Guinness Brownies
The original version of these brownies was developed in Ireland. The malt in the Guinness stout beer intensifies the flavor of the chocolate in these delicious brownies. The texture is an interesting combination of fudge, mousse, candy, and traditional brownies. Although decadently chocolate, they are surprisingly light due to the eggs. You won't taste the beer at all. Great for St. Patrick's Day or any day.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
* 1 cup all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 6 tablespoons unsalted room temperature butter, cut into cubes
* 8 ounces dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
* 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
* 4 large eggs, at room temperature
* 1 cup superfine or granulated sugar
* 1-1/4 cups (10 ounces) Guinness Extra Stout beer (see Note below)
* 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
* 1/8 cup (about) confectioners' sugar for dusting
Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with nonstick foil.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.
Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and white chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.
Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in Guinness stout beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. Drop semisweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter (some will sink in).
Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes on center rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean.
Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
Note: The Guinness should be at room temperature. This recipe uses a little less than a standard 12-ounce bottle of Guinness stout beer. Do not include foam in the measurement. Either spoon off the foam or let it rest until the foam subsides.
Yield: 36 to 48 brownies, depending on cut size
Review
Just as good without the alcohol!
I hope everyone will try this recipe just as written, because they are super-delicious - best brownie I've ever made or eaten! I've not made brownies any other way since finding the recipe - they are that good! But I just made them using 10 oz. of cola in place of the stout, and I thought they came out just as good as the original recipe. I mixed 2 packets of instant coffee granules into the Coke to enhance the chocolate (just like with the stout, you don't taste the coffee or the coke flavor.) I think I'll probably add the instant coffee again, next time I make them with stout (I use Young's Double Chocolate Stout instead of Guinness.) But you could also substitute 10 oz. of weak coffee or water (or even orange juice, to add a subtle hint of orange!) if you wanted to avoid using alcohol. Also, I substituted peanut butter chips for the white chocolate this time, but you couldn't really taste the PB. I think you could though, if the cup of chips scattered over the top at the end was PB instead of semi-sweet (but only for the non-alcohol version, not the original recipe.) And the first time I made these, I mixed the choc. chips into the batter before pouring it into the pan; I liked that way better than scattering them on top because you got bits of melty chocolate throughout the brownie instead of just on top. Lastly, be careful to *slowly* add the melted chocolate to the beaten eggs; otherwise, the heat from the chocolate will cook the eggs and you'll end up with scrambled chocolaty eggs. Anyway, try these brownies TODAY!
