Baking with Beer: Chocolate Stout Brownies

Last summer, I took a cooking with beer class at my local community college. In this class, we learned the finer points of how to incorporate beer into each of our daily meals, and which beers pair well with certain foods. After sampling a few brews from the summer season, we got down to work and whipped up tasty appetizers, entrees, and desserts.

My favorite dish of the day was the chocolate stout brownies drizzled with warm chocolate sauce. This quickly became my go-to dessert to make for dinner parties and BBQs. Each time I make it, I always tweak the recipe just a little bit to bring out more of the delicious stout flavor.

So here is my latest version of my chocolate stout brownies. You can choose to follow the “labor of love” recipe or scroll to the bottom for the quick and easy recipe.

Chocolate Stout Brownies with Chocolate Stout Sauce

Difficulty: Easy

Time: 30 minutes of prep time, about 60 minutes for cooking

Brownie Ingredients

Butter or cooking spray to coat the pan

1 stick of unsalted butter

4 ounces of semisweet chocolate

1 cup of granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

¾ cup of all-purpose flour

½ cup of chocolate stout

¼ teaspoon of salt

Sauce Ingredients

1 cup of heavy whipping cream

½ cup of chocolate stout

8 ounces of semisweet chocolate

Brownie Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325° F. Coat an 8×8 baking pan then dust the inside with flour so the brownies won’t stick to the sides.
2. In a large saucepan, melt the stick of butter on low heat until the butter has turned into liquid. Add the 4 ounces of chocolate to the butter liquid, stirring often, until the mixture is completely melted and creamy. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool down to lukewarm status.
3. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, eggs, yolk, and chocolate stout until smooth.
4. Off to the side, sift the flour with the salt.
5. Add the stout mixture and flour into the saucepan, alternating each until the brownie batter is blended.
6. Pour the batter into the greased pan and bake for 45-50 minutes (depending on the thickness of your batter).
7. Once the