Chocolate Porter Pecan Bars with Beer Candied Bacon

Chocolate Porter Pecan Bars with Beer Candied Bacon

I know, I KNOW! Don’t look at me like that. I know that even though I’m in the midst of promoting my vegetarian cooking with beer book, I give to you a bacon dessert recipe. Is that because I want to make all the people happy, you ask? No, is more likely because I want to anger and upset all the people or possibly because I’ve never had a very good relationship with rules and expectations. Either way, I do apologize.

But this is also to say that just because I am the type of person who likes to put candied bacon on desserts this does NOT preclude me from also being the type of person who also loves to make food with plants, plants are delicious. Beer is made of plants. So that makes it salad, and it’s healthy (don’t take nutrition advice from me, it’s ill-advised).

This is also to say that my book LUSH is the type of book that you will love if the idea of putting bacon on dessert horrifies you, and also if it intrigues you. It’s a book for people who love delicious food and beer, but it is minus bacon. I hope you love it as much as I do.

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Chocolate Porter Pecan Bars with Beer Candied Bacon

Servings: 24 BARS

Ingredients

Bacon:

4 strips thick sliced bacon
3 tablespoons (38g) brown sugar
1 tablespoon (12g) barrel aged stout or porter

Crust:

2 cups (240g) all purpose flour
2/3 cup (70g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
13 tablespoons (186g) unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 teaspoon (6g) vanilla extract

Filling:

3 large eggs
¾ cup (180g) light corn syrup
½ cup (100g) brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (2oz) barrel aged stout or porter
2 tablespoons (10g) cocoa powder
1 teaspoon (6g) vanilla extract
6 ounces high-quality dark chocolate chopped
1 cup (120g) unsalted pecans, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
Flakey sea salt for topping

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Add the bacon to a wire rack over a baking sheet.
Stir together the brown sugar and the beer. Brush the top side of the bacon liberally with the mixture. Bake for 8 minutes. Flip the bacon, then brush with the mixture. Bake for an additional ten minutes. Remove from oven, remove the bacon and allow to cool on a cutting board. Once the bacon is cooled, chop the bacon, set aside.
Lower the oven temperature to 350°F. Add the flour, powdered sugar, and salt to a food processor, pulse to combine.
Add the butter and vanilla extract, process until well combined.
Line an 9x13 baking dish with parchment paper. Press the crust into the bottom of the pan in an even layer.
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes or until just starting to turn a light golden brown. Allow to cool for 10 minutes (allowing the crust to cool will help it to stay in two distinct layers from the filling).
Add all the filling ingredients (except the flakey sea salt) to a mixing bowl, beat until well combined. Pour over the cooled crust.
Sprinkle the chopped bacon on top, then sprinkle with the flakey sea salt ( I used smoked Maldon sea salt).
Bake at 350°F for 35 minutes or until the filling has set and no longer jiggles when you shake the rack. Remove from oven, allow to cool before cutting.

Beer Chicken Satay with Almond Stout Dipping Sauce

Beer Chicken Satay with Almond Stout Dipping Sauce

I have recently discovered, to my abject horror, that I vastly prefer almond butter to peanut butter. Why so horrified, you ask? Because it is, in my conservative estimation, about one thousand times more expensive. And I am cheap. Have I told you this? That I have not one, but three favorite thrift stores, each one has it’s own unique category of items I prefer it for (food props, random vintage furniture, weird but fun jewelry). This is a true fact.

Then there comes along these items that overpower my will to conserve. Like $30 bottles of beer, and jars of roasty nut butter. No, no, that $13 dollar jar of almond butter makes total sense! And then I eat it and I’m convinced, money can be saved elsewhere because I can’t go back, not now. It’s so much better!

Sure, some people will DIE if they eat peanuts and that’s a fine reason to forgo the eating of such nuts. But there is also the added benefit of superior taste and texture, so it’s a win/win. From now on, all satay sauce should just be made with almonds, it’s safer. And more delicious.

Go forth and eat your almonds with a fine roasty stout and chicken hot off the grill.

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5 from 2 votes

Beer Chicken Satay with Almond Stout Dipping Sauce

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

Chicken Skewers:

1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 garlic cloves grated with microplane
1 cup 8 oz full-fat coconut milk from a well shaken can
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
¼ teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon sesame chili oil
1 lbs chicken thighs cut into cubes
½ cup beer (pilsner, pale ale, lager)

Satay sauce:

¼ cup 64g smooth almond butter
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame chili oil
½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon coconut milk from a tin
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons stout beer

Instructions

Stir together all the chicken skewer ingredients (except the chicken), add the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour and up to 24.
Preheat the grill to medium high.
Thread the chicken through skewers. Add the chicken skewers to the grill, cooking on both sides until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.
Stir together the satay sauce ingredients.
Serve the chicken alongside the satay sauce.

Beer + Snickerdoodles = Snickerbrewdles

I can’t just be a normal person and go to the store when I want a cookie. I have to turn my oven on in August and bake something new because I hate myself, apparently. Or maybe I hate the idea of repetition, the same vacation, same girls nights, same recipes, same lasagna Wednesday, it makes me want to scratch my skin off.

I’m more of the “different because it’s new” type human that seeks out new everything even on those occasions when I really want to create traditions. Unless by traditions what you want is a new thing every time, because that’s my tradition.

