Beer has long been a favorite ingredient of myself and many other cooks. It goes great in stews, soups, marinades, batters, the list goes on and on. But what about desserts?
Behold the Chocolate-Stout Brownies. Ever since I first heard of this recipe I’ve wanted to try it. Not only am I a big fan of stout, but of brownies as well. Combining the two can only lead to good things.
A word of warning though: I don’t believe I have ever eaten a more chocolatey and rich brownie than this. Its almost like a flourless chocolate cake. Have a large glass of milk standing by. Whole milk, no less.
Ingredients
1 cup Guinness stout
16 ounces semisweet chocolate
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
A healthy splash of vanilla extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour
A pinch of kosher salt
Prep
Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare either a 9x9x2 or an 8x8x2 baking pan. Boil the cup of stout in a medium sauce pan until it is reduced by half, this should take a 8 or 9 minutes
Combine 12 oz of chocolate and 1 cup (2 sticks) of butter in a double boiler and stir until smooth.
Whisk together the sugar, eggs and splash of vanilla in a mixing bowl. Once those are combined, stir in the chocolate mix, then add 1/4 cup of the reduced stout. Add the flour and a small pinch of salt and mix well. Pour the batter into the pan.
Bake the brownies until a knife inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean. This should take anywhere from 35-50 minutes. Last night I used an 8x8x2 pan and it took something like 48 minutes. But start checking at 35.
When the brownies are done, pull them out to cool. Meanwhile, combine the last 4 oz of chocolate with 2 Tbsp. of butter and the remaining 1/4 cup of stout. Use the double boiler again to ensure an even melt. Once that is blended well, pour the glaze over the brownies and let set for about an hour.
While the glaze sets, go buy another gallon of milk.
You’ll need it.
