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Bourbon Barrel Aged Beer

Chocolate Stout Covered Dates Stuffed with Dulce de Leche and Toasted Hazelnut

Chocolate Stout Covered Dates Stuffed with Dulce de Leche and Toasted Hazelnut

Forgive me. I’ve made more Dulce de Leche. Because it’s so easy to make and not screw it up by being on your phone ordering another pair of leggings you don’t need and all of the sudden the caramel is burned and you’re mad at yourself and the Amazon app again. It’s nicer, it’ll patiently wait for you to do all your non-essential work and be just as gorgeous and perfect as if you’d babied it along. 

 

So I decided to stuff it into dates because I forgot how much I love them and needed to celebrate the giant pack of dates that really wanted to come home with me. They’re so pushy. So we obviously needed something crunchy and invited hazelnuts to join the party because they’re always up for a good time, just ask Nutella. And the chocolate stout coating is because it’s fun to be extra sometimes. And of course, salt is a necessity. Just make sure to eat them all in one sitting because that might be a necessity too, at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself. 

Chocolate Stout Covered Dates Stuffed with Dulce de Leche and Toasted Hazelnut

5 from 1 vote

Ingredients
  

For the Dulce de Leche:

  • 1 (14oz) can sweetened condensed milk
  • ¼ teaspoon sea salt I used Maldon
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Dates:

  • 12 Medjool dates pitted
  • 14 hazelnuts lightly toasted
  • 1 ½ cups (9oz) dark chocolate chips
  • ¼ cup (2oz) stout beer
  • 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt

Instructions
 

Make the Dulce de Leche:

  • Pressure cooker method: Remove the top of the can of sweetened condensed milk. Cover with aluminum foil.
  • Add the cooking rack to the bottom of a pressure cooker or Instant Pot. Add the prepared can. Pour water in the pressure cooker until about halfway up the side of the can.
  • Cover tightly, making sure the steam vent is closed.
  • Cook on high for 60 minutes. Allow the steam to vent naturally. Once the can has cooled, remove it from the pressure cooker.
  • Slow cooker method: Add the cans to a slow cooker, cover with water and cook on low for 8 hours, allow to cool naturally before opening.
  • Stir in the vanilla and salt, refrigerate until ready to use.

Stuff the Dates:

  • Spread the inside of the dates with Dulce de Leche, add a hazelnut, close tightly, set aside.

Make the Chocolate Coating:

  • Add the chocolate chips and beer to a microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir and repeat until melted and well combined (can also be done in a double boiler).
  • Dip the dates in the chocolate until coated, remove with a fork, and set on a sheet of parchment paper. Sprinkle with sea salt. Repeat for all dates.
  • Allow to rest until the chocolate coating is set. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

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.

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.

Cherry Ale Ricotta Crostata

I know what you’re thinking. You’re looking at this thinking, "Why you say crostata when this is clearly a galette?"  No? You weren’t thinking that because you’re normal and not a huge nerd like me? Sorry. But now I have to address this issue. This is what happens when I create a problem that didn’t exist. 

You see, it’s like crisps and chips. Or pants and trousers. Or The Rock and Dwayne Johnson. They are the same thing, it’s just different people call them different things. Specifically French people and Italian people. The French like to say galette ("guh-let", in case you wondered and googled it so you won’t sound like an idiot at the dinner party you brought what you thought was pronounced a "gal-lay" but it isn’t and then you’re super relieved you looked it up because you were already embarrassed for yourself. Just me again? Geesh). And the Italians like to say Crostata (which is pronounced exactly how you’d think because I looked it up too because I was scared to make the same mistake twice). 

So why, you ask, did I choose crostata instead of galette? Because I liked the way it sounded with "ricotta" and if you don’t believe that is a 100% true story, you clearly don’t know me well enough. Come on! Ricotta Crostata is just way more fun that Ricotta Galette. You know this to be true. 

And your final question is OBVIOUSLY "what beer did you use" because you always have the best questions. The answer is Firestone Walkers Cherry Barrel Blossom, a super-rich and drinkable barrel-aged-cherry-bitters-infused beer. It’s also a great dessert beer. You can use which ever beer you want, pretty much any beer will work when you’re making beer ricotta, as long as you like it, the flavor will come through. I will advise against anything too hoppy because those hops don’t mess around once you boil them, but it’s your world. If you want a hoppy ricotta crostata, who am I to stop you?

