Dessert

Chai Chocolate Chip Beer Cookies

I’m glad chai is making a comeback, aren’t you? I didn’t know chai was making a comeback, you think to yourself. Maybe it isn’t “making a comeback” in the traditional sense as much as I want to chai-ify all the things right now. It’s like pumpkin spice, but without the societal eye roll. Which is just better for everyone. 

These are also the result of Seattle dipping in temperature. Because I can’t make soup like a normal person, I make cookies when it gets colder. Maybe I’m just trying to fatten myself up for hibernation. This is a viable possibility. Stay tuned. 

I may or may not be making cookies to bring to my book tour events, I’ll keep you posted here.  Because I might not be able to decide on which cookie exactly I would want to use as my signature book tour cookie and this might make me avoid the task altogether. I can be like that, don’t judge me. These chai cookies are a strong contender since I’ve already made them three times. 

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Chai Chocolate Chip Beer Cookies

Servings: 12 large cookies, or 24 small

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (114g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup (200g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 tablespoon (15g) molasses
  • 2 tablespoons (1oz) beer (brown ale, pumpkin ale, Oktoberfest or other malty beer)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 ¾ cups (210g) All-Purpose Flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • ½ teaspoons ground allspice
  • ½ teaspoons ground nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoons ground cardamom
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 ½ cups (9oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325°F.
  • Add the melted butter and brown sugar to the bowl of a stand mixer, beat until well combined, at least 5 minutes.
  • Add the egg yolk, beating until the mixture resembles frosting, about 6 minutes.
  • Add the molasses, brown ale and vanilla, beating until well combined.
  • Stop the mixer, add the flour, spices and baking powder, beating until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  • 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.

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 vegetarian cooking with beer book, I give to you a bacon dessert recipe. Is that because I want to make all the people happy, you ask? No, is more likely because I want to anger and upset all the people or possibly because I’ve never had a very good relationship with rules and expectations. Either way, I do apologize. 

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

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

Print Recipe

Chocolate Porter Pecan Bars with Beer Candied Bacon

Servings: 24 BARS

Ingredients

Bacon:

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

Crust:

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

Filling:

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

Instructions

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

Beer + Snickerdoodles = Snickerbrewdles

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

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

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

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

Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Beer + Snickerdoodles = Snickerbrewdles

Servings: 3 dozen

Ingredients

For the cookies:

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

For the topping:

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

Instructions

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

Apricot Streusel Beer Loaf Cake

Apricot Streusel Beer Loaf Cake (vegan)

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

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

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

Print Recipe

Apricot Streusel Beer Loaf Cake (vegan)

Ingredients

Cake:

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

Streusel Topping:

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

Instructions

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

Chocolate Chip and Beer Caramel Cookie Bars

Chocolate Chip and Beer Caramel Cookie Bars

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

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

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

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

Print Recipe

Chocolate Chip and Beer Caramel Cookie Bars

Ingredients

For the cookie layers:

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

Caramel recipe:

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

Instructions

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

Beer and Doughnut Ice Cream

Beer and Doughnut Ice Cream

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

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

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Beer & Doughnuts Ice Cream

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

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

Instructions

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

Cherry Stout Beer Brownies

Cherry Stout Beer Brownies

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

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

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

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

Print Recipe

Cherry Stout Beer Brownies

Servings: 9 brownies

Ingredients

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

Instructions

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

Beer Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches

 

Beer Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches

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

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

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

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

I used Acme Ultra Premium Ice Cream

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

Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Beer Doughnut Ice Cream Sandwiches

Ingredients

For the Doughnuts:

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

For the glaze:

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

For the Sandwiches:

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

Instructions

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

Notes

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

No Churn Shandy Gelato

No Churn Shandy Gelato 

More often than not I make you no-churn recipes even though I have not one, but two ice cream makers. Mostly it’s because I hate when you read my ice cream maker recipes and sad face me because you either don’t have one, or yours is somehow out of commission.

