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Porter/Stout

Beer Braised Chinese Five Spice Short Ribs over Mimolette Polenta with Red Plum Chimichurri

Beer Braised Chinese Five Spice Short Ribs over Mimolette Polenta with Red Plum Chimichurri

This is going to sound crazy, I know that. But short ribs need stone fruit. They do, it’s a perfect pairing. You don’t believe me? Are you doubting my powers of uncommon food pairings? This is a mistake on your part because short ribs and reb plums go together as well as a pilsner and mowing the lawn. 

There is such a gorgeous balance when the sweet and lightly acidic tang of the plum cuts through the rich deep flavors and fattiness of the slow-cook beef. Have I convinced you yet? Either way, you obviously have to try it to come to your own conclusion that I’m right. Obviously. 

Beer Braised Chinese Five Spice Short Ribs over Mimolette Polenta with Red Plum Chimichurri

Ingredients
  

Short ribs

  • 2.5 lbs. short ribs
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • ¼ cup (30g) flour
  • 3 tablespoons five spice
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ½ large sweet white onion about 1 ½ cups, chopped
  • 1 cup (8oz) stout beer
  • 1 cup (236g) beef broth
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste

Chimichurri

  • 2 large red plums chopped
  • 2 tablespoons chopped shallots
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 3 tablespoons green onions chopped
  • 2 tablespoons parsley chopped
  • 2 tablespoons aged balsamic
  • 1 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Polenta:

  • 4 cups (960g) chicken broth
  • 1 cup (160g) dry polenta
  • ½ cup (120g) heavy cream
  • 3 ounces mimolette cheese shredded
  • 1 (6g) salt

Instructions
 

Make the short ribs:

  • Preheat the oven to 325°.
  • Salt the short ribs on all sides.
  • Add the flour and five spice to a bowl, stir to combine.
  • Dredge the short ribs in the flour mixture, coating on all sides.
  • Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat.
  • Sear the short ribs on all sides, remove from pan.
  • Add the onions, cooking over medium heat until starting to caramelize, about 15 minutes. Add the beer, scraping to deglaze the bottom of the pan.
  • Stir in the broth and tomato paste. Add the short ribs back in, cover, and add to the oven.
  • Cook for about 3 hours or until fork tender, checking on the ribs about every hour, turning over and returning to the oven until done.

Make the chimichurri:

  • Add all the ingredients to a bowl, stir to combine.

Make the polenta:

  • In a pot over medium-high heat, add the broth, and polenta. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and polenta has softened, about 20 minutes.
  • Stir in the cream, cheese, and 1 teaspoon salt, allow to cook until absorbed, about 5 minutes.

Serve:

  • Plate the polenta, top with short ribs, then chimichurri.

Cream Puffs with Browned Butter Pastry Cream and Espresso Stout Chocolate Sauce

Cream Puffs with Browned Butter Pastry Cream and Espresso Stout Chocolate Sauce

So, we’re eating our feelings this week, yes? Yes. Three-day weekends are built for long cooking projects and this week is built for emotional eating. I do this sometimes, bake really complicated things because it gives me a solid win when I need one. It also makes it hard for my mind to wonder when I have to worry about dough and baking times and if my pastry cream will set (it will, promise). 

 

It’s like this little secret that I hide behind my "I like to bring the most impressive treats to the party" persona, it’s more that I like to know that I have something that I can control that will make people happy. Beer and food make people happy, even if just for a moment. So put down the doom scrolling and just spend some time in your kitchen and make something that will bring some joy to this really messed up world. 

Cream Puffs with Browned Butter Pastry Cream and Espresso Stout Chocolate Sauce

5 from 1 vote

Ingredients
  

Pastry Cream:

  • ½ cup (114g) unsalted butter
  • 1 ½ cups (16oz) whole milk
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Cream Puff Dough:

  • 1 cup (228g) pale ale beer
  • ½ cup (114g) butter, room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 ¼ cups (175g) flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • Egg wash optional

Chocolate Sauce:

  • 10 oz dark chocolate 62%
  • ¾ cup (6oz) stout beer
  • 1 tablespoon espresso powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Flaky sea salt for finishing

Instructions
 

Make the pastry cream:

  • Add the butter to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Allow to melt and become foamy, stirring frequently.
  • After about ten minutes the foam will subside, and the liquid will become more translucent and you will be able to see the bottom of the saucepan and small bits on the bottom. Whisk continuously until it smells nutty and the bits have browned, remove from heat. Stir in the milk, add back to heat until bubbles start to form around the edges of the saucepan.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the vanilla, cornstarch, egg yolks, sugar, and salt until well combined.
  • Whisk the egg mixture continually while slowly poring the warm liquid into the bowl.
  • Add the mixture to the saucepan over medium heat, whisking until thicken. Remove from heat, add to a storage container and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

Make the cream puff dough:

  • Add the beer and butter to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the butter is melted and just starting to boil.
  • Remove from heat, add the salt, flour, and sugar.
  • Add back to medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon constantly until mixture becomes one large ball and clings to the spoon (this should only take a minute and the pan may be hot enough that you don’t need to reintroduce heat).
  • Add to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, allow to cool for ten minutes.
  • Preheat the oven the 450° F.
  • Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until the dough starts to come back together (after looking as if it may be breaking) before adding another egg.
  • Mix for at least 2 minutes after the last egg until the mixture looks creamy, and when you pull the mixer paddle up, it leaves a trail that looks like a bird's beak where the dough slides back down but still clings to the paddle.
  • The dough should be smooth and sticky. Add to a piping bag with a star tip.
  • Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pipe circles of dough onto the parchment, about 1 ½ inches wide.
  • With the tip of a wet finger, press the tip down so it doesn’t look like a sorting hat. Brush with egg wash.
  • Bake for 5 minutes and then reduce heat to 350°F without opening the oven. Bake for an additional 15-20 minutes or until the cream puffs are golden brown, allow to cool.
  • Use a bread knife to slice the top off the cream puffs.