 

Cherry Ale Ricotta Crostata

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

Crust:

  • 1 ½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 1 tablespoon (15g) sugar
  • ½ cup (114g) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • ¼ cup (48g) ice-cold beer (pale ale, Saison, wheat beer)
  • 1 tablespoon melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon sanding sugar or granulated sugar (optional)

Ricotta:

  • 3 cups (24oz) whole milk pasteurized is fine but do not use Ultra-Pasteurized, it won’t work
  • ½ cup (4oz) heavy cream
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup (2oz) beer* Plus 2 tablespoons divided
  • 3 tablespoons (36g) lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Cherries:

  • ¾ lbs (12oz) pitted fresh dark sweet cherries (such as Bing, Jubilee, Chinook)
  • 1 tablespoons (12g) lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons (38g) granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch

Instructions
 

Make the crust:

  • Add ¾ cup of flour (reserve the other 3/4 cup), salt and sugar to a food processor, pulse to combine. Add the butter, process until well combined.
  • Add the remaining flour and pulse 6-8 times or until all the flour has been combined.
  • Add the beer, pulse until just combined. Lay a long sheet of plastic wrap on a flat surface, add the dough to the center.
  • Form into a flat disk. Wrap disk tightly in plastic wrap. Chill until firm, about 3 hours, and up to three days.

Make the ricotta:

  • In a pot over medium-high heat (do not use an aluminum pan) add the milk, cream, salt, and 1/3 cup beer.
  • Clip a cooking thermometer onto the side of the pan.
  • Bring the liquid to 190°F degrees, stirring occasionally to prevent the bottom from scorching. Keep a close eye on it, the liquid reaches and passes 190 very quickly and you don’t want it rising above 200°F.
  • Remove from heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons beer and then the lemon juice, and stir gently once or twice. It should curdle immediately. Allow sit undisturbed for about 5 minutes.
  • Line a large strainer with 1 or 2 layers of cheesecloth; place the strainer in the sink over a large bowl.
  • Pour the ricotta into the strainer and allow to drain for 15 to 30 minutes and up to an hour (the longer it drains, the firmer the consistency).
  • Place in an air-tight container, Stir in the sugar and vanilla extract, and store in the fridge can be made up to 3 days in advance.

Prep the cherries:

  • Add the cherries, lemon juice, sugar, salt, and cornstarch to a large bowl, toss to coat.

Assemble to Crostata:

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F.
  • On a well-floured surface roll the crust out into a large circle. Add the crust to a sheet of parchment paper on a baking sheet. In the center add the ricotta, leaving about 3 inches on the edges bare. Top with cherries in a large pile. Fold the edges of the crust up over the filling.
  • Brush the edges with melted butter, sprinkle with sugar.
  • Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

Notes

*Any beer will work for the ricotta, but the ricotta will take on the flavor of the beer. A more intense beer will bring a more intense flavor. If you want a more mellow beer flavor use a Hefeweizen, Pilsner, or pale lager. I used Firestone Walker's Cherry Barrel Blossom barrel-aged ale. 

Stout S’mores & Pretzel Fudge

Stout S’mores & Pretzel Fudge (no  gelatin, vegetarian safe!)

I know, I KNOW! This was supposed to get to you a week ago, but that’s what sort of month I’m having. I was all set to edit the photos and get this up and then this happened so I’ve been having a hard time adulting ever since. 

But I am offering my dog sitting services for free to anyone with a nice fuzzy creature that needs love in the greater Seattle area because I need to console myself with petting all the furry things. 

This is also when chocolate comes in handy, you should always have some on hand in case of an emotional emergency. It’s my current means of coping and all pet related tragedies. I also made another batch of these and only gave away about half of them to keep the rest for myself, I’m Ok with this level of selfishness at this current moment in time. 

And I only gave away one square of these Stout S’mores & Pretzel Fudge so I should probably work on my sharing before it’s too late and I’m known as the person who hoards chocolate treats. It’s my New Year’s goal. 

Stout S’mores & Pretzel Fudge

5 from 1 vote
Servings 12 bars

Ingredients
  

Crust:

  • 4 full sheets graham crackers
  • 1 cup (65g) mini pretzel twists
  • 4 tablespoons (56g) melted butter

Fudge layer:

  • 16 wt oz dark chocolate 60% cocoa content
  • 1/3 cup (102g) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
  • ¼ tsp vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup (2oz) barrel-aged beer
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Marshmallow layer*:

  • 1 egg white
  • ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/3 cup (66 g) plus 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons water or beer
  • 1/3 cup (110g) liquid agave (or light corn syrup)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

Make the crust:

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Add the graham crackers and pretzels to a food processor, process until finely ground. Add the melted butter, process until well combined. Press into the bottom of a 9x13 pan (or use a 7x11 for thicker bars) until well compacted.
  • Bake for 12 minutes.