So, mostly just to avoid the frowny face emojis, I offer you these simple, easy, delicious ways to get frozen, boozed up treats into your face with minimal effort. It’s why we’re friends. After all, even if you DO have an ice cream maker, you can still make this and it’s just as creamy and lovely as you want it to be. 

I was all set to make this lovely Shandy inspired summer treat with an IPA when this Wheels Gose Round from Left Hand just shows up on my door. Literally. Right on my front porch was a press pack of beer from Left Hand and just like that the perks of my weird job were once again revealed to me via UPS.

It’s fantastic, it’s day-drink-when-you-have-a-busy-day-and-you-don’t-care fantastic.  It’s bright, citrusy, crisp, with the right amount of pucker but not too much. As if that wasn’t enough of a reason to buy this outstanding sour ale, it ALSO gives proceeds to the fight against Multiple Sclerosis. To date, Left Hand has helped raise over 3 million dollars for the cause.

So, it’s decided. You have to run right out, buy some beer, then make some ice cream (this recipe only needs a few tablespoons so the rest is fair game) because it’s how you give back to society and feel good about your drinking habits.

There you go. Ice cream and justifications to drink more beer. That’s why we’re friends.

Print Recipe

No Churn Shandy Gelato

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 cups (480g) heavy cream chilled
  • 1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk chilled
  • ¼ cup (60g) lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest grated with a microplane
  • 3 tablespoons gose beer (can use a sour ale like a gose or an IPA)
  • 1 cup (200g) sugar
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt

Instructions

  • Add the cream to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on medium speed until starting to thicken, about 8 minutes. You want to avoid incorporating too much air so keep the speed lower than you would to make whipped cream.
  • Add the lemon juice, zest, beer, sugar, and salt to a small bowl. Stir until the sugar has dissolved.
  • While the mixer is running, slowly add the lemon juice mixture until well combined with the cream. The acid from the lemons will help thicken the cream.
  • Slowly add the sweetened condensed milk until well combined.
  • Add to a freezer safe container. Freeze for at least 6 hours before serving.

Coconut Raspberry Pilsner Cake

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

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

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

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

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

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

Print Recipe

Coconut Raspberry Pilsner Cake

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

For the cake:

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

For the frosting:

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

Instructions

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

Notes

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

Pineapple Hefeweizen French Toast Bake with Rum Whipped Cream

Pineapple Hefeweizen French Toast Bake with Rum Whipped Cream

This is how we lie to ourselves. And we’re really good at it, aren’t we? This is dessert, we know that. It carries all the hallmarks of a post-dinner treat, but we ignore them and call it breakfast. Because we don’t want to wait all day to actually eat it, we don’t have time for that. So we serve it with coffee in the pre-noon hours and call it breakfast. Or maybe we make ourselves a mimosa and call it brunch. Let’s brunch! It’s not an indulgence, it’s an activity!

That’s ok, we’re honest with ourselves about enough, we can afford this lie to make our morning just a wee bit better. Because that’s how we live our best life. We eat dessert first, open a beer before noon, maybe invite a friend over to be that bad influence we know we are.

Mostly because if we eat our dessertfast with a friend, it’s not a bad habit, it’s a social engagement. And that’s good. There’s no way to make this meal healthy, but we can share it with others who love us and call it “mental health food,” which is what we all need right now, amiright?

Print Recipe

Pineapple Hefeweizen French Toast Bake

Ingredients

For the French toast:

  • 1 round loaf 1lbs sourdough bread
  • ½ cup 4oz wheat beer
  • 1 cup 200g brown sugar
  • ½ cup 100g white sugar
  • 1 cup 230g pineapple chunks
  • 1 ½ cups 367g half and half
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon salt

For the whipped cream:

  • 2 cups heavy cream
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon rum
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions

  • Cut the bread into bite-sized pieces. Add to a greased 8X8 baking dish.
  • In a blender add the wheat beer, brown sugar, white sugar, pineapple, half and half, eggs, salt, and vanilla. Blend until smooth.
  • Pour the mixture over the bread, pressing to make sure all the bread cubes are submerged. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the bread to absorb the liquid, or cover and refrigerate overnight. 
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake, uncovered, for 35-40 minutes or until the center has puffed and the bread has started to toast on the top. (you can also make in 6 individual ramekins, start checking for doneness after 18 minutes)
  • Add all the whipped cream ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer, beat on high until soft peaks form. Serve the French toast topped with whipped cream.