Make the chocolate sauce:

  • Add all of the chocolate sauce ingredients to the top of a double boiler over gently simmering water. Stir continually until just melted, remove from heat.

Assemble the cream puffs:

  • Pipe pastry cream into the center.
  • Replace the top.
  • Top with chocolate sauce, sprinkle with sea salt.
  • Serve room temperate or chilled.

 

Overnight Bourbon Stout Pecan Croissant French Toast with Blood Orange Mascarpone Cream

Overnight Bourbon Stout Pecan Croissant French Toast with Blood Orange Mascarpone Cream

I like when we do this. We make what is obviously a dessert (sshhhh!) and serve it for breakfast because if you add syrup and coffee it’s for breakfast. Don’t worry, I’ve been here before I know the road. 

It also helps to remember that breakfast is the most important meal so it can demand dessert to be called whatever it wants because it’s the queen and we must bow. This is also why it’s OK to add orange juice to champagne and pretend like it’s a breakfast beverage. Or vodka in your V8 is normal pre-noon drinking behavior. Because Breakfast said so and we must all listen. 

I am also here to say again for the millionth (but not the last) time that breakfast food needs to be acceptable as dessert foods, we’re halfway there. We put icing on some fried ring-shaped cakes and call them breakfast. We pour syrup on bread pudding and call it breakfast. See?! We’re so close! 

To reverse engineer this feat, just serve breakfast foods after dinner, add some whipped mascarpone, hold the syrup, swap the coffee for beer, and BAM you’ve got dessert. Everyone will think you’re brilliant because you are. And everyone wants to do this they just need you to clear the path. And you can because you’re a trendsetter, obviously. 

Overnight Bourbon Stout Pecan Croissant French Toast with Blood Orange Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients
  

For the French Toast:

  • 8 medium-sized croissants 1 lbs total weight
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 ½ cup half and half or ¾ cup whole milk and ¾ cups heavy cream
  • ¼ cup stout beer Bourbon barrel aged
  • 2 tablespoons white granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup candied pecans

For the Mascarpone Cream:

  • 8 oz mascarpone
  • 2 tablespoons half and half or heavy cream
  • 1 tablespoon blood orange juice
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3 tablespoons powdered sugar

Instructions
 

  • Cut the croissants into quarters. Add to a to an 8x8 pan, press firmly into the pan.
  • In a mixing bowl add the eggs, half and half, beer, both sugars, vanilla, and salt, whisk until well combined.
  • Pour the mixture over the croissants, sprinkle with pecans. Cover and refrigerate overnight and up to 3 days.
  • Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  • Remove the casserole from the fridge while the oven preheats.
  • Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until the center has puffed and top is slightly crisp.
  • Remove from oven, allow to cool slightly, cut into 9 squares.
  • In a bowl, add the mascarpone and whip with a hand mixer until creamy. Add the heavy cream, beat to combine. Then beat in the orange juice and vanilla, then the powdered sugar.
  • Serve the casserole with mascarpone cream.

Thai Meatballs with Stout Peanut Sauce

Thai Meatballs with Stout Peanut Sauce 

We need to make goals that are easily attainable. At least in equal measure with the difficult ones. For every goal you make that involves weight, money, or extended family, make one that’s easy to keep. You know, for motivation. I have one for you, it’s easy. 

Your new goal is to never again, never ever, serve meatballs with pasta. Just say no. Serve meatballs with rice, it’s way better. Meatballs and rice are a much more compatible match and I’ll fight you over it. But I will win and afterward I’ll feel bad and buy you a beer. So let’s skip the fighting, move right to the beers, ok?

Thai Meatballs with Stout Peanut Sauce

5 from 1 vote

Ingredients
  

Meatballs

  • 1.5 lbs. ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 large egg
  • ¼ cup bread crumbs
  • 1 tablespoons sesame oil
  • ½ cup stout beer

Sauce

  • 1 (13.5oz) can coconut milk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¼ cup (64g) crunchy peanut butter
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoon (28g) low sodium soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoon (32g) Thai red curry paste
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) rice vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) sriracha (plus additional to taste)
  • 3 tablespoon lime juice
  • ¼ cup chopped green onions
  • ¼ cup chopped cilantro

Rice for serving

    Instructions
     

    • Add the pork, salt, garlic powder, onion powder, bread crumbs and eggs to a mixing bowl. Mix with your hands until just combined (don’t over mix).
    • Using a cookie scoop, scoop out a ball of the meat mixture and add to a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper.
    • Freeze for 15 minutes (this will help the meatballs retain their shape).
    • While the meatballs are in the freezer, make the sauce.
    • In a mixing bowl add the coconut milk, peanut butter, fish sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, curry paste, vinegar, sriracha, and lime juice, whisk to combine, set aside.
    • Heat the sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat until very hot but not smoking.
    • Add the meatballs, pull the pan back and forth across the burner allowing the meatballs to roll around in the pan. Cook in this manner until the meatballs are browned, about 6 minutes.
    • Lower heat to medium-low, add the beer, scraping to deglaze the pan.
    • Stir in the coconut milk mixture. Allow to simmer until the sauce has thickened and the meatballs are cooked through.
    • Plate the rice, top with meatballs and sauce, sprinkle with cilantro and green onions.

    Korean Beer Glazed Short Ribs

    Korean Beer Glazed Short Ribs

    Do you also get anxiety over the most obscure things? Like when someone asks you what your favorite [random category] is? I don’t like this, it makes me panic and second-guess all my life choices. The truth is, I DON’T have a favorite beer, or vacation spot, or color. 

    But I DO have favorites when it comes to more obscure things, like grocery checkout ladies, and spatula brands. I also have a favorite cooking style, but not the way you think. Because I won’t say "French" or "Mediterranean" it’s even more random.

    It’s "sounds really fancy but it’s super easy." That’s a category, I promise, and it’s my favorite. These short ribs are it, and I cooked them because my regular grocery store always sells flanken-style short ribs. I hate going to new and unfamiliar grocery stores because I have this unreasonable feeling that everyone is looking at me as if I don’t belong there and why am I not at my usual spot that’s obviously why I can’t find the soy sauce! See, I panic over the most random situations. I can get stuck in the drug smuggling capital of Spain and be just fine, but new grocery stores make me uneasy. That’s why I stick to my favorite, it also has my favorite checkout lady. 