Make the fudge:

  • Add the chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, beer and salt to the top of a double boiler (or a metal bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water).
  • Stir over medium-low heat (make sure the water does not boil) until most of the chocolate has melted. Remove from heat, continue to stir until all the chocolate has melted.
  • Pour over the crust, refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.

Make the marshmallow layer:

  • Add the egg white and cream of tartar to a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat until light and foamy.
  • Add 1 tablespoon sugar and beat until stiff peaks form
  • In a saucepan, add the water (or beer), agave, and 1/3 cup sugar.
  • Cook over medium heat while stirring until the mixture reaches 248°F on a candy thermometer. This will take about 6-8 minutes.
  • Once the corn syrup mixture is ready, turn the mixer on medium and in a slow steady stream, pour the corn syrup mixture into the beaten egg whites.
  • Once all of the corn syrup mixture has been added, beat on high for 5 minutes until the mixture is stiff and glossy. 
  • Add vanilla extract and beat on high 1 minute.
  • Spread over the fudge in an even layer. Chill until ready to set, about 15 minutes.Brulee with top with a kitchen torch, or place under the broiler until browned. 
  • Cut into squares, chill until ready to serve.

Notes

Yes, you CAN use Marshmallow Fluff instead. But it needs to be kept refridgerated or it will slide all over the place. 

Beer and Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon Wrapped Dates

Beer and Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon Wrapped Dates

It turns out, you’re not alone. This week, according to the internet and science, is the most stressful week of the year. I feel it, it’s been an asshole of a week, do you feel it? I didn’t shower yesterday and I’m still in my pajamas. At NOON! This is the reality when you work at home. Actual real-life fact. 

Because of all of this, I needed an appetizer that is a never-fail type. A tried-and-true type. Bacon-wrapped dates it is. Goat cheese is my go-to when stuffing these suckers because I like the tang against the sweet and rich bacon-date combo. But you do you—any cheese will work (but some cheese is super melty and will ooze out, but that’s ok, it will still taste great). 

And I wanted to smother them in sugar and beer because sometimes I like to live vicariously through my food. Another actual fact. 

Thank GOD for beer mail because I didn’t even have to leave my house to get this gorgeous bottle of port barrel-aged Belgian quad from Barbarian Brewing which just so happened to pair perfectly with these little nuggets.  Beer makes things less stressful. 

Anyway, guys, I think I need to shower and eat my weight in bacon. Not sure if it will happen in that order. 

Beer and Brown Sugar Glazed Bacon Wrapped Dates

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup (100g) brown sugar
  • ½ cup (4oz) beer brown ale, stout, porter, Belgian
  • 12 dates pitted
  • 1- ounce goat cheese
  • 6 slices of bacon

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  • Add the brown sugar and beer to a pot over high heat. Bring to a boil, boil until thickened and reduced, about 6 minutes.
  • Fill the dates with about 2 teaspoons of goat cheese each.
  • Cut the strips of bacon in half width-wise.
  • Wrap the dates with the bacon, add to a wire rack over a baking sheet, seam side down.
  • Brush the dates with the brown sugar mixture.
  • Bake until the bacon is crispy and dark, about 25-30 minutes (cooking time will depend on how thick your bacon is).

Chocolate Porter Pecan Bars with Beer Candied Bacon

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 new cookbook Lush, I give to you a bacon dessert recipe. Is that because I want to make all the people happy, you ask? No, it’s 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. 

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.

Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Bourbon County Marshmallows

When you count the seasons by what’s available in the bottle shops, you see the months pass in a different way. Right now we’re just leaving Fresh Hop Season and moving into Barrel Aged Beer season, one of the best beer seasons of the year.

It’s also the time of year when beer releases hit a fevered pitch and people wait in line for hours hoping to score a bottle or two of a beer that’s been aging in a wooden barrel that formerly housed liquor. It’s worth it, even if just for the bragging rights and the perfect cellarable beer. Beers that you always want two of, one for now and one to save for later. Stored properly they can be even better years later.