If I had to force myself to choose a last-meal-cookie, however, it would be a good ‘ol classic chocolate chip cookie, chewy with dark chocolate chunks. But of course this won’t be my last cookie (fingers crossed) so I had to make it something I haven’t made before: Beer Snickerdoodles. Which is, quite possibly, a thing that no one has ever made before, at least that’s what I want to think. Now that it’s done, I’m pretty thrilled with the results, they’re impossibly light and airy and they just taste like a bakery on Saturday morning. But with beer. Which, of course, is always better.

I used this beautiful Mother Earth and Fremont Brewing collaboration 4 Seasons Summer IPA (with Galaxy, Mosaic, El Dorado, and African Queen hops), which was perfect. The beer is big and loud enough to give you a hint of hops in the cookies, but since you only need 2 ounces to bake with the rest is up to you to crush. And you will crush it.

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5 from 2 votes

Beer + Snickerdoodles = Snickerbrewdles

Servings: 3 dozen

Ingredients

For the cookies:

1 cup (228g) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup (150g) white sugar
3/4 cup (150g) brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ cup (2oz) IPA beer
3 ¼ cups (390g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt

For the topping:

¼ cup (30g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (30g) brown sugar
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer add the butter, and both kinds of sugar. Beat until well combined.
Add the eggs and vanilla, beating until well combined.
Stir in the beer.
Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Stir until just combined.
Stir together the remaining sugars and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop out a ball of dough, then roll in the cinnamon sugar.
Add to a baking sheet covered with parchment paper, evenly spaced (you will need two to three baking sheets total).
Add the cookies to the freezer while the oven heats (this will prevent them from spreading).
Heat the oven to 350°F.
Bake the cookies for 16-18 minutes or until the edges have turned golden brown the center has set.

Apricot Streusel Beer Loaf Cake

Apricot Streusel Beer Loaf Cake (vegan)

I do this every time. I see an ingredient and I can’t let it go like a normal person. Most people would arrive at house flanked with apricot trees and think that sampling a couple right off the tree sounds like a good idea. I don’t let the barrels of ripe apricots lie after that, I become just so slightly obsessed that I feel as if making something with them is an actual need.

Cake? Pie? Homemade Poptarts?! I can’t just be normal and eat them. I also don’t want to spend the entire day making my typical disastrous cooking mess in a kitchen that isn’t mine so I have to keep this obsession in check. So I made this Apricot Streusel Beer Loaf Cake, because everyone loves a loaf cake since we can just pretend it’s bread and eat it without guilt. It’s apricot bread!

This one also has fruit so it’s totally healthy(ish). Just trust me 😉. Also, you should have a beer, you deserve a beer.

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Apricot Streusel Beer Loaf Cake (vegan)

Ingredients

Cake:

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 cup pilsner or pale lager beer
½ cup coconut oil melted
1 ½ cups chopped apricots
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Streusel Topping:

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoon cornstarch
¼ cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons white sugar
½ cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 coconut oil melted

Instructions

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar to a mixing bowl, stir to combine. Add the beer, coconut oil, apricots and vanilla, stir to combine.
Pour into a 1.5 quart loaf pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray.
In a small bowl stir together all the streusel ingredients. Add the streusel to the top of the loaf in an even layer.
Bake for 60 -70 minutes or until the top springs back when lightly pressed.
Allow to cool before removing from the pan, slicing and serving.

Grilled Beer Butter Scallops with Cherry Salsa

Grilled Beer Butter Scallops with Cherry Salsa, with a grill or a grill pan!

Let’s talk scallops for a second. I know, I’ve given you this lecture before but it’s been a while. And I can’t just go around assuming you remember everything I say, I forget half of what I say on a daily basis.

I know the reason your home-cooked scallops don’t taste as good as the ones you buy at a restaurant, and it’s a really easy fix. There are two ways to buy scallops: “wet” and “dry.” A wet scallop with be soaked in a phosphate solution to preserve it. This makes it taste soapy and gives it a bit of a rubbery texture. Unfortunately, the vast majority of scallops sold in US markets are wet. Dry scallops are more expensive, harder to come by, but infinitely tastier.

If you can’t find dry scallops, the best way to treat a wet scallops is a quick brine. If you aren’t sure if your scallops are wet or dry (or your fish guy gives you a vacant stare when you ask) they’re probably wet. Just assume they’re wet unless you know for sure they aren’t.

Have you ever been cooking scallops, just minding your own business, and they start weeping out a milky liquid like they hate you? That’s the phosphate solution we need to get rid of, the extra step is well worth it.

You don’t even have to tell anyone that you know the secret. You can just cook the best scallops they’ve ever had and just pretend like it’s your magic shelfish touch. I won’t tell.

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5 from 1 vote

Grilled Beer Butter Scallops with Cherry Salsa

Ingredients

Scallops:

1 lbs colossal or jumbo scallops
2 tablespoons salt
1 cup (8oz) beer pale lager, pilsner, wheat beer
4 tablespoons (57g) butter, melted
¼ cup (2oz) beer
Creamy polenta or rice for serving

Salsa:

1¾ cup (½ lbs) pitted and quartered Bing cherries
1 jalapeno seeded and minced
2 tablespoons (25g) minced shallots
2 tablespoons (4g) minced cilantro
1 tablespoon (15g) lime juice
pinch salt

Instructions

In a large bowl add the scallops. Fill with water, drain. Repeat until the water is no longer milky. Drain the water off, leave the scallops in the bowl.
Sprinkle with salt and cover with beer. Refrigerate for 2 to 12 hours. Rinse and drain. Add to a stack of paper towels to fully dry the scallops.
Combine all the salsa ingredients in a bowl, chill until ready to use.
Preheat a grill (or grill pan) to medium high.
Stir together the butter and the beer. Brush the scallops liberally.
Place on the grill (or grill pan), brush again with butter. Flip when grill marks appear, cook on the other side until grill marks appear.
Serve topped with cherry salsa.