    Korean Beer Glazed Short Ribs

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 lbs flanken style short ribs
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 1 teaspoon black pepper
    • 3 tablespoons cornstarch
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 3 cloves garlic grated with a microplane
    • 1 teaspoon ginger grated with a microplane
    • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
    • 2 tablespoons soy sauce low sodium
    • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon chili oil
    • ½ cup stout beer

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat the oven to 275°F.
    • Sprinkle the short ribs on all sides with salt and pepper, then dredge in cornstarch.
    • Heat the olive oil in a large braiser (or oven-safe pan with a lid), sear the short ribs on all sides, remove from heat.
    • Stir together the garlic, ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce, brown sugar, chili oil, and beer.
    • Pour over the short ribs. Cover and add to the oven for one hour.
    • Remove the lid, turn the short ribs over, cook for an additional hour.
    • Remove from oven, add to a serving plate, drizzle with pan sauce.

    Browned Butter Shortbread Salted Beer Caramel and Espresso Chocolate Bars

    Browned Butter Shortbread Salted Beer Caramel and Espresso Chocolate Bars

    We’re almost there, in the homestretch now. We are close to the end of the strangest year that ever was and we all deserve a treat to celebrate. We made it, we’ve survived, mostly intact, only partially traumatized. Spend the next handful of days letting yourself enjoy anything you want, and reminding yourself that when it’s all said and done, you did a pretty damn good job getting through it all. 

    Did you murder anyone? No. Did you mostly feed your kids or pets or both? Yes. Did you shower most but not all the days? We think so. Then you did good. Good is the new amazing. So celebrate with something you want to eat or drink and let’s just all decide to make next year a better year where we are grateful for things we took for granted in 2019. And, you know, still feed the creatures and resist murder. 

    Browned Butter Shortbread Salted Beer Caramel and Espresso Chocolate Bars

    5 from 3 votes

    Ingredients
      

    Shortbread:

    • ¾ cup unsalted butter
    • ½ cup golden brown sugar
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1 ½ 185g cups all-purpose flour

    Caramel:

    • 1 cup sugar
    • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar*
    • ¼ cup water
    • 6 tablespoons butter
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ¼ cup heavy cream
    • 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt

    Chocolate:

    • 10 oz dark chocolate chips
    • ¼ cup stout beer
    • 2 teaspoons espresso powder or instant coffee powder not coffee grounds
    • 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt

    Instructions
     

    • Add the butter to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring often, until it smells nutty and is a slight amber color, be careful not to burn it. Transfer the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer allow to cool for 15 to 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 325°F.
    • Add the sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour, mix on low speed until just combined.
    • Line an 8x8 pan with parchment.
    • Press the dough into the pan in an even layer.
    • Bake for 30 minutes or until the edges just start to brown. Remove from oven, allow to cool.
    • Add the sugar, cream of tartar, and water to a large heavy-bottom saucepan, stir until the sugar is dissolved, stop stirring.
    • Boil until a dark amber, about 8 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally if hot spots develop.
    • Remove from heat, stir in the butter until melted.
    • Slowly stir in the heavy cream and then the salt.
    • Pour in an even layer over the shortbread, chill until set, about 10 minutes.
    • Add the chocolate chips, beer, and espresso powder to a large microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted. Pour over the caramel in an even layer. Chill until set. Cut into squares to serve.

    Notes

    *cream of tartar is option but it does prevent crystallization if grainy caramel has ever been an issue for you

    Black Pepper Flank Steak Sandwich with Brie and Beer Caramelized Onion Jam

    Black Pepper Flank Steak Sandwich with Brie and Beer Caramelized Onion Jam

    The times has come to make fancy sandwiches. Because we are SO sick of the same rotation of food and take out that we’ve been consuming this year and it’s time to make something we are genuinly excited to eat. The only part of these Fancy Sandwiches that take any amount of time is the onion jam but, trust me, it’s worth it. 

    Remember when I was on that terrible reality TV show making bacon jam? They asked me to come up with a tag line for the jam on the spot, and my mind went blank. I blurted out, "It’s the jam!" and then an entire group of producers looked at me with a mix of disgust and pity. At least the jam was good. Onion jam is just as amazing, and once you make it and smear it on your sandwich you will wonder why you don’t have more savory jam in your life. And I also secretly hope when you make and taste how great it is, you think to yourself, "Damn, that is the jam." 

    Black Pepper Flank Steak Sandwich with Brie and Beer Caramelized Onion Jam

    Servings 4 sandwiches

    Ingredients
      

    For the Jam:

    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • 2 large sweet white onion chopped
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 2 teaspoons sugar
    • ½ teaspoon baking soda
    • 1 cup stout or porter beer

    For the sandwich:

    • 1.5 lbs flank steak
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • 2 tablespoons fresh cracked black pepper
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 6 ounces of triple cream brie cut into thin slices
    • 1 cup arugula
    • 4 hoagie rolls

    Instructions
     

    Make the jam:

    • Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium-high heat until shimmery.
    • Add the chopped onions, salt, sugar, and baking soda, toss to combine.
    • Reduce heat to medium-low, allowing to cook until the onions soften, about 10 minutes.
    • Stir in the beer.
    • Cook until the onions are soft and dark brown, adding more beer if the pan is too dry.
    • Pulse in a food processor to achieve a smoother texture, if desired.

    Cook the steak:

    • Pat the steak dry. Allow to sit at room temperature for 15 to 20 minutes.
    • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
    • Pat the steak dry again, if needed, sprinkle on both sides with salt and pepper.
    • Heat the olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over high heat.
    • Add the steak, cook for two minutes, flip and cook on the other side for one minute.
    • Transfer to the oven and cook for 7 minutes or until the thickest part of the steak reads 120 on a meat thermometer.
    • Remove from the pan and allow to rest for ten minutes. Thinly slice.