Coconut Pilsner Mango Cream Pie

Coconut Pilsner Mango Cream Pie

Mango Cream Pie

We’ve already talked about how much I hate bananas because they’re basically portable baby food and you need to eat fruit like a grownup who has teeth. Unless you don’t have teeth, then you get a pass.

I don’t get jealous of people eating them raw like a jungle creature, but I DO get jealous when I see the pie. YOU KNOW THE PIE. The one that’s creamy and looks so delicious, until you get close enough to smell it and it smells like baby food and jungle creatures. It’s usually served at those diners that your grandma frequents that serves food that tastes like hangovers and road trips but in a good way.

So, I decided to make a [that one fruit] cream pie, but with far, far superior food. One that takes physical and mental dexterity because it’s so tricky to get to the fruit meat. If you ranked fruit according to how easy it was to get into your mouth without pit or peel, mango would be a solid 8 out of ten. Not as hard as a lychee, but MUCH harder than a banana. But SO worth it because while bananas taste like what it would be like if fruit had assholes, mangos taste like a beach vacation with unicorns.

And I think we can all agree, no matter where you stand on the idea of putting a banana in your face, mango is just way better. So let’s make a mango pie and drink some beer.

Mango Cream Pie
Print Recipe
5 from 2 votes

Coconut Pilsner Mango Cream Pie

Servings: 8 slices

Ingredients

Crust:

  • 1 ¼ cups (150g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoons sugar
  • 10 tablespoons (142g) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
  • 3 tablespoons cup ice-cold pale ale or pilsner

Filling:

  • 1 large mango Tommy Atkins, Palmer
  • 1 can (15oz) full fat coconut milk
  • 3 tablespoon cornstarch
  • ¼ cup (2oz) beer (pilsner or hefeweizen)
  • 1 eggs
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 ¼ cups (250g) granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (28g) lime juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt

For the whipped cream:

  • 2 cups (460g) heavy cream
  • ¼ cup (30g) powdered sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • pinch salt

Instructions

Make the crust

  • Add ¾ cup of flour, salt, and sugar to a food processor, pulse to combine. Add the butter, process until well combined and dough gathers around the blade.
  • Add the remaining flour and pulse 6-8 times or until all the flour has been coated.
  • Transfer to a bowl. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the beer until completely incorporated into the dough. Dough will be very soft.
  • Lay a long sheet of plastic wrap on a flat surface.
    Add the dough to the center of the sheet, Form into flat disks.
    Wrap disk tightly in plastic wrap, chill until firm, about 1 hour and up to 5 days. 

Make the filling

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
    Add the flesh of the mango (peel and pit removed) to a food processor, process until smooth. 
  • Add the mango puree along with the remaining filling ingredients to a pot, off heat. Whisk until well combined. 
  • Add the pot to medium-high heat, bring to a boil, whisking continuously. Boil until thickened, about 6 minutes, remove from heat. 
  • Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface into a large circle. Line the pie plate evenly with the dough.
    Pour the filling into the piecrust. 
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the crust has turned golden brown.
    Remove from oven, allow to cool to room temperature. Transfer to the fridge, chill until set, about 3 hours and up to 24. 
  • Make the whipped cream
  • Add the whipped cream ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer, mix on high until well-combined and soft peaks form.
  • Top the pie with whipped cream, slice and serve. 

Strawberry Lemonade Beer Cookie Bars

Strawberry Lemonade Beer Bars

Let’s talk unpopular opinions, shall we? We haven’t fought about anything in a while so let’s jump in. Starting with food-related topics that will most likely piss you off, but it’s your turn next, so just hang on.

Milk chocolate is not worth the calories, but dark chocolate deserves its own holiday.