Bourbon County is the Godfather of the bourbon barrel aged beer. Goose Island is widely credited as being the first people to take a discarded bourbon barrel, load it up with stout, store it for nearly a year and then drink it just to see what would happen. This, more than anything, is a commentary on the heart of true brewer.  Curious, courageously experimental, and unafraid to think outside the bottle.

It was a move that would have cultural repercussions beyond their wildest dreams. Starting a movement so strong and widely adopted it caused spent liquor barrels to go from a nuisance that distilleries had to deal with to a sought-after commodity that caused a shortage.

The face of beer is undeniably altered for the better because of the curiosity that caused Greg Hall to fill 6 bourbon barrels with stout in the early 1990s. In the name of that experimentation and curiosity, I decided that I’d like to figure out what would happen if you put a beer — one that had spent time cohabitating in a wooden barrel with the remnants of bourbon — into a marshmallow. Turns out, it’s pretty fantastic.

 

Bourbon County Beer Marshmallows

Servings 24 marshmallows

Ingredients
  

  • Powdered sugar
  • 3 envelopes unflavored gelatin such as Knox
  • ½ cup beer of choice flat and cold*
  • ½ cup water or beer
  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 large egg whites
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Grease a 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar until well coated, set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer add ½ cup cold, flat beer. Sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to stand while the sugar is being prepared.
  • In a large saucepan (mixture will bubble up) over medium heat, add the water, 2 cups sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  • Raise heat to high and allow to boil until the mixture reads 240F on a candy thermometer (about 6-8 minutes).
  • Once the temperature has been reached, turn off heat.
  • Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, this can take up to 10 minutes.
  • While the mixer is running, prepare the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a bowl with the salt. Beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beat until stiff peaks return.
  • Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the stand mixer ingredients until just combined.
  • Pour the marshmallows into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Allow to set at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into squares. Toss with additional powdered sugar to prevent from sticking together.

Notes

*Open the beer at least two hours before you plan to make the marshmallows, and up to several days in advance. Pour ½ cup into an open container. Loosely cover and refrigerate. Enjoy the reaming beer, since you HAD to open the beer it’s your job to finish the rest.

Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

This is ridiculous. I know what you’re thinking: why can’t you just make fudge like a normal person? But I found this silicon Darth Vader mold from that time I made Star Wars cupcakes and you can’t honestly think that I could just put it away and forget about it? Of course not.

And since we’re just entering Barrel-Aged-Beer-Season, as well as Fudge-Making -Season, it just makes sense. If you don’t have a Darth Vader silicon mold (but really, why not? You totally should) you can use any silicone mold. Because fudge is great, but it’s not as fun as Dark Side Fudge, right?

Plus, there’s beer in there. And since Barrel Aged beers come in large bottles and I’m only asking you to pour out 1/4 cup for the homies, I mean for the fudge, then you get to drink the rest. Have I talked you into this yet? Do I need to hone my Jedi Mind Trick skills? How about you make some fudge and we can talk about it.

Darth Vader Stout Beer Fudge

Servings 12 -14 peices

Ingredients
  

  • 16 wt oz dark chocolate 60% cocoa content
  • 1/3 cup 102g sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
  • ¼ tsp .5g vanilla extract
  • ¼ cup 2oz barrel aged beer
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Add the chocolate, sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, beer and salt to the top of a double boiler (or a metal bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water).
  • Stir over medium-low heat (make sure the water does not boil) until most of the chocolate has melted. Remove from heat, continue to stir until all the chocolate has melted.
  • Pour into silicone molds, chill until set.

Stouts and Scouts: No Churn Thin Mint Beer Ice Cream

Stouts and Scouts: No-Churn Thin Mint Beer Ice Cream.  Ten-minute prep! 

This is my exception. Really, the only one. I have an aversion to mint that started in a cave in Middle Atlas the day before I almost died in Morocco.

But the thing is, if you are ever in a cave in Middle Atlas and a very nice cave dweller offers to make you tea, YOU DRINK IT! Even if the water is so dirty it looks like mud. Even if the glasses are a little cracked and leaky. Even if you’re fairly certain you’ll end up with dysentery.

Even if your guide through Middle Atlas turns out to be a drug dealer. That last part really had nothing to do with the tea other than it magnified an already strange experience.

After that day, mint was never the same. I wouldn’t take it back if you paid me, it was an amazing (although slightly terrifying at times) experience that happened to change the way I respond to the flavor of mint.