    Assemble the sandwiches:

    • Raise oven temperature to 450°F.
    • Slice the rolls, fill with steak, top the steak with brie slices. Add to a baking sheet and return to the oven until the cheese is warmed and starting to melt.
    • Remove from oven, add to a serving plate. Spread the inside with onion jam and arugula.
    • Serve.

    Chocolate Stout Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

    Chocolate Stout Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

    Apparently, there is quite a bit of disagreement about ice cream-related desserts. So, let’s get into it. Do you call this an ice cream cake or are you right and call it a pie? Do you like a layer of cake in the center of this thing or is it all a no-bake-just-freeze situation for you? This last one can be an either-or proposition for me, I’ll never turn down a layer of cake in my desserts, even if it’s weird that it’s there. 

    We also need to agree to ignore anyone who tells you that ice cream pies are only for the summer because those people are wrong. We can agree to disagree on a lot, but this is not one of these things. Eating ice cream is an "all the days", "all the hours" type of activity. Since it’s milk-based, we need to normalize breakfast ice cream. Can you handle that? I’m over here trying to normalize eating beer so my hands are pretty full. 

    Chocolate Stout Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter Cup Ice Cream Pie

    Ingredients
      

    • 3 pints vanilla Ice cream
    • 20 chocolate sandwich cookies
    • 3 tablespoons melted butter
    • 14 oz (about 2 1/3 cups) dark chocolate chips
    • 1 cup (8oz) stout or porter beer
    • 1 cup mini peanut butter cups
    • 2 cups heavy cream
    • ¼ cup powdered sugar
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

    Caramel sauce:

    • 1 cup sugar
    • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar*
    • ¼ cup water
    • 6 tablespoons butter
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • ¼ cup heavy cream
    • 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt

    Instructions
     

    • Leave the ice cream out to soften enough to be spreadable.
    • Add the sandwich cookies to a food processor, process until just crumbs remain.
    • Add the melted butter, process to combine.
    • Press into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan.
    • In a microwave-safe bowl add the chocolate chips and stout, microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until well combined (this can also be done in the top of a double boiler.
    • Pour half of the mixture in an even layer over the crust. Freeze until set.
    • Add 1 ½ pints of ice cream over the chocolate, smooth into an even layer.
    • Add the remaining chocolate mixture, top with mini chocolate peanut butter cups, freeze until set.
    • Add the remaining ice cream, smooth into an even layer.
    • Add the heavy cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract to the bowl of a stand mixer beat on high until well combined. Smooth over the top of the last ice cream layer. Freeze until ready to serve.

    Make the caramel sauce for serving:

    • Add the sugar, cream of tartar, and water to a large heavy bottom saucepan, stir until the sugar is dissolved, stop stirring.
    • Boil until a dark amber, about 8 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally if hot spots develop.
    • Remove from heat, stir in the butter until melted.
    • Slowly stir in the heavy cream and then the salt.
    • Allow the cake to sit at room temperature for about ten minutes to soften enough to cut.
    • Drizzle with caramel before serving.

    Notes

    *cream of tartar is option but it does prevent crystallization if grainy caramel has ever been an issue for you.

    Bourbon Beer and Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Bourbon Beer and Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Apparently, the holidays are here. And by "holidays" I mean an excuse to eat all the things and fatten up my neighbors with cookies and beer. It’s festive. Merry Cookies and Beer Every Day season, it’s a nondenominational holiday that we can all get behind. 

    We need this right now, we might be divided on a lot of issues after a year like this, but we are all on the same page with cookies, right? RIGHT?! As in, chocolate chips are far superior to raisins which gives me trust issues when I find them in cookies and realize they are not the chocolatey goodness I assume the dark spots in my cookies to be. 

    Also, we just need to agree that "cookies and beer" are way better than "cookies and milk". It’s just a fact, unless you’re a child in which case I have no idea how you found me but please, bake your mom some cookies and forget about the beer it’s gross. It’s spicy. Let your mom take a sip to make sure. Or several sips. Now she needs a cookie and some alone time. 

    Bourbon Beer and Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies

    5 from 2 votes
    Servings 3 dozen

    Ingredients
      

    • 13 tablespoons (185g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
    • 1 cup (200g) brown sugar, packed light or golden
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 large egg at room temperature
    • 2 tablespoons molasses not blackstrap
    • 3 tablespoons bourbon barrel-aged beer
    • 2 ½ cups (317g) bread flour
    • 1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
    • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
    • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
    • Pinch nutmeg
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1 cup chocolate chips
    • Sanding sugar*

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
    • Add the butter and brown sugar to a stand mixer, beat on high until well combined, light and fluffy. This should take about 3 to 5 minutes.
    • Add the eggs and vanilla, beat until well combined, and resembles frosting. Add the molasses and beer, beat until well combined.
    • Add the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, and salt, stir until just combined.
    • Stir in the chocolate chips.
    • Add the sanding sugar to a bowl.
    • Using a cookie scoop, make balls of dough, roll in the sugar, then add to a cookie sheet covered with parchment.
    • Bake for 12 minutes, pull the parchment paper off the cookie sheet onto a flat surface to rest until cooled.

    Notes

    Sanding sugar is large grain sugar that won’t melt in the oven. You can also easily use clear/white sprinkles or just plain ol’ sugar.

    Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout Fudge

    Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout Fudge

    Remember how cute we were in March when quarantine started and we all collectively yelled, "Two weeks?! We are going to be like this for two weeks?!" That was adorable. I’m glad I didn’t know how long we’d be doing this because I don’t know if I could have handled it. We just needed the hope of uncertainty. 

    I need to plan stuff to survive these days, even embarrassingly small stuff like going to the dog park with my dog and my friend who has a giant floof. Driveway happy hours with my neighbors. Backyard firepit and too many beers with my husband. It’s survival of the optimistic these days. 

    Food plans are happening. Like planning to make a bunch of ridiculous cookies and fudge and leaving them on my favorite human’s porch. Texting from a safe distance to say hello, here are treats, I just wanted to see your big dumb face and you can see mine. 