Chocolate Chip and Beer Caramel Cookie Bars

Chocolate Chip and Beer Caramel Cookie Bars

If you haven’t been putting caramel in your cookie bars it’s time to rectify that injustice. I know, you’ve had other things to do, I get that. But now’s the time. Because if you’re going to all the trouble to make some cookie bars it’s not going to take you that long (about 8 minutes to be exact) to boil some beered-up sugar.

You also need to add “beered-up” to your vocabulary, since you’re about to use it when you set down a plate of these delicious little beasts in front of your friends and explain exactly how lucky they are to partake. Beered-up will be part of the explanation that will immediately illicit a spontaneously unanimous “wow” that they didn’t even realize would be beautifully coordinated.

And then you’ll open a beer and tell them exactly how much you adore them and that’s why you went to all the trouble to not only make them some cookie bars but to also beer up some caramel to go inside. They’ll be amazed, of course, and offer to buy you a really good beer as a thank you. You’re welcome.

I used Odell Brewing Woodcut #9 Oak Aged Imperial IPA for the caramel sauce.

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Chocolate Chip and Beer Caramel Cookie Bars

Ingredients

For the cookie layers:

1 cup (228g) butter, melted
1 cup (200g) brown sugar, packed
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 ¼ cups (390g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces dark chocolate chips
1 teaspoon flakey sea salt I use Maldon

Caramel recipe:

½ cup (4oz) IPA beer, plus 1 tablespoon, divided
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
½ cup (100g) brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons (29g) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Add the melted butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt to a mixing bowl, mix until well combined.
Add the egg and vanilla, mix until well combined.
Sprinkle with flour, baking soda, and chocolate chips, stir until just combined.
Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper. Add half the cookie dough to the pan in an even layer.
Bake for 18 minutes or until just starting to turn golden brown. Remove from oven an allow to cool for 10 minutes.
Add ½ cup beer, granulated sugar, and brown sugar to a pan over high heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. Clip a candy thermometer onto the side of the pan. Cook the sugar without stirring (swirl the pan if hot spots develop) until the mixture reaches 250°F, about 7 minutes.
Remove from heat, stir in the butter, vanilla and remaining 1 tablespoon beer. Allow to cool for five minutes.
Pour the caramel over the cookie layer. Add the remaining cookie dough to the top in crumbles, evenly as possible but it isn’t necessary for it to be completely uniform.
Sprinkle with flakey sea salt.
Bake for 18 more minutes or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool completely (at least 1 hour) before cutting.

Beer and Doughnut Ice Cream

Look at you, you weirdo. Passing all those normal recipes for regular ice cream and coming to visit me and my left of center concoction that involves my two favorite foods. When you ask me what kind of cake I want for my birthday, the answer is no. I don’t want cake (ok, I do, I always want cake) but instead of cake, I’d much rather have a doughnut. Because it’s fried cake and that’s always better. You will of course also serve it to me with a beer because it’s my birthday, and you’re that kind of person.

So here we are, eating our doughnuts and drinking our beer and we decide to next-level it, as we do. So we decide to make ice cream out of it. We also decide to sleep on it because a drunk idea and a sober idea aren’t always the same thing. The next day, after we wake up and decide that day-old doughnuts are not worth it, we decide that drunk us had a great idea. We also realize that making doughnut ice cream is the best use of day-old doughnuts anyway and we’re brilliant. So happy birthday to us, let’s make some ice cream.

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Beer & Doughnuts Ice Cream

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 classic glazed raised doughnut chopped
1/3 cup stout
4 egg yolks
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Add the milk, cream, chopped doughnut and beer to a pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently until the milk starts to bubble around the edges and the doughnut has broken down. Remove from heat, allow to cool slightly.
Add the yolks to a mixing bowl with the granulated sugar, powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir until well combined.
Slowly add the milk mixture while whisking continuously.
Add to an airtight container. Refrigerate until chilled, about 3 hours.
Add to an ice cream maker, churn according to manufactures specifications until a soft-serve consistency (in a KitchenAid ice cream maker, this takes about 15 minutes).
Transfer to a freezer container, freeze until set, about 2 hours.

All-Purpose Beer Marinade for Grilling (meat or veggies!)

Diageo Beer Company USA, sponsored this post. Partnerships with The Beeroness and outside companies only occur when the company’s products are ones I use and enjoy myself. All ideas, words, and opinions are my  own.

The first brewery I ever visited was in Ireland when I was in college. I’d taken a flight to Dublin, landing blurry-eyed and confused early on a Thursday morning. As I stood outside the airport, my heavy pack weighing down my small frame, I tried to form enough of a thought to figure out which way to walk to get to my hostel. A passerby stops in front of me. An older man, a few inches shorter than me, clad in a wool cardigan over a plaid button-down, his eyes even bluer than mine asks me if I’m lost. I tell him that I think my hostel is just down the road but I’m not sure which way to walk. When he asks for the name of the place I’m staying, I tell him it’s called The Brewery hostile and it’s right next to the Guinness brewery.