Thin Mints are the exception. Maybe it’s because they taste nothing like the mint leaves that had been muddled into my glass that day.

Or maybe it’s because they remind me of being a kid. Or maybe it’s because I’m such a sucker for those little crack dealers outside the grocery stores that I can’t help but buy them every time. And since the appropriate place to store your crack, I mean Thin Mints, is in the freezer, making ice cream just made sense.

And if there’s a better cookie and beer pairing than Thin Mints and an Imperial Stout I can’t think of it at the moment.

Stouts and Scouts: No Churn Thin Mint Beer Ice Cream

No churn, ten minutes prep!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 10 minutes
Servings 6 -8 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 ½ cups heavy cream
  • ½ cup powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 8 thin mint cookies crushed
  • ¼ cup stout beer Imperial stout preferred

Instructions
 

  • Add the cream, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until soft peaks form.
  • Add in the cocoa powder, salt, and crushed cookies, stir to combine.
  • While the mixer is running, slowly add the beer until it is well combined.
  • Add to a freezer safe bowl, freeze until set, about 3 hours.

 

Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries (for two)

Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries

Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries2

This is for you. Or really, it’s for us. Because I decided a long time ago to redefine Valentine’s day to be about more than just romantic love.

Valentines is about the people you love, all of them. Even the ones who never see you naked. Especially the ones who never see you naked (this leads me to the "how much inappropriateness can I shove into one paragraph?" line of thought).

You’re single? Who cares, you love tons of people! Your mom, your neighbor, your bartender. You have plenty of people to love all over and share a beer with. That’s what’s important. The people we get to love and make a cake for.

I love you, for instance. Mostly because you make it possible for me to do my weird job. Where would I be if you didn’t care that I make food with beer instead of just drinking it like a normal person? I know where I’d be, I’d still be doing this.

Which would be fine, but my weird job is amazing. It’s more than I think I even deserve. So to thank you, I made you a cake. Feel free to share it with your mom, or your neighbor or your bartender.

Or, you know, that person who gets to see you naked. As if seeing you naked wasn’t present enough!

 

Individual Stout Mousse Cakes with Flambé Bourbon Beer Cherries (for two)

Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

For the cherries:

  • ¼ cup Bourbon
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup barrel-aged stout
  • 1 cup Bing cherries pitted (thawed if frozen)
  • ¼ cup Cointreau

For the cakes:

  • 4 tablespoons 57g butter (plus more for ramekins)
  • 6 oz bittersweet chocolate 62% cocoa content
  • ¼ cup 32g stout
  • 3 eggs separated
  • ¼ tsp cream tartar
  • ¼ cup 50g sugar
  • 1 tablespoon 6g cornstarch
  • 1 tablespoon 8g flour

Instructions
 

  • Add the bourbon, sugar, and stout to a saucepan. Simmer until sugar has dissolved.
  • Add the cherries to a re-sealable jar, pour bourbon/beer mixture over the cherries. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour. Seal and refrigerate until ready to use, can be made several weeks in advance.
  • Heat the oven to 375°F.
  • Place butter, stout, and chocolate in the top of a double boiler (or a metal bowl set over a pot of water) over gently simmering water. Stir frequently until melted, remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer add the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar, building up speed, beat on high until soft peaks form. While the mixer is running add the sugar a bit at a time, beat until stiff peaks form.
  • In a large bowl stir together the egg yolks, cornstarch, and flour. Beat on high until light and slightly fluffy.
  • Slowly pour the chocolate mixture into the egg yolk mixture, beating until completely combined, scraping the bottom to make sure the mixture is well incorporated.
  • About 1/3 at a time, gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture using a spatula. Stir until egg whites are well combined with the chocolate mixture.
  • Grease two large (10oz) ramekins or oven-safe bowls with butter until well coated.
  • Add the batter evenly between the two ramekins.
  • Bake for thirty minutes or until the top has puffed and looks dry. Remove from oven and allow to cool to room temperature before removing from ramekins.
  • Add the cherries to a small pot or skillet. Pour the Cointreau over the cherries. Using a kitchen torch or long match, light the liquid on fire. Swirl until to distribute the flame. Allow to flambé for about 2 minutes, then add a lid to extinguish the flame. Pour the liquid and the cherries evenly over the cakes. Serve immediately.

 

 

English Pub Toffee (beer, bacon, pretzels) + The Ultimate Beer Lovers Giveaway ($400 value)

I have something for you, it has beer in to.