Red velvet cake is an abomination because 1/4 cup of food dye is not a flavor.

Anything you make with mayonnaise is better if you make it with sour cream because mayo is the most disgusting man-made substance on the planet.

Bananas should not be eaten after childhood. It’s basically portable baby food and it makes me gag. Eat an apple like a grown-up who has teeth.

Boba tea. Didn’t we get over this in the early 2000’s? Is it a beverage? Is it food? Why is my drink chewy but it tastes like sadness?

Cookie bars are always better with frosting.

Buttercream frosting is gross. Ok, ALMOST all buttercream is gross and tastes like slightly sweetened butter and coats your mouth in the most unappealing way. When it’s made with JUST butter, vanilla, and sugar it is a big pile of loser paste.

And cream cheese frosting is superior to all other types of frosting because it’s foolproof, quick and delicious.

Ok, there it is. My real, true feelings about the food you probably love and I just told you how much I hate it. But we can still be friends, right? Just don’t make me eat a banana to prove it.

What about you? It’s your turn!! Tell me your unpopular food opinions.

 

Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Strawberry Lemonade Beer Cookie Bars

Servings: 9 bars

Ingredients

For the bars:

  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest (grated with a microplane)
  • ¾ cups (150g) white sugar
  • ½ cup (100g) brown sugar
  • ½ cup (114g) butter softened
  • 1 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 tablespoon (28g) lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoon beer pale ale, pilsner, wheat beer
  • ¼ teaspoon pure lemon extract optional
  • 1 ¼ cups (150g) all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoons salt

For the frosting:

  • 8 oz cream cheese softened
  • 1/3 cup (55g) chopped strawberries
  • 1/2 cup (63g) powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (30g) heavy cream

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F.
    Add the lemon zest, white and brown sugar, and butter to a stand mixer. Beat on medium-high until well combined and creamy. 
  • Add the egg, beating until well combined and resembles frosting, about 3 minutes.
    Stir in the lemon juice, beer and lemon extract (if using). The mixture may look a little curdled, this is fine. 
  • Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt until just combined. 
  • Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment so that it comes up and over the sides (this makes for easy removal). 
  • Spread the batter into the prepared pan in an even layer. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the edges just start to turn golden brown (do not overbake, the bars will set as they cool). Allow to cool before removing from the pan.
  • Add the cream cheese and strawberries to the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat on high until the strawberries are well combined with the cream cheese and mixture is light and fluffy. Stopping to scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. 
  • Add the cream, beating well to combine. Add the powdered sugar, stir until combined.
  • Frost the bars, cut into squares. Chill until ready to serve.

10 Minute Pale Ale Puff Pastry + Beer Caramel Apple Tartlets

10 Minute Pale Ale Puff Pastry + Beer Caramel Apple Tartlets

LOOK

AT

THOSE

LAYERS!

I need to admit to you that I used to be one of those “puff pastry is a crazy amount of work so just buy it” people. Until today. TODAY I made it with a food processor and it took ten minutes.

Adding in a little beer, instead of the more traditional ice cold water, gives you just a little bit more of a rise out of your dough. That’s not a euphemism. It’s literal. But I can see the confusion since I am the type of person who would make a sexual innuendo out of a baked goods reference, it’s an honest mistake.

This puff pastry was so buttery, flakey and amazing I’ll never go back. It also freezes really well so you can spend a few extra minutes, make a few dozen batches, and freeze it for the future. Because if you’re anything like me, you could have a tart emergency at any minute (also not a euphemism) and just need to stuff your face with something sweet. It happens.