His eyes light up, “I’ll take you there! Any excuse for a good pint!” He walks me to my destination and pauses only briefly before making his way to that taproom for a pint. The next day, I followed suit. It was the first time I’d ever heard a brewer talk, and the closest I’d ever been to brewing equipment. It left a mark.

I left that trip with two souvenirs that have stayed with me: how proud the Irish are of the Guinness brand and its history, and the love that brewers have for their craft. I’d learned that Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on the space they still occupy, that they were one of the first companies in the world to offer employee benefits (some people even credit them with starting the trend), and one of my favorite beer facts ever:

Since the 1960’s the Queen gives out an award every year for technological achievement. In 1991 this award was given to the Guinness nitro widget (that tiny ping pong sized ball in the cans of Guinness that make them taste like draft). What came in #2 to the Nitro widget? The internet. THIS is how adored Guinness is, and that love is infectious.

To this day, I still drink Extra Stout. It’s a great beer, smooth and mellow, and it’s perfect for cooking. This summer is just kicking off and I’m not slowing down on my consumption of Guinness any time soon, it’s smooth and mellow enough for even hot weather and it’s the perfect beer to use when marinating meat or veggies for the grill.

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5 from 1 vote

All-Purpose Beer Marinade for Grilling (meat or veggies!)

Ingredients

¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
¼ cup balsamic vinegar
½ cup Guinness Extra Stout Beer
3 cloves garlic grated with a microplane
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons onion powder
2 teaspoons chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt

Instructions

Stir together all ingredients.
Add the meat, fish or vegetables to the marinade (gallon sized Ziploc bag works well).
Marinate for 2 to 12 hours.
Remove from marinade and grill as desired.

Cherry Stout Beer Brownies

Cherry Stout Beer Brownies

Don’t look at me like that. I know we agreed that brownies shouldn’t be bastardized by things like nuts or fruit, but this is different. Mostly because I wanted to do it and rules don’t apply when I feel like this, you know how it goes.

Just hear me out. When cherries come into season I need to put them on all the things. All. The. Things. Remember when I pickled cherries in beer? That was fun, I need to do that again. This brownie situation was like that because I had cherries and need to make something borderline ridiculous with them.

So, there I was with a nice little haul of Pacific Northwest Cherries, and then a beer showed up on my doorstep (that’s what happens when you have a weird job like this one, beer just shows up on your doorstep) and it’s a beer that’s made with cherries and cocoa, and it tastes like making out with your crush. 4 Seasons Imperial Stout from Mother Earth Brewing is an 11% monster that you shouldn’t consumer without a spotter and some carbs because it goes down far too easy for that much of a punch.

When you have an imperial stout made with cherries AND cocoa, you have to make brownies studded with cherries as a consumable echo to that beer. Also, it’s nice to have some carbs to share with your spotter, obviously.

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Cherry Stout Beer Brownies

Servings: 9 brownies

Ingredients

½ cup (114g) melted butter
1 ½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (75g) stout beer
3 large eggs
6 weight ounce dark chocolate chips melted
1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon (6g) salt
¼ cup (25g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup (130g) halved and pitted dark sweet cherries (like Bing cherries)
1 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Add the melted butter and sugar to a mixing bowl, mix until well combined.
Stir in the beer and the eggs, mix until well combined.
Stir in the melted chocolate.
Sprinkle with flour, salt, and coco powder, mix until just combined.
Toss the cherries with cornstarch. Stir into the batter.
Pour into a pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick in the center returns with a few crumbs attached but it’s covered in batter.
Allow to cool and rest for one hour before removing from the pan and cutting into squares

Lemon Artichoke Skillet Beer Chicken

Lemon Artichoke Skillet Beer Chicken

Life is too short for soggy chicken skin, this is a fact. Crispy chicken skin is the only way to live life, and I have the secret. It’s a cold pan. Not a “put in the fridge” cold, but now that you say that, I do want to try that. It’s “cold” as in: not on a heat source. That’s the secret, and once you trust me and cook your chicken in a cold-not-cold pan, you won’t turn back.

Letting the chicken skin cook as the pan heats up slowly renders the fat and allows the skin to slowly crisp and turn golden (I like a DARK golden, but feel free to aim for the medium gold) and this will rid your life of that gross, chewy, gummy skin with pieces of fat that you pretend aren’t there in order to enjoy the rest of your meal.

After you begin with your cold pan, don’t rush it. Just let that sucker sit at medium heat (invest in a splatter guard if you don’t already have one. Trust!) until it’s ready, not letting it get too hot or the chicken will burn before it’s done crisping and rendering. It’s a job that it does all on its own while you are free to do other things, like make sauce, or a cocktail, or impulse buy yoga pants Amazon. You know, whatever strikes your fancy.

Now that you are in on this crispy-skinned secret, it’s time to give it a try. You can even add your own favorite sauce or spice rub, or just eat it over the sink in your yoga pants while drinking your cocktail. It’s your world, and it now has crispy skin chicken for life.