I made some toffee, full of beer flavor, bacon and salty pretzels for good measure. I also have something else, something that you can fill with beer. Or give to your favorite beer loving human for the holidays. It’s a SYNEK tabletop beer dispenser that you fill with beer from your local taproom. It’s small enough to fit in your kitchen (you can stop those plans to turn a Craigslist fridge into a tap adorned keg fridge), and it’s also gorgeous enough that you’ll want it on your counter.

Sure, you can give it to your favorite craft beer loving friend for the holidays, or you can keep it for yourself. After all, you do want fresh beer for said beer lover when they come to visit. Maybe you just make them some toffee and invite them over for a beer, that’s also a really nice gift.

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We have a winner! Congrats, Meg. Hope you enjoy! 

*Ships to USA addresses only

a Rafflecopter giveaway

English Pub Toffee (beer, bacon, pretzels) )

Servings 6 servings

Ingredients
  

For the beer candied bacon:

  • 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
  • 2 tablespoons beer*
  • 6 strips thick cut bacon

For the toffee:

  • 1 ½ cups butter cut into cubes
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons beer*
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chips
  • 2 cups pretzels slightly crushed

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 375F.
  • In a small bowl stir together the brown sugar, and 2 tablespoons beer. Place a wire rack over a baking sheet, spray with cooking spray. Place the bacon on the rack, brush liberally with sugar mixture, flip over and brush the other side. Bake until dark brown, about 18 minutes. Allow to cool (it will harden as it cools), chop into pieces once cooled.
  • While the bacon cooks, make the toffee. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat. Add the butter sugar, salt and beer to a pot over high heat. Stir continuously until the butter has melted. Clip a cooking thermometer on the edge, cook until the sugar reaches 300F, stirring occasionally. Pour onto prepared pan. Allow to cool about 2 minutes, sprinkle with chocolate chips. Once the warm toffee has melted the chocolate chips, spread the chocolate evenly with an offset spatula. Sprinkle with bacon and pretzels.
  • Cool to room temperature, then add to the fridge and chill for 2 hours. Break into pieces before serving.

Notes

*Nearly any beer will work, I've used an amber, a red and a barrel aged stout with great results.

No Bake Pretzel and Bourbon Beer Balls

No Bake Pretzel and Bourbon Beer Balls

pretzel-and-bourbon-beer-balls101

These are the beers that make me feel like a stalker.

This time of year barrel aged beer has my attention, coming onto store shelves just as the fresh hop beers are becoming scarce and I need a distraction from that disappointment. I show up at bottle shops and beg for this years editions from the breweries that rattle the barrel aged cage every year. There are a few that we all seem to look forward to and seek out. The beers that fill our instagram feeds and even get us to (at least contemplate) standing in line for hours just for a taste.

Barrel aged beer is just like what it sounds, it’s beer (mostly the darker styles, but not always) that have been aged in barrels. Most commonly you’ll see bourbon or rum barrels but wine has started to make a stronger showing in the past few years.

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I always ask about a few in particular, mostly knowing I can’t always get them in Washington, but hoping Beer Store Beer Guy might have an in somewhere that could open up the possibility that I can get my greasy hands on one.

Here is my yearly wish list, let me know if you have one you look forward to with the same near-stalker-like anticipation.

Firestone Walker // Velvet Merkin and Parabola

Surly Brewing // Barrel Aged Darkness

Founders // KBS

Deschutes // The Abyss 

Fremont Brewing // B-Bomb

The Bruery // Black Tuesday 

The Lost Abbey // Serpent’s Stout 

 

No Bake Pretzel and Bourbon Beer Balls

Servings 36 balls

Ingredients
  

  • ½ cup 50g chopped pecans
  • ½ cup 58g chopped almonds
  • 1 cup 154g pretzels crumbs (pretzels processed with a food processor)
  • 1 cup 122g graham cracker crumbs (9 full sized graham crackers, processed)
  • ½ cup 43g unsweetened cocoa powder, divided
  • ¾ cup 75g powdered sugar, divided
  • ½ cup 118mL bourbon barrel aged beer
  • 3 tablespoons 63g honey (or light corn syrup)

Instructions
 

  • In a large bowl stir together the pecans, almonds, pretzel crumbs, graham cracker crumbs, ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (reserve the other ¼ for the coating), and ½ cup powdered sugar (reserve the other ¼ for the coating).
  • Stir in the beer and honey until well combined. Mixture shouldn’t be wet but it should hold together when squeezed. If it’s too dry to hold together add more beer, about 1 tablespoon at a time until the right consistency is reached.
  • In a small bowl stir together the remaining ¼ cup cocoa powder and ¼ cup powdered sugar.
  • One at a time form into balls about the size of a golf ball, roll in powdered sugar. Place on a plate or tray.
  • Chill for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve chilled.

 pretzel-and-bourbon-beer-balls111

Chocolate Stout Freak Shake

Chocolate Stout Freak Shake Freakshake 

chocolate-stout-freak-shake102

In college I worked with a guy named Freak.