Print Recipe

10 Minute Pale Ale Puff Pastry + Beer Caramel Apple Tartlets

Ingredients

For the puff pastry:

  • 2 cups (240g) flour
  • 1 ¼ cup (285g) very cold butter cut into cubes
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • ½ cup (4oz) very cold beer (pale ale, pilsner, pale lager)
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter (for baking)

For the apple tartlets

  • 1 large Fuji apple, peeled, cored, and diced
  • 2 tablespoons (25g) white sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup (100g) brown sugar packed
  • 1 tablespoons (14g) butter
  • 3 tablespoons beer
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/3 cup (87g) heavy cream

Instructions

For the puff pastry

  • Add the flour, salt and approximately half of the butter to a food processor, pulse 10-15 times until just combined. 
  • Add the remaining butter, pulse to combine (don’t over process). 
  • Add the flour mixture to a flat surface, make a well in the center, add the beer. 
  • Mix with your hands until combined (this can also be done in a food processor, just make sure not to over mix or the dough will turn out tough). 
  • Add to a lightly floured surface, roll into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Fold into thirds, like a letter about to go into an envelope. 
  • Roll again, then fold again. Repeat the process 3-4 times (this is how you get the layers). 
  • Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 3 hours. 
  • Roll the dough into a rectangle about ¼ inch thick. Cut into 12 equal sized squares. Score a border about ½ inch from the edge (do not cut all the way through) prick the center with a fork. Evenly space on a baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper. Chill while you prepare the apples. 

Make the apples and caramel

  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
    Add the apples, sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch, salt, and brown sugar to a bowl, toss to combine. 
  • Add the apples to the center of the tarts, avoiding the edge. Brush the edges with the melted butter. 
  • Bake for 18-22 minutes or until puffed and slightly golden brown. 
  • Add the brown sugar, butter, and beer to a pot over high heat. Stir until the butter has melted, then stop stirring. Boil for 3 minutes.
    Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla and cream. Return to heat, boil for one minute.
  • Add to serving plate, drizzle with caramel. 

Adapted from Bon Appetit

 

Hop Shortbread Beer Cookies

Hop Shortbread Beer Cookies

I’m still trapped. Under several feet of snow in a city that can’t deal, surrounded by iced-over, hilly roads that my little car isn’t able to navigate. Still. The Californian in me is screaming and vitamin D deficient. So, obviously, it was time to bake.

I had to use what was on hand —and of course, I DO have dried hop flowers on hand—and decided to make you valentines cookies. Because for beer people, hops are far superior to hearts. I even had the hop cookie cutter on hand from when I made this.

You can get yourself one, too. You just have to look for a “pinecone” cookie cutter because normal people don’t just go around making cookies in the shape of beer ingredients, but I promise you, it’s a hop.

Even though I can’t leave the house and I’m about to start chewing on the curtains, at least I’m well stocked with the necessities, like dried hop cones and cookie cutters. I also have a lot of beer, so if you need any I’m here for you.

Dried hop cones can be bought at any local homebrew supply store, or online. Do not use pellets. You only need one dried hop flower, so if you have a homebrewer friend that can give you one, that’s your best bet. Or, if you’re adventurous, you can make Hopsta (hops pasta) with the rest of the dried hops.

Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the cookies

  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 8 tablespoons (114g) unsalted butter softened
  • 1 teaspoon (3g) vanilla extract
  • ½ cup (62g) powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tablespoons (30g) beer

For the icing

  • 1 cup (125g) powdered sugar
  • 2 tablespoons (30g) beer
  • ½ teaspoon dried hop flowers, crushed (citra, mosaic, galaxy)

Instructions

  • 1. Add the salt, butter, and vanilla to a stand mixer, beat until well combined.
    2. Add the powdered sugar, beat until light and fluffy.
    3. Stir in the flour until just combined, then add the beer, stirring just to combine.
    4. Form into a log on a sheet of plastic wrap then wrap tightly. Refrigerate for one hour and up to 3 days.
    5. Roll out on a lightly floured surface until about ½ inch thick, cut into desired shape with cookie cutters.
    6. Evenly space on a baking sheet covered with parchment. Add to the freezer, freeze for 15 minutes (this will help prevent the cookies from spreading during baking).
    7. Preheat the oven to 325° F.
    8. Bake until the edges start to turn lightly golden brown. Remove from oven, pull the parchment on to the counter to cool.
    9. In a small bowl stir together the frosting ingredients.
    10. Spread the icing onto the cookies in a thin layer. 