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5 from 1 vote

Lemon Artichoke Skillet Beer Chicken

Ingredients

6 chicken thighs bone in, skin on
2 teaspoons kosher salt
¼ cup (56g) chicken broth
¼ cup (56g) pale ale
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ cup (56g) lemon juice
¼ cup (60g) sundried tomatoes in oil
½ cup (130g) quartered artichoke hearts
Chopped fresh parsley for serving
Rice or pasta for serving

Instructions

Sprinkle the chicken on all sides with salt. Place in a skillet, off heat, skin side down.
Add to the stove over medium heat (if the heat is too high the skin will burn before it is able to render the fat, slower cooking will allow for crispier skin). Add a splatter guard if you have one.
Cook until the skin has browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Turn over, cooking on the other side until chicken is cooked through.
While the chicken cooks, make the sauce.
Add the chicken broth, beer and cornstarch to a large bowl, whisk to combine. Add the remaining ingredients (except the parsley and rice), stir to combine.
Remove the chicken thighs from the pan, pour off all the rendered fat. Return the pan to heat, raise the heat to medium high. Add the sauce, stir to remove the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Stir until the sauce has thickened.
Add the chicken back to the pan, cooking until the chicken has warmed. Add to a serving plate, sprinkle with parsley, serve over rice or pasta.

Honey Beer Glazed Salmon with Mango Avocado Salsa

Honey Beer Glazed Salmon with Mango Avocado Salsa

I need this, it’s rather necessary. Since I spend my life contractually obligated to drink beer and eat foods like this and this, I need recipes like this Salmon with Mango Avocado Salsa. For the sake of my liver and my skinny jeans, it’s important. But I can also act like a spoiled child when it comes to food and really need something that tastes fun and indulgent.

So I make these recipes that I get really excited about and hope that I don’t notice that it’s also rather healthy, much in the same way you smuggle cauliflower into your toddler’s mashed potatoes and hope they don’t notice. I do this with myself, I’m really good it. I don’t even notice that I’ve made a healthy meal because I got so excited to make it in the first place.

I know, it’s ridiculous. But I have to do what I can before my liver figures out how to call the cops on me for widespread abuse.

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Honey Beer Glazed Salmon with Mango Avocado Salsa

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

For the Salmon

4 salmon fillets
¼ cup 85g honey
½ cup 115g pale ale beer
1 teaspoon 6g salt
1 teaspoon 1g red pepper flakes

For the salsa:

1 large mango peeled, pitted and diced
1 large avocado peeled pitted and diced
½ 1 large red onion diced
1 jalapeno diced
1 red bell pepper seeded and diced
¼ cup cilantro chopped
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Add the honey, beer, salt, and pepper to a wide, shallow bowl. Stir to combine (heat slightly if the honey is resisting combining with the beer. Make sure to cool before adding salmon to prevent the marinate cooking the salmon).
Add the salmon, turn over a few times to fully coat the fish. Cover and chill for 1 to 24 hours.
Preheat the grill to medium-high.
Add the salsa ingredients to a large bowl, toss to combine.
Place the salmon on the grill, skin side down. Close the cover, cooking until the salmon is cooked through (no need to flip over, the salmon will cook with the grill cover closed).
Remove from grill, add to a serving plate. Top with salsa before serving.

Beer Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches

Beer Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches

Have you ever been interviewed by a kid? It’s the best. They aren’t like grown-ups, they don’t care what your job is or where you went to college. They never ask you to detail the history of your current career trajectory, or how you plan to vote. They ask fun questions, like “what’s your favorite cursive letter?” or “If you could be any dinosaur what would you be?” and “would you rather be able to fly or be able to turn invisible?”

THESE are the important questions, the ones no one fights over. relationships are never lost over finding out your friend’s favorite cursive letter is Q and they would rather fly than be invisible. The other great thing about kid-interviewers is that they get really excited when your answers match theirs.

Recently I was fortunate enough to get to hang out with a room full of 3rd graders to teach an art lesson. After they interviewed me, asking all the aforementioned questions (answers: J, Triceratops, invisible) we all decided that the best food in the world is doughnuts, followed closely by ice cream.

They, of course, are way too young to understand why beer is also magical, but I’m sure in 13 years they will have realized the error of their ways. At which point they will surely understand that Beer Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches are superior to all other foods. Until then, these are all mine.

I used Acme Ultra Premium Ice Cream

But if you want to make that yourself, I suggest No Churn Shandy Gelato or Chocolate Porter Bacon Ice Cream.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Beer Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients

For the Doughnuts:

3 cups (360g) flour
¼ cup (58g) granulated sugar
1 packet 2 ¼ teaspoon or 7g rapid rise yeast
¾ cup (6oz) wheat beer (pilsner or pale ale will also work)
1 teaspoon (5g) vanilla
2 large egg yolks room temperature
¼ cup (62mL) heavy cream (room temperature)
1 teaspoon (6g) salt
1 tablespoon (15g) heavy cream
oil for frying

For the glaze:

1 ½ cups (180g) confectioners sugar
¼ cup (2oz) beer

For the Sandwiches:

4-6 cups ice cream slightly softened
1 cup (185g) dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons (30g) beer