    Plans of any sort are helping me break up the groundhogs day feeling of this very long decade that has been 2020. 

    Peanut Butter Chocolate Stout Fudge

    Prep Time 10 minutes
    Cook Time 5 minutes
    Servings 16 squares

    Ingredients
      

    • ½ cup butter
    • ½ cup heavy cream
    • ½ cup brown sugar
    • 1 cup creamy peanut butter*
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    • 2 cups powdered sugar
    • 1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips
    • ½ cup stout beer
    • 1 cup mini peanut butter cups cut in half

    Instructions
     

    • Add the butter, cream, and brown sugar to a pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, boil for two minutes.
    • Remove from heat, stir in the peanut butter and vanilla until combined.
    • Add the powdered sugar, stir until combined (if it starts to clump, return to heat until just starting to melt.
    • Line an 8x8 pan with parchment, pour the peanut butter into the pan in an even layer, chill until set, about 1 hour.
    • In a microwave-safe bowl add the chocolate chips and beer (this can also be done in a double boiler), heat for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted and well combined.
    • Pour over the peanut butter layer in an even layer. Top with mini peanut butter cups.
    • Chill until set. Cut into cubes to serve.

    Notes

    Cheap, store-bought works best. Natural or homemade peanut butters are too oily.

    Hobo Cookies with Beer Candied Bacon

    Hobo Cookies with Beer Candied Bacon

    I know, I KNOW! What does "hobo" cookies even mean?! There are cowboy cookies, and compost cookies, and I needed a word that went in that direction. The runners up were Pirate Cookies and Junk Drawer cookies because I can’t just be a normal person and name them "cookies". I blame 2020 and what it’s done to us. 

    All you need to know is they are full of bacon, chocolate, pretzels, and a light dusting of beer, which is basically what we all need right now. And since they contain bacon, you are fully allowed to make them a breakfast food. And if anyone disagrees, send them my way, I’ll let them know the error of their ways.

    Hobo Cookies with Beer Candied Bacon

    Ingredients
      

    For the bacon:

    • 6 strips thick sliced bacon
    • ¼ cup (50g) brown sugar
    • 2 tablespoon (24g) barrel aged stout or porter

    For the cookies:

    • 1 cup (228g) butter, room temperature
    • 1 cups (200g) granulated sugar
    • 1 ½ cups (300g) packed light-brown sugar
    • 2 large eggs, plus one yolk
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla
    • 2 tablespoons stout or porter beer
    • 2 ½ cups (300g) all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 2 tablespoons cornstarch
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • 2 cups dark chocolate chips
    • 2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
    • ½ cup chopped pecans
    • ½ cup lightly crushed mini pretzel twists

    Instructions
     

    • Add the bacon to a wire rack over a baking sheet, add to the oven, then heat the oven to 350°F (putting the bacon in the oven while it heats up will render more fat).
    • Once the oven heats up, set a timer for 5 minutes. 
    • Stir together the brown sugar and the beer. Remove the bacon from the oven, brush the top side of the bacon liberally with the mixture. 
      Return to oven, bake for 8 minutes.
    • Flip the bacon, then brush with the mixture. Bake for an additional 8 minutes. Remove from oven, remove the bacon and allow to cool on a sheet of parchment or wax paper (if it cools on the rack, it will stick). Once the bacon is cooled, chop the bacon, set aside.
    • Add the butter and both types of sugar to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment.
    • Beat on high until light and fluffy, this can take several minutes but it’s important to make sure it’s fully whipped.
    • Add the eggs, yolk and vanilla, beat until it resembles frosting. Add the beer, beat until fully incorporated.
    • Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch and salt, stir until combined.
    • Stir in the remaining ingredients and the chopped bacon until just combined.
    • Add a sheet of parchment paper to a baking sheet. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out balls of dough, placing evenly spaced on the baking sheet.
    • Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges have started to brown. Remove from oven, pull the parchment off the baking sheet and onto a flat surface to cool.

    Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Stout Cream Cheese Filling

    Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Stout Cream Cheese Filling

    Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Stout Cream Cheese Filling

    When you were a kid, was there a thing you loved in a way that was almost embarrassing? Not pizza, or ice cream, or cake, because there is nothing embarrassing about loving the classics. I’m talking about something that you were pretty sure you’d get side-eyed for mentioning. For me, it was those little cream-filled oatmeal pie cookies that came in a cardboard box. 

    I once snuck an entire box into the movies when my friends were sneaking in more normal treats like candy bars, or their boyfriends. I just sat there with an entire box of little oatmeal cream pies and ate all of them, not even offering to share. No, Lacy, you have a boyfriend and I have cream-filled cookies, if you aren’t going to share than neither am I!

    Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Stout Cream Cheese Filling

    These taste like those, but, you know, with beer. Something I was not sneaking into movies when I was a kid. Although I can’t make any promise about that anymore. Because, let’s be honest, watching a movie at a theater right now with beer and these cookies sounds like magic. 

    Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Stout Cream Cheese Filling

    Chewy Gingerbread Cookies with Maple Stout Cream Cheese Filling

    4.34 from 3 votes
    Servings 18 sandwich cookies

    Ingredients
      

    Cookies:

    • ¾ cup (171g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
    • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
    • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
    • ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ½ cups (100g) light brown sugar, packed
    • ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
    • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • 1 large egg at room temperature
    • ¼ cup molasses not blackstrap
    • 2 tablespoons barrel-aged stout
    • 2 ¾ cups (330g) all-purpose flour
    • 2 teaspoons baking soda
    • Sanding sugar for rolling

    Filling:

    • 1 (8oz) package cream cheese, softened
    • ¼ cup (57g) room temperature butter
    • 2 tablespoons stout beer
    • ¼ cup real maple syrup
    • 2 tablespoons powdered sugar

    Instructions
     

    • Add the butter, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and salt to a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk until well combined.
    • Add both kinds of sugar, beat on high until well combined.
    • Add the egg and sugar, beat until the mixture resembles frosting, about 3 minutes.
    • Stir in the molasses and beer.
    • Stop the mixer, add the flour and baking soda, stir until well combined.
    • Add the sanding sugar to a small bowl.
    • Using a cookie scoop, scoop out balls just smaller than golf balls and roll in the sanding sugar. Add to a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment.
    • Make sure the cookies are well spaces, no more than 9 at a time on a standard cookie sheet.
    • Freeze for 15 minutes.
    • Heat the oven to 350°F.
    • Bake for 13-15 minutes. Pull the parchment on the counter and allow to cool.
    • Add the cream cheese and butter to a stand mixer, beat on high until well combined.
    • Add the remaining ingredients, beat until well combined.
    • Spread (or pipe) filling between two cookies, repeat for all cookies.