Large and imposing with a heart of gold under layers of ink and steel. I refused to call him Freak, making up new names for him. Finally, he stopped me, asked me why I was so opposed to using that name. "But you’re not a freak. You’re normal." In my white-girl-from-the-farm logic, this was a compliment. Once it hit his ears, it was anything but.

chocolate-stout-freak-shake101

"No I’m not. Stop thinking normal is good, and abnormal is bad. Do you think I want to be like everyone else? The word freak means: 'a person who is unusual' and that’s me. I WANT to be a freak, I don’t want to be normal."

That was the end of it. I understood, and it changed the way I saw things. I embraced my weird in new ways. I’d never really wanted to be typical, average, or normal, but I hadn’t ever held my weird up over my head like a boombox in a John Hughes movie until that day. Weird is good, freaks are awesome, non-conforming is liberating.

Long live the freaks of the world. Milkshakes, people, places.

no-li-1

I beer’d up a phenomenon that is sweeping Australia from a little cafe with a long line called Patissez. Freaks of the world are uniting over the over-the-top, and anything but usual, ice cream concoctions. I, of course, felt like anything that excessive needed beer. A big beer with beautifully bold flavors that can stand up to all the noise in that glass. I chose a stout from Washington called Wrecking Ball from No-Li Brewhouse. Fantastic all on it’s own, but this recipe is about excess and Wrecking Ball kept up.

Chocolate Stout Freak Shake

Servings 2 shakes

Ingredients
  

  • 10 wt ounces 60% cacao chocolate chips
  • 2/3 cup Imperial stout or barrel aged stout divided
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 pint ice cream
  • 1 cups pretzels crushed
  • 1 cup whipped cream
  • cookies and candy for garnish

Instructions
 

  • Add the chocolate chips, 1/3 cups stout (reserve the other 1/3 cup of stout for the milkshake), and the butter in the top of a double boiler over medium heat.
  • Stir until the chocolate has melted and combined with the beer and butter (if the sauce separates, use an immersion blender to bring it back to life). Set aside.
  • Add the crushed pretzels to a bowl.
  • Dip a serving glass in the chocolate, then the pretzels to rim the glasses.
  • Add the ice cream plus the remaining 1/3 cup stout to a blender, blend until smooth.
  • Pour the milkshake into the glass until about half way full, add a few scoops of chocolate sauce on top of the ice cream, then fill the glass with the ice cream mixture.
  • Top with generous amounts of chocolate sauce, whipped cream, crushed pretzels, cookies and candy.

Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows

Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows

Beer S’Mores Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows1

There are foods I only like for nostalgic reasons. Fritos and bean dip, Jello-cake with whipped cream frosting, Taco Bell. It reminds me of growing up, in a house with ten people, and meal time was more of a defrost-and-feed triage. S’mores has one foot in that circle. It’s a partial reminder of those early days. You knew the day was special when it ended with S’mores. It was an afternoon-on-the-lake, camping-with-friends, backyard-grill-outs, kind of day that ended with a bunch of kids pulling puffy marshmallows out of a large plastic bag, skewering them with a wire coat hanger, and trying not to fall into the open fire pit. I was the burn-it-black kind of marshmallow maker. I was the charred-outside, melty-inside kinda girl. Now, I like to brulé homemade marshmallows to the perfect golden brown, serve them over homemade stout flavored chocolate bars along side a great beer. But I’ll still eat my weight in bean dip scooped up with Fritos because some things never change.

Beer S’Mores Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows2

Intimidated of marshmallow making? Check out my step-by-step tutorial (with photos). Just replace the water in the tutorial with beer.