Notes

Dried hop cones can be bought at any local homebrew supply store, or online. Do not use pellets. It's best to use aroma (or dual purpose) hops like citra, mosaic, or galaxy rather than a strictly bittering hop. 

 

Chocolate Stout Pretzel Peanut Butter Bars

Chocolate Stout Pretzel Peanut Butter Bars

This is what happens when I’m trapped. The snow is piling up around Seattle in a way that we are fundamentally unprepared for, physically and emotionally. Inches have turned to feet and there is no end in sight.

I’m a California girl, in my blood and in my bones, and even after a handful of years living here I’m still not used to what winter actually means in a normal city. My only defense is to seal myself into my house and just bake with what I have. Which is why I should call these “shelter in place bars” because that’s pretty much how I feel right now.

These peanut butter bars use what I had on hand, no need to brave the icy roads and the throngs of panicked doomsday grocery hoarders at the store in order to satisfy my baking urge. It’s also a small miracle that my friendly neighbor UPS guy dropped off some beer mail from one of my favorite breweries just yesterday. Said fortuitous package happened to contain an absolutely outstanding Nitro Stout with notes of coffee, chocolate, and toffee from Lefthand Brewing, perfect for my dessert endeavors.  Snowpocalypse or not, that had to be opened, and it did not disappoint.

Print Recipe

Chocolate Stout Pretzel Peanut Butter Bars

Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time35 mins
Total Time45 mins
Servings: 9 bars

Ingredients

  • ½ cup (128g) creamy peanut butter
  • ½ cup (114g) unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 ½ cups (400g) golden brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup (100g) white sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¼ cup (2oz) stout beer
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ½ teaspoon (3g) salt
  • 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (195g) dark chocolate chips, divided
  • ½ cup mini pretzel twists, slightly crushed

Instructions

  • 1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
    2. Add the peanut butter and melted butter to a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat on medium speed.
    3. Add the brown and white sugar, mix until well combined. Add the eggs, beer, and vanilla one at a time, beating well between additions.
    4. Stir in the salt, flour and half of the chocolate chips.
    5. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray (or line with parchment paper) pour the batter into the pan in an even layer.
    6. Top with remaining chocolate chips and pretzels.
    7. Bake until the edges have turned golden brown, about 35-40 minutes.
    8. Allow to cool before cutting. 

Chewy Gingerbread People with Chocolate Stout Pants

Gingerbread People with Chocolate Stout Pants

Leave it to me to booze up a holiday classic. I do that sort of thing this time of year. I also have very specific ideas about gingerbread and cookie making in general I want to tell you about. I can be opinionated about small things far more than big things, but cookies need rules.

First, soft and chewy will always be preferable to crispy and hard. You can keep your mouth scraping sugar cardboard, I’ll take mine soft and chewy because I don’t hate myself.

Also, while I find intricately decorated royal icing covered masterpieces impressive and beautiful, I don’t want any part in making them. My rule is: it must take more time to eat them than it takes to decorate them, or you’re spending too much time on the wrong part of enjoying the cookie. Keep it simple.

Also, when it comes to gingerbread, the ginger shouldn’t be the loudest of the flavors. I firmly believe that the cinnamon, molasses, and ginger should all have equal voices. Which is why I should change the name to Gingolassamon cookies but that’s just too much to explain. And you can disagree with me and make your own cookie rules, you do you.

Also, cookies shouldn’t have a gender because that makes me think of putting genitals into the mouths of people whom I’ve baked cookies for and that makes me uncomfortable. I don’t want to be responsible for making that sort of choice for another person. Therefore, my gingolassamon cookies aren’t men, they’re genderless people. With pants.