    Notes

    These cookies spread thin in order to make them ideal for sandwich cookies. If you are looking for a stand alone cookie, this probably isn't the right recipe for you. 

    Mexican Hot Chocolate Beer Brownies with Churro Crust

    Mexican Hot Chocolate Beer Brownies with Churro Crust

    I made your brownies spicy and I don’t even feel bad about it. But it’s so you don’t have to share with anyone who doesn’t like spicy things. You can even over-exaggerate just HOW spicy they are in order to keep them all for yourself, I won’t tell. 

    I want everything spicy, it’s my favorite flavor. Spicy is a flavor, I swear. I even made ice cream spicy once and it was totally worth it. If you haven’t tried Pineapple Jalapeno Ice Cream you need to do that right after you make these brownies. 

    If you don’t want spicy brownies, that’s OK, I’ll forgive you. Just leave the cayenne pepper out and you’re all set. Although I might question all your future decisions, but that’s a risk you’re gonna have to take. 

    Mexican Hot Chocolate Beer Brownies with Churro Crust

    5 from 1 vote
    Servings 9 bars

    Ingredients
      

    Crust Layer:

    • 8-10 (150g) shortbread cookies
    • 2 tablespoons brown sugar
    • 1 tablespoon white sugar
    • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
    • 3 tablespoons melted butter

    Brownie layer:

    • 6 weight ounce dark chocolate chips about 1 cup
    • 1/3 cup stout beer
    • 1/2 cup (114g) melted butter
    • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
    • ½ (100g) cup brown sugar
    • 3 large eggs
    • 3/4 cup (95g) all-purpose flour
    • 1 teaspoon salt
    • Pinch (scant 1/8 teaspoon) cayenne pepper
    • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
    • 1/3 cup (27g) unsweetened cocoa powder

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Add the cookies to a food processor, process until just crumbs remain. Add the brown sugar, white sugar, and cinnamon, pulse to combine. 
    • Add the butter, process until well combined. 
    • Press into the bottom of an 8x8 pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray or lined with parchment paper. 
    • Bake for 10 minutes while you prepare the filling.
    • Add the beer and chocolate chips to a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until chocolate is melted and well combined with the beer. 
    • In a large mixing bowl add the melted butter and both kinds of sugar, beat until well combined.
    • Add the eggs, beat until well combined. Stir in the chocolate mixture.
    • Add the flour, salt, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and cocoa powder, stir until just combined.  
    • Add to the crust layer, bake until set, about 35 minutes.
    • All to cool completely before cutting. 

    Beer Soft Pretzels with Guinness Cheese Sauce

    Beer Soft Pretzels with Guinness Cheese Sauce

    I miss pubs. I miss dive bars in strange cities, strangers in crowded bars, crowds at beer festivals. But until the world is back to normal, and until my pint doesn’t come with a side of deadly virus threats, I’ll begrudgingly stay home. And do my best to pub-food from home. 

    Guinness was one of the first beers I ever had at a bar, in an Irish pub in Los Angeles. I’ve been to Ireland, back when air travel felt safe, and Guinness will always have a place in the most nostalgic part of my beer heart. Soft pretzels and beer cheese sauce are right there with it, it’s always a good day when I have Guinness, soft pretzels, and cheese sauce. Until I can bump up against strangers in a bar, making friends and asking them if they want to try my beer, I’ll be doing this from home. It’s a great way to pass the time until the day we are out of the woods. 

    Beer Soft Pretzels with Guinness Cheese Sauce

    5 from 3 votes

    Ingredients
      

    For the Pretzels:

    • 2 ½ cups flour
    • 1 tablespoon sugar
    • 1 envelope (2 ¼ teaspoons) rapid rise yeast
    • 1 cup Guinness beer
    • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
    • 2 tablespoon oil
    • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter softened
    • 10 cups water
    • ¼ cup baking soda
    • 1 tablespoon coarse salt
    • 2 tablespoons melted butter

    For the Cheese Sauce:

    • 2 ½ cups (300g) shredded cheddar cheese
    • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
    • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1 (12 ounce) can evaporated milk
    • ½ cup (4oz) Guinness beer

    Instructions
     

    Make the pretzels:

    • Add the flour, sugar and yeast to a stand mixer. Mix until just combined. Heat the beer to 120°F (always defer to the liquid temperature listed on the package of yeast, regardless of what the recipe says. Your yeast package says 105°F? Heat the liquid to that temperature) add the beer to the stand mixer, mixing until all the flour has been moistened.
    • Add the salt and 1 tablespoon softened butter, beat until the dough comes together and gathers around the blade. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise until doubled in size.
    • Add the dough to a lightly floured surface, cut into 8 equal sized portions.
    • Roll each portion into an 8-inch log, shape into a pretzel, add to a baking sheet.
    • Preheat the oven to 450°F.
    • Add the water to a large pot, bring to a boil. Stir in the baking soda.
    • A few at a time carefully add the pretzels to the boiling water for 30 seconds, place back onto the baking sheet.
    • Brush with melted butter, sprinkle with salt.
    • Bake for 10-12 minutes or until dark golden brown.

    Make the cheese sauce:

    • Add all ingredients to a blender, blend until smooth.
    • Add to a saucepan over medium heat, heat to the desired temperature.
    • Store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use, heat to serve. Can be made up to 3 days in advance.
    • Serve the pretzels with the cheese sauce.