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook add the flour, sugar and yeast.
Add the beer to a microwave safe bowl, microwave on high for 30 seconds, test temperate and repeat until beer reaches between 120F and 130F.
Add the beer to the stand mixer, mix until most of the flour has been moistened.
Add the vanilla then the yolks, one at a time. Add the cream, and salt.
Building up speed, beat on high until the dough comes together and gathers around the blade.
The dough will be very soft.
Add dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover and allow to sit at room temperature for 1 hour or until doubles in size.
Punch down the dough and knead lightly to remove any air bubbles.
Add the dough to a lightly floured surface. Pull into a large rectangle about ½ inch thick. Use a 3-inch round cutter to cut out 12 circles, cut smaller circles inside to make the doughnut hole (this is optional, but if you choose to do this a metal cocktail jigger works well).
Allow to rest until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
Heat 4-inches of oil in a pot over high heat until the oil reaches 350° F on a deep fry thermometer. Adjust heat to maintain that temperature. A few at a time, fry the doughnuts until golden brown on both sides, about 2 minutes per side.
Remove and allow to cool on a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before proceeding.
In a wide but shallow bowl mix together the confectioners sugar and remaining beer until well combined. Dip each doughnut in the glaze and return to the wire rack.
Slice the doughnuts in half lengthwise.
Spread desired amount of ice cream (between ¼ and ½ cup) inside each doughnut before replacing the top.
After assembling each sandwich, store in the freezer while you continue to prepare the remaining doughnut ice cream sandwiches.
Add the chocolate chips, beer and heavy cream to a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until the chocolate is melted.
Drizzle on the sandwiches prior to serving. Store in the freezer until ready to serve.

Notes

If preparing these ahead of time, make sure you allow 15 minutes for them to thaw before eating. Ideally served just after making, but if you need to make them in advance make sure they thaw enough for the doughnuts to be soft.

Spicy Beer Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Spicy Beer Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Somedays the internet is just pug videos and Game of Thrones memes and other days it feels so full of trolls lurking just under the surface, waiting with their beady little eyes for the chance to pounce. On the bad days, I have to believe those of us who are willing to mama-bear the good people and come out in force against the trolls are much larger in quality and quantity than former.

Let’s just make that agreement, shall we? As we make our pulled pork and drink our beer that we’ll look out for each other. We’ll stick up for someone who’s being bullied online and push the trolls back into the caves from which they came.

There are days when I want to be the kind of person that will love the trolls so hard they will crack wide up and shed their skin like a snake and evolve into a self-aware human.

But other days I don’t have the strength. I just want to hand you my beer and wreck shop. I find the restraint and often channel that rage into cooking. So I rage cooked you some stuffed sweet potatoes and served them with this amazing hazy IPA from bells called Official Hazy IPA. It’s one of those beers that makes everything right in the world.

Stout Beer Barbecue Sauce

Beer Pickled Jalapeños

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5 from 1 vote

Spicy Beer Pulled Pork Stuffed Sweet Potatoes

Servings: 6 people

Ingredients

For the pulled pork:

1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoon dry mustard powder
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
4 lb pork shoulder
6 cloves of garlic peeled
¼ cup olive oil
3 cups stout or smoked porter

For the potatoes:

6 medium sized garnet sweet potatoes
olive oil
kosher salt
6 tablespoons butter

For the toppings:

1 cup BBQ sauce for beer BBQ sauce, link above
¼ cup chopped cilantro
¼ cup pickled jalapenos for beer pickled jalapenos, link above

Instructions

Make the pulled pork:

In a small bowl stir together the salt, brown sugar onion powder, chili powder, cumin, pepper, smoked paprika and mustard powder together until combined, set aside.
Take out your pork and stab 6, 2-inch deep holes fairly evenly spaced through the meat. Push a clove of garlic into each hole until no longer visible.
Rub the entire surface of the meat with the spice mixture, using it all.
In a large Dutch oven, heat the olive oil until very hot. Sear all surfaces of the meat, even the sides, until browned. The entire process will probably take about 10-15 minutes. Pour the beer over the meat, cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for about 3 hours, turning the meat over about every 30 minutes, until the meat is tender and falling apart.
Once the meat is tender remove from heat, use two forks to shred into pieces while still in the pot (or remove, shred and return to pot). Return to the pot to heat and allow to simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove the meat from the pot, add to a servings bowl.
If planning on store the meat, reserve ½ cup of the cooking liquid to add to the meat while storing.

Make the potatoes:

Preheat the oven to 400°F.
Pierce the potatoes all over with a small knife.
Add the potatoes to a wire rack over a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt.
Bake for 40 minutes or until fork tender ( the time will depend on the size of your potatoes, larger ones can take up to 30 minutes longer).

Top the potatoes:

Slit the potatoes lengthwise. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to the center of each, sprinkle with salt. Mash the butter and salt into the sweet potato with a fork.
Add desire amount of pulled pork to each potato, top with cilantro, barbeque sauce, and jalapenos.

Mini Chorizo Stout Breakfast Tarts (with vegetarian option)

Mini Chorizo Stout Breakfast Tarts (with vegetarian option)

It happens to all of us, right? One day we’re young and cool and the next day we’re deciding which grocery store to go to based on home much we like the carts. PLANNING on having people over for breakfast is another one of those things.

One day, the only time you make breakfast for your friends is when you’re all hungover and they’re still at your place because they were too drunk to drive home the night before (that was a good call), and the next day you’re planning a menu for people who will wake up sober and then drive to your house for brunch.