Print
Chewy Gingerbread People with Chocolate Stout Pants

Yield: 12 large, or 24 small

Ingredients

    For the cookies:
  • 3 ¼ cups (390g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ cup (250g) dark brown sugar, packed
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ¾ cup (172g) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup (180g) molasses (not blackstrap)
  • 2 tablespoons stout beer
    • For the Chocolate Pants:
  • 10oz bittersweet chocolate
  • ¼ cup stout beer

Instructions

  1. Add the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, salt, and baking soda to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Stir to combine.
  2. Add the softened butter, molasses and beer, stir on low speed until combined.
  3. Transfer to a long sheet of plastic wrap, form into a flat disk, wrap tightly.
  4. Refrigerate for 2 hours and up to 2 days.
  5. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface until just under ½ inch in thickness.
  6. Cut out gingerbread people, add to 2 baking sheets that have been covered with parchment paper.
  7. Freeze for 20 minutes (this will help prevent spreading).
  8. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  9. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven, pull the parchment paper off the sheets and onto a flat surface. Allow to cool.
  10. In the top of a double boiler set over lightly simmering water, add the chocolate and beer. Stir constantly until most of the chocolate has been melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until all the chocolate has melted.
  11. Using a spatula or butter knife, spread chocolate onto the cookies. Decorate as desired.
  12. Allow to cool until chocolate has set before serving.

Notes

Blackstrap molasses is what happens when you boil cane juice three times, removing nearly all the sugar resulting in a black, bitter sludge. Dark, light or unsulphured are all fairly interchangeable and pleasantly sweet. Make sure never to use Blackstrap when a recipe calls for molasses unless it’s specifically called for.

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Invisible Apple Cake with Beer Caramel Sauce

Invisible Apple Cake with Beer Caramel Sauce

This is why you don’t try to do things halfway. And by “you” I mean me, I’m talking to myself again. It happens, look away if you must.

On my way to dinner at a lovely couple’s house, I decided to kill two birds (not literally, I swear) and bake a dessert for these two wonderful men, one that I could also photograph and give to you (work bird, dinner party bird: both dead). It was a great plan until I decided that I didn’t REALLY need to cut into it to photograph it. You were just going to have to trust me about all those gorgeous apple layers.

The thing is, these are two guys that aren’t just amazing humans they are also fantastic cooks and cocktail makers, people who have outstanding and beautiful taste. I didn’t want to do what I normally do, which is cut up the thing, take pictures of the thing, put-back-together the thing, and then apologize for the thing once I arrived. So I was just going to take photos of the OUTSIDE of the cake, and bring it intact.

Which worked long enough to get myself out the door and over to dinner to enjoy beautiful cocktails and Thai food as well as an intact dessert. Until I got home and realized that I can’t do that to you.

It also needs to be mentioned that this is 100% about my own neurosis, the lovely friends in question would have found a previously detached, photographed, and reattached dessert adorable and charming and encouraged me to do this, had I asked.

So I made it again, just so that I could cut it open and show you these layers. Then I ate it. Maybe that was my subconscious plan all along, I do things like that.

Print
Invisible Apple Cake with Beer Caramel Sauce

Yield: 6-8 servings

Ingredients

    For the cake
  • 2 lbs (3-4 x-large) Honeycrisp apples
  • 2 eggs
  • ½ cup (100g) sugar
  • 1/3 cup (72g) beer (pilsner, lager, pale ale)
  • 3 tablespoons (42g) butter, melted
  • ¾ cup (90g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
    • For the sauce
  • ½ cup (100g) brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon (14g) butter
  • 3 tablespoons beer
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • ½ cup (130g) heavy cream

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  2. Peel and core the apples. Slice very thinly, set aside.
  3. In a large bowl stir together the eggs, sugar, beer, butter, flour and salt.
  4. Add the apples, toss to coat.
  5. Line a large (10 x 5) loaf pan, or an 8x8 square pan with parchment, spray with cooking spray.
  6. Add the apple mixture to a the prepared pan.
  7. Bake for 60 minutes or until the cake as set. Allow to cool, remove from pan. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
  8. Add the brown sugar, butter and beer to a saucepan over high heat. Boil for two minutes, remove from heat. Stir in the vanilla and heavy cream, return to heat and bring to a boil again. Boil for one minute, remove from heat, allow to cool.
  9. Pour the caramel over the cake, slice to serve.
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