    Chocolate Murder Beer Cheesecake Bars

    Chocolate Murder Beer Cheesecake Bars

    Ok, I know, MURDER is a little aggressive. But it’s like "death by chocolate" just more intense. These aren’t a "passed away peacefully in their sleep" type of bars, these are much more in your face. Literally and figuratively. And if I’m going to be taken out by a baked good, this wouldn’t be a bad choice. 

    Sure, you can just call them "chocolate stout cheesecake bars" that would be totally fine and acceptable, I won’t be mad. But it did get your attention, so mission accomplished. These are also easy to make for something that looks so complicated. Maybe it’s a good thing that quarantine will limit the number of people you are forced to share these with, because there might be an actual murder if I had to share these with too many people. Just kidding, but these bars are as dark as my soul and sense of humor. 

    Chocolate Murder Beer Cheesecake Bars

    5 from 2 votes

    Ingredients
      

    For the Chocolate Cookie Crust:

    • 9 full-sized chocolate graham crackers
    • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter melted

    For the Filling:

    • 2 (8oz each) packages full-fat cream cheese, at room temperature
    • ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
    • ¼ cup (50g) light brown sugar, packed
    • 1 ¾ cups (10 ounces) bittersweet chocolate chips, melted
    • 2 egg yolks
    • 1 Tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder
    • 1 teaspoon espresso powder
    • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • 1/3 cup chocolate stout beer
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

    For the Chocolate Ganache:

    • 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped
    • ¼ cup (2oz) heavy cream
    • ¼ cup (2oz) chocolate stout beer

    Instructions
     

    • Preheat the oven to 325°F.
    • Add the graham crackers to a food processor, process until just crumbs. Add the melted butter, process until well combined.
    • Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray. Press the graham cracker mixture into the bottom of the pan until well compacted.
    • In the bowl of a stand mixer add the cream cheese, beating until well-whipped.
    • Add both kinds of sugars, mixing until well combined.
    • Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the melted chocolate until well mixed. Add the egg yolks, mixing until well combined.
    • Stop the mixer, add the cocoa powder, espresso powder, cornstarch, and salt, mix until combined.
    • Add the beer, mix until just combined.
    • Add the filling over the crust.
    • Bake for 45 minutes or until the edges are set and the center is still slightly wobbly when the rack is shaken, it will set as it cools. Allow to cool to room temperature.
    • Add all the ganache ingredients to a bowl, microwave for 30, stir and repeat until melted and well combined.
    • Pour the ganache over the filling. Refrigerate until chilled, 4 hours or overnight. Bars are best served the day after they are made.

    Grilled Stout Brined Sirloin and Corn Salad with Tahini Pale Ale Dressing

    Grilled Stout Brined Sirloin and Corn Salad with Tahini Pale Ale Dressing

    I want to tell you a story, one about myself, because it’s all I have to offer right now. Growing up, things were exactly easy. Here are the CliffsNotes: Dead dad, disjointed family, moved a lot, hardly enough money to feed us all. Because of this, I had this idea that racism wasn’t really a thing anymore and even if it was I discriminated against too, since I was poor. Then I moved to LA, and I became a social worker for gang kids, most of whom were on probation, and I realized how stupid I was. It happened slowly, realizations that came over the course of a few years, small incidents that amounted to a huge global shift in who I was and what I believed, something I’ll never stop being thankful for.

     

    The first came as I sat on a folding chair in a rec room with a group of other social workers, I was the only white girl. One of them joked about how dangerous it was for a 20-year-old blond-haired, blue-eyed white girl to go running around Compton. Another social worker, a large black guy who had an M.A. in Psychology and had been a bit of a rowdy teenager, replied, “She’s safe. If a pretty white girl gets shot in the ghetto, everyone in the world will know about it by morning. Every kid and cop knows it. If I get shot, no one will give a shit. I’m a target for the cops and the kids. She’s safer than I am.” He was right and everyone in the room knew it. He had a gun pulled on him three times that year, twice by cops and once by a kid. I never had any problems, not one issue, not one gun.

    Part of my job was to work with the older kids to help them find employment. I wrote their resumes, taught them how to fill out job applications, dressed them from a donation closet of interview clothes, and taught them how to answer interview questions. I had applications for 6 nearby businesses, mostly fast food joints, none of the business knew about the program, all they saw was a local kid interviewing for a job. Over three years I could plot on a timeline how long it would take each kid to get a job based on their skin color. At first, I figured it was a fluke, but it was such a lasting trend, not one kid was an exception. I worked with three white kids, each of them scared me, the probation sentence they had were earned several times over and they all had sociopathic tendencies. None of them had a work history. They all got jobs in the first two weeks. I wouldn’t have trusted any of them to wash my car, and they were handed over the ability to work a cash register in just one meeting. The lighter-skinned-non-white kids took about a month, and the darkest skinned kids took the longest. They all had the same clothes, the same answers on their applications (I helped fill them all out) and they all answered the questions at the interviews exactly the same. The only difference was their appearance. My favorite kid was smart, he had a solid work history, a calming spirit, and he was so kind. He was living proof that some souls are old, he just saw things in a bigger way than most people did. He also had incredibly dark skin. It took me 8 months to get him a job.

     

    There were more, lots of constant reminders that although my life wasn’t easy, it was not made harder by the color of my skin. And even the most privileged black person would have an easier life in this country if they had been born with white skin. This is not ok, it’s not right, but it’s the truth. I had to open myself up to the idea that it was arrogant of me to ever think that just because I personally hadn’t seen or experienced racism that it didn’t exist. I had to accept that I did not know what it was like to live in this world as a black person, no matter how much I thought I knew, or what my experiences where.

    The two major changes that came from that seem small, but were actually huge. First, I realized that I do have bias, racist thoughts, and prejudgments. Everyone does, it’s how our brains work, we categorize things and form instant thoughts about everything the moment we see them. We see a dog, we know it’s a dog. We see a chair, we know it’s a chair. Have you ever been surprised to touch something and realize it was much colder than it looked? Because you had already formed an opinion about it. This is normal. BUT I decided that when I had a judgmental thought, I would acknowledge it and correct it. I wanted to have a mind that didn’t prejudge people any more than it had to.