Look at how much we’ve grown up, I’m proud of us.

This breakfast is actually quite perfect for either scenario. You can make the puff pastry in ten minutes (or, buy it from the store and keep it in your freezer for just such an occasion), chorizo or soyrizo is pretty much something you should always have, and of course, you already have eggs.

So, you’re all set. Ready to bake a grown-up breakfast in just 20 minutes, even if all of your guests are hungover and you’re the only responsible one. It’s not like that has never happened before.

10-Minute Pale Ale Puff Pastry Recipe

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Mini Chorizo Stout Breakfast Tarts (with vegetarian option)

Ingredients

1 sheet puff pastry, store bought or homemade (Pale Ale Puff Pastry Recipe link above)
1 (9oz) package pork chorizo (for a vegetarian I use Trader Joe’s Soyrizo)
¼ cup stout or porter beer
¼ cup shredded cheddar cheese
9 egg yolks
2 tablespoons chopped chives

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Roll the dough into a rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Cut into 9 equal sized squares. Score a border about ½ inch from the edge (do not cut all the way through) prick the center with a fork. Evenly space on a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper. Chill while you prepare the filling.
Remove the chorizo from the casing, add to a pan over medium-high heat. Add the beer.
Stir until chorizo is cooked through and thickened.
Spoon about 2 tablespoons into the center of each of the tarts, avoiding the border.
Sprinkle with cheeses.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the pastry has puffed and is just starting to brown but is not yet golden brown.
Add one yolk to the center of each tart, making a well in the chorizo with the back of a spoon if necessary.
Bake for 5 additional minutes or until the pastry has browned and the yolk is warmed but still runny.
Add to serving plates, sprinkle with chives.

One Bowl Chocolate Chip Beer and Peanut Butter Bread

One Bowl Chocolate Chip Beer and Peanut Butter Bread

I like that we do this. We make a loaf cake, slice it, serve it with coffee and call it bread. But we both know it’s cake. We call it bread, nod along as we both agree to call it that, and happily devour it with our morning latte as if we didn’t just eat frosting-less cake for breakfast. We like to try to trick ourselves, and we are both ok with this.

But THIS not-cake-its-bread-promise is also full of protein because of the peanut butter. So it’s kinda not as bad for you, which makes it good in my book. It’s also perfect for an afternoon snack with a beer, which you totally deserve for having such a good-for-you breakfast.

It also makes a really easy bake-and-take offering if you have to go somewhere to eat food in a social setting. It’s like a peanut butter cup and beer but in bread form. You can’t go wrong, it’s a crowd pleaser. Just like your ability to convince people to eat cake for breakfast, everyone likes that about you.

Print Recipe

One Bowl Chocolate Chip Beer and Peanut Butter Bread

Ingredients

2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup (100g) sugar
2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (120g) chocolate chips
¾ cup (180g) half and half
¾ cup (6oz) stout or porter beer
½ cup (128g) creamy peanut butter, slightly heated

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl stir together the baking powder, baking soda, salt, sugar and flour.
Add the remaining ingredients, stir until combined.
Spray an 8x4 inch loaf pan with cooking spray, add the batter in an even layer.
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and springs back when lightly touched.

Grilled Cilantro Lime Beer Chicken

Grilled Cilantro Lime Beer Chicken

I go through phases of grilling all the things. And by ALL, I pretty much mean it. I once grilled garlic. Nothing edible is safe when I’m in this phase. I always grill my homemade pizza, all fruit is better grilled, I’ve even grilled all the ingredients for guacamole, and then did it all again with all the ingredients for sangria (except the wine, but I thought about it!) because “guac, chips, and sangria” are better as “grilled guac, chips, and grilled sangria”. I promise.

If you’re between grills right now, don’t sad-face me. Figure out how to get your grubby paws on one. Craigslist (ok, but be careful!), Facebook Market Place (way better, you can facebook stalk for safety), Amazon (really safe as long as your delivery guy is cool). It’ll be worth it when you’re finally able to grill all your things, too.

You can stop at normal things like meat and veggies. But if you want to grill pie or salad, I would approve. Just make sure to share it with me on Instagram.

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5 from 1 vote

Grilled Cilantro Lime Beer Chicken

Servings: 4 servings

Ingredients

3 lbs chicken thighs bone in, skin on
2 large limes juiced
½ cup (9g) cilantro leaves, packed
1 tablespoon (18g) kosher salt
12 ounces pale ale
2 large cloves of garlic peeled

Instructions

Add the chicken to a large Ziplock bag or bowl with a lid.
Add the remaining ingredients to a blender or food processor, process on high until well combined.
Pour the mixture over the chicken, seal (or cover). Refridgerate for 2 to 12 hours.
Pre heat a grill to medium-high.
Remove chicken from the marinade. Grill on all sides until cooked through, about 6 minutes per side.

Coconut Raspberry Pilsner Cake

Coconut Raspberry Pilsner Cake. Simple and delicious one-bowl cake with AMAZING frosting!

Cake is the cornerstone of our society. Wait, it’s not? Freedom and democracy are? Ok, fine. But can cake be second? We all disagree on a lot these days, but we all agree that cake is one of the most superior foods on the planet. It’s why we eat it when celebrate surviving another year on the planet, or when we celebrate finding our person and have a ceremony to let everyone know we found our forever person so we are going to eat cake and be happy. Right?

