sparkle and crunch when sprinkled on top of baked goods. They can also be used inside doughs and batters when a recipe is developed for them. However, replacing a finer sugar with coarse raw sugar without adjusting the recipe may leave more noticeable crystals or change the spread and texture.
Raw sugar is still sugar. Its golden colour and less-refined appearance do not make it interchangeable with every other sugar or automatically make it a nutritionally significant alternative.
How Sugar Changes Cookie Texture
Descriptions such as “granulated sugar makes cookies crisp” or “brown sugar makes cookies chewy” are useful starting points, but they are not universal laws.
A cookie’s texture reflects the whole recipe:
- More available moisture can support softness or chewiness.
- Larger sugar crystals may remain more noticeable if they do not dissolve fully.
- Fine sugar can distribute more evenly and help reduce a grainy sensation.
- The balance of fat, flour and starch affects tenderness and fragility.
- Longer baking and lower final moisture can produce a firmer or crisper cookie.
- Cooling allows the structure to set, so a warm cookie may feel different once completely cool.
For a broader explanation of how ingredients and process work together, read The Science of Butter Cookies.
Can You Substitute One Sugar for Another?
Sometimes—but there is no universal one-to-one substitution.
Even when two sugars have similar sweetness, they may differ in crystal size, density, moisture and added starch. A cup of icing sugar does not weigh the same as a cup of granulated sugar, and brown sugar brings moisture and molasses that white sugar does not.
If a recipe was designed for a specific sugar, the safest approach is to use that sugar. When experimenting, compare by weight rather than volume and expect possible changes in spread, colour, sweetness and texture.
Why Lowrey Original Butter Cookies Use Icing Sugar
Lowrey Original Butter Cookies use icing sugar alongside New Zealand cultured butter, wheat flour and maize starch. The fine sugar supports the recipe’s smooth, delicate crumb and balanced sweetness.
It is one part of a larger system. The cultured butter contributes flavour and richness; the flour provides structure; the maize starch helps shape a fine, tender crumb; and the production process controls how those ingredients come together.
The result is a cookie designed to be delicate, very fragile and melt-in-the-mouth—not hard or crunchy. The 42% shown for Lowrey Original refers to the proportion of New Zealand cultured butter in the recipe by weight; it is not the butter’s milk-fat percentage.
Read more about the role of each core ingredient in WHY.002: Why Only Four Ingredients?, or explore the Lowrey Butter Cookies collection.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is icing sugar the same as powdered sugar?
The names are often used for the same finely ground sugar. “Icing sugar” is common in New Zealand, Australia and the United Kingdom, while “powdered sugar” or “confectioners’ sugar” is common in North America. Check the ingredient label because some products contain added starch and formulations can vary.
Is caster sugar the same as icing sugar?
No. Caster sugar consists of fine crystals, while icing sugar is ground into a powder. They dissolve and behave differently in baking.
Can I replace granulated sugar with icing sugar in cookies?
Not automatically. The change can affect aeration, spread, density and texture. Use a recipe developed for icing sugar or test the substitution by weight rather than assuming equal cup measurements.
Does brown sugar make cookies chewier?
It often supports a softer or chewier texture because it contains molasses and additional moisture. The final result still depends on the rest of the formula and the baking process.
Why do some cookies taste grainy?
Noticeable sugar crystals can be one reason, but mixing, ingredient temperature, crystal size and the recipe’s liquid content can all contribute. Graininess is not always solved simply by changing to icing sugar.
Which sugar is best for melt-in-the-mouth cookies?
Icing sugar is often used in delicate, short-textured cookies because its fine particles disperse readily. However, melt-in-the-mouth texture depends on the complete balance of fat, flour, starch and sugar, as well as how the dough is mixed, baked and cooled.
The Bottom Line
There is no single “best” sugar for every type of baking. Granulated sugar, icing sugar, caster sugar, brown sugar and raw sugar each bring different physical properties to a recipe.
Choose sugar according to the result you want, follow the recipe’s measurements and remember that texture comes from the whole formula—not one ingredient in isolation.