Beer S’Mores: Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows

Ingredients
  

For the marshmallows:

  • Powdered sugar
  • 3 ½ envelopes unflavored gelatin such as Knox
  • 1 cup beer flat and cold*
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • ½ cup light corn syrup
  • 2 large egg whites
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 3 tsp vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Bars:

  • 10 wt oz dark chocolate (62% cacao)
  • 1/3 cup stout beer

For the s’mores:

  • 18 graham crackers

Instructions
 

Make the marshmallows:

  • Grease a 9x13 baking pan, sprinkle with powdered sugar until well coated, set aside.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer add ½ cup cold flat beer. Sprinkle with gelatin. Allow to stand while the sugar is being prepared.
  • In a large saucepan (mixture will bubble up considerably) over medium heat, add the remaining ½ cup beer, sugar and corn syrup. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  • Raise heat to high and allow to boil until the mixture reads 240F on a candy thermometer (about 6-8 minutes).
  • Once the temperature has been reached, turn off heat.
  • Turn the mixer on low and slowly pour the hot sugar mixture into the gelatin. Once all the sugar has been added turn the mixer on high until light and fluffy and tripled in volume, about 6 minutes.
  • While the mixer is running, prepare the egg whites. Add the egg whites to a bowl with the salt. Beat on high with a hand mixer until stiff peaks form.
  • Gently fold the egg whites and vanilla extract into the stand mixer ingredients until just combined.
  • Pour the marshmallows into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Allow to set at room temperature until set, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into squares.

Make the chocolate bars:

  • In the top of a double boiler add the chocolate and beer. Stir until the chocolate has melted and combined with the beer. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper. Pour the chocolate into the prepared pan in an even layer. Chill until set, about 20 minutes. Cut into 9 squares. Can be made four days ahead of time.

Make the s’mores:

  • Brulé the marshmallows, sandwich one square of chocolate and one bruléed marshmallow between two graham crackers.

Beer S’Mores Stout Chocolate Bar and Belgian Ale Marshmallows4

Beeramisu: Tiramisu Made with Beer

Beer people, we have our own language. Our own accepted set of standards. In most settings, with most normal humans, it’s unacceptable and off putting to ask a stranger if you can sample the beverage in their hands.

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Bourbon Stout Cherries + What is A Barrel Aged Beer?

Bourbon Stout Cherries

Bourbon Stout Cherries (2 of 5)

We would love to pretend like barrel aged beer is something a trend setting, bearded, flannel wearing brewer invented just a handful of years ago, igniting a craft beer phenomenon that’s taken over the bottle shops.

But that’s not the case. In the dawn of civilization, when beer and humanity where in their infancy, beer wasn’t just aged in wood barrels, but brewed, fermented and stored in wooden barrels. We’ve recently rediscovered the beautiful flavors oak barrels transmit into our beers. The caramel, vanilla, fruit and toffee, along with a huge kick of warm alcohol to our favorite brews, make these beers to seek out.

What is barrel aging?

You can age any beer in a barrel, some styles just happen to get there more frequently. Most beers that are chosen for barrel aging are usually darker, maltier beers. Think: stouts, porters, brown ales or scotch ales. Once the beer is brewed and ready for aging, it’s transferred to a wooden, usually oak, barrel. Breweries generally buy these barrels from wineries or distilleries, there is only one brewery in the world that makes their own, Rogue Ales in Portland. Most of the time these are barrels that were perviously used to age wine or spirits. Bourbon barrels are the most common. Since these barrels had previously housed bourbon for years, the wood is still soaked with the liquor. As the beer ages in the barrels, the beer soaks up the liquor, taking on the flavors of the previous tenant. Beer is aged for as little as one month and as long as several years, but most commonly just less than a year. Barrel aged beers have an intensely boozy flavor, and a much higher ABV than most beer. They are best served in small amounts in snifter or tulip glasses.

 Bourbon Stout Cherries (5 of 5)

I’m a sucker for a good barrel aged stout. These are beers to share, beers to sample, beers that you don’t forget. For these boozy cherries, perfect for your next cocktail, I used Track #10 from The Lost Abbey. A beer that should be shared, and can’t be forgotten.

Bourbon Stout Cherries

Servings 1 /2 pound

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 cup Bourbon
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup barrel aged stout
  • ½ lbs Bing cherries pitted

Instructions
 

  • Add the bourbon, sugar, and stout to a saucepan. Simmer until sugar has dissolved.
  • Add the cherries to a re-sealable jar, pour bourbon/beer mixture over the cherries. Allow to sit at room temperature for one hour. Seal and refrigerate for at least two days before serving.