If not, I’ve been doing life wrong for a long time. Cake has been present at all the celebrations worth remembering in my life, far before beer joined the party. Beer can be late, we’ll let it slide.

Coconut feels like spring. It feels like we’re willing the weather to warm up, forgetting that soon it will be too hot to handle and we’ll curse the sky and drink all the session beer we can get our hands on. But right now we eat cake and curse the rain and hope for sun and tank tops.

Coconut screams sun and tank tops. This cake was exactly how I like it, moist without being dense, airy enough but not overly light. I’ve learned to love coconut flakes after years of swearing I hated them because I found out that GOOD flakes are very different from what seems like uninformed white shredded cardboard that comes in clear and blue plastic bags in the grocery store (stop buying that, it’s gross). Now, with a little help from Panang I love coconut everything.

Especially this Raspberry Beer Tank Tops and Sun cake. It’s also the perfect size for a small gathering, for those times when you just need to feed 6 people without having a half eaten cake taunting you from the fridge.

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Coconut Raspberry Pilsner Cake

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the cake:

2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
½ cup (38g) unsweetened coconut flakes (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
3/4 cup (183g) coconut milk (from shaken can)
½ cup (4oz) pilsner
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons (30g) vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon coconut extract

For the frosting:

8 oz cream cheese room temperature
1 cup (230g) heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125g) powdered sugar
6 oz raspberries
Toasted coconut for garnish optional

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Add the flour, salt, baking powder, sugar, and coconut flakes to a bowl, stir to combine.
Add the coconut milk, pilsner, eggs, oil, vanilla, and coconut extracts. Whisk together until just combined.
Spray a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray, add the batter. Bake for 60 minutes or until the top has started to brown and the cake springs back when lightly touched.
Allow to cool to room temperature before removing from the pan.
Add the cream cheese to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Beat until light and fluffy, scraping the sides several times to make sure all cream cheese is mixed.
Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract. Starting on a low speed and building up speed to medium-high, beat until the cream and cream cheese are well combined, light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar, stir to combine.
Cut the cake in half horizontally to make two layers. Add half the frosting in an even layer on the cut side of one of the loaves. Top with raspberries.
Add the other layer, cut side down. Top with remaining frosting. Sprinkle with toasted coconut flakes.

Notes

*To toast coconut, add to a dry pan over high heat. Pull back and forth over the burner, tossing until just toasted. Be careful, it burns quickly.

Maple Beer Glazed Crispy Pork Belly

Maple Beer Glazed Crispy Pork Belly, the easiest and tastiest pork belly I’ve ever made!

Pork belly is an investment. Not financially—it’s actually pretty inexpensive—it’s a time investment. One that’s well worth the effort with the right recipe. I’ve made pork belly so many times over the years and I’ve learned that patience is key to getting what you want. That is if what you want is juicy pork with crispy skin.

I usually source my pork belly from a local restaurant supply store, it’s a great place to shop if you want to buy your body weight in pork products. Why yes, yes I do want more pork belly than I can safely lift without a spotter! With a recipe that takes this much time, I want to test it to make sure it’s right when you finally make the investment of time it takes to get this done.

If you do find that an overly ambitious trip to a pork belly purveyor straddled you with more pork than anyone can safely eat in a lifetime, just remember that it freezes really well. Just wrap it better than you think is necessary and it should be fine for a few months.

After several rounds of testing, this was the winner. Juciy meat: check. Crispy skin: so much. Easy recipe that doesn’t involve scoring, poking, vinegar or excessive steps: absolutly.

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Maple Beer Glazed Crispy Pork Belly

Ingredients

For the pork

1 (4.5 lbs) pork belly, rind on
2 cups very warm water
2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon whole cloves
1 tablespoon whole allspice
2 (12 ounce) beers (wheat beer, pilsner, pale ale)
1 cup kosher salt
1 egg white
1 tablespoon olive oil

For the glaze

3 tablespoons real maple syrup
2 tablespoons beer wheat beer, pilsner, pale ale
2 tablespoon spicy brown mustard

Instructions

Add the pork belly to a large bowl or baking dish.
In a large bowl stir together the hot water, salt, cloves, and allspice, make sure the salt is completely dissolved. Pour in the cold beer. Make sure the brine temperature is below room temperature to avoid prematurely cooking the pork.
Pour the brine over the pork. Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 300°F
Remove the pork from the brine, add to a stack of paper towels, rind side down for 10 minutes to dry the skin.
In a small bowl stir together the kosher salt and egg whites until well combined.
Place a wire rack over a baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil. Place the pork on the rack, rind side up.
Pack the salt on top of the rind until completely covered and slightly compacted.
Bake for 3 hours. Remove from oven, raise temperature to 400°F. Gently pull the salt pack off the pork. It will be a hard crust at this point and should remove easily in a few large chunks.
Brush off any remaining salt with a clean kitchen towel or paper towel. Brush with olive oil.
Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the rind is a dark golden brown.
Stir together the maple syrup, 2 tablespoons beer, and mustard. Brush the top liberally with glaze.
Turn the broiler to high. Broil in the top 1/3 of the oven (a few rungs down from the very top) until the glaze has caramelized. Re-brush every 5 minutes. Broil until caramelized and dark.
Remove from oven, cut into cubes for serving

Notes

Can be served as an appetizer or an entree.