     

    Second, I encouraged people around me to correct me if I said something that was offensive or prejudged someone, and I learned the phrase: “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. Thank you for saying something.” I decided that even if I didn’t know WHY it was offensive, it was enough for me to know THAT it was offensive, and I needed to change the way I thought or talked, even if that change was small.

     

    I still have work to do, we all do, but the choice you have is this: do you want to make the world a little bit better, or do you want to fight to keep it harder for anyone who isn’t you. It’s not a hard choice, even if it can be a hard process.

     

    So, here is a salad that has absolutely nothing to do with this story. Other than the fact that we all have to eat, food is a great equalizer. Let’s sit down, eat some food, and just listen to each other for a second.

    Grilled Stout Brined Sirloin and Corn Salad with Tahini Pale Ale Dressing

    5 from 1 vote

    Ingredients
      

    • 10 oz Sirloin steak
    • 2 teaspoons salt
    • 12 oz stout beer
    • 1 large bell pepper any color
    • 1 ear of corn shucked
    • 1 tablespoon olive oil
    • 1 cup (80g) sugar snap peas, chopped
    • ½ cup (70g) grape tomatoes, quartered
    • 2 cups (60g) baby spinach
    • 2 cups (40g) baby arugula
    • 2 oz goat cheese crumbled

    For the dressing:

    • 1/3 cup (74g) tahini
    • 2 tablespoons (24g) lemon juice
    • 2 tablespoons (24g) apple cider vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons (28g) honey
    • 1 teaspoon (5g) brown mustard
    • ¼ teaspoon salt pinch sea salt
    • 1 clove garlic
    • ¼ cup pale ale

    Instructions
     

    • Add the steak to a bowl or a bag, sprinkle on all sides with salt, cover with beer. Cover the bowl (or seal the bag) and refrigerate for 12 hours and up to 24. Remove from marinade, dry well, and allow to come to room temperate (about 30 minutes).
    • Preheat the grill to medium-high.
    • Drizzle the bell pepper and corn with oil.
    • Add the pepper and the corn to the grill, turning and grilling until grill marks appear.
    • Add the steak to the grill, cooking on both sides until medium-rare, 4-6 minutes per side.
    • Remove from grill, slice the pepper, and cut the kernels off the corn.
    • Allow the steak to rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
    • Add all of the dressing ingredients to a small blender, blend until smooth. Add additional beer or water to thin to desired consistency.
    • Add all of the remaining salad ingredients to a bowl (along with the sliced pepper and corn kernels), toss to combine. Drizzle with desired amount of dressing, top with steak.

    Black Bean and Grilled Poblano Elote Enchiladas with Chipotle Stout Red Sauce

    Black Bean and Grilled Poblano Elote Enchiladas with Chipotle Stout Red Sauce

    Ok, so I didn’t exactly grill the enchiladas, but I did think about grilling the enchiladas. I only grilled a few ingredients in the enchiladas instead of the entire dish, but I wanted to throw the entire thing on the grates. Next time maybe, it’s an experiment for another day. 

    If you want to throw in some chicken, or some pulled pork, or maybe grilled portobello mushrooms, you should totally do that, it’s your world. I really just kept it to things I already had to avoid the general public during a pandemic, but other than the sauce the rest is fully optional. 

    If you want to shove a bunch of cheese or leftover rotisserie chicken in these puppies, go for it. This is a big pan of spicy customizable goodness.  To be honest, I sorta want you to mix it up and see how it goes, just report back. I love the elote topping, so if you can do that, you should. But adding stuff to the filling is a great idea, do your worst. 

    Black Bean and Grilled Poblano Elote Enchiladas with Chipotle Stout Red Sauce

    Servings 4 servings

    Ingredients
      

    Sauce:

    • 3 dried Guajillo peppers torn, seeds removed
    • 6 oz tomato paste
    • 1 large chipotle pepper in adobo finely minced
    • 2 tablespoon adobo sauce
    • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
    • ½ teaspoon onion powder
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
    • ½ cup stout beer
    • ½ cup water

    Enchiladas:

    • 2 ear of corn shucked
    • 2 Poblano peppers
    • Olive oil
    • ¼ cup chopped cilantro
    • ¼ cup crumbled cotija cheese
    • ¼ cup Mexican crema plus additional for topping
    • ½ one lime juiced
    • ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
    • ½ teaspoon chili powder
    • ¼ teaspoon salt
    • 1 can 14.5oz black beans, rinsed and drained
    • 8-12 Corn tortillas
    • ½ cup mozzarella cheese
    • ½ an avocado chopped

    Instructions
     

    • Add the torn pieces of the guajillo peppers to a pan over medium heat. Cook until softened and fragrant, about 4 minutes, add to a small blender.
    • Add the remainder of the sauce ingredients to the blender, blend on high until well combined.
    • Add to a shallow bowl.
    • Preheat a grill to medium-high.
    • Drizzle the corn and poblanos with olive oil. Add to the grill, cooking until the pepper has blackened and the corn has grill marks on all sides, remove from the grill (this can be done a few days in advance if needed, just store in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to use).
    • Rub the skin off the pepper, remove the seeds and then chop the remaining meat of the pepper.
    • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
    • Cut the kernels off the corn and to a bowl along with the cilantro, cotija, crema, lime juice, paprika, chili powder, and salt, stir to combine.
    • One at a time dip the tortillas in the enchilada sauce and add to an 8x8 pan, fill with beans, chopped poblano, and elote corn mixture, roll up and press into one side of the pan. Repeat until the pan is filled with tightly packed rolled tortillas. If any sauce remains, drizzle it on top of the pan.
    • Reserve the remaining elote mixture for a garnish.
    • Top the pan with mozzarella cheese, bake for 15 minutes or until the enchiladas are warmed through and the cheese has melted.
    • Top with remaining elote mixture, chopped avocado, and drizzle with crema.
    • Serve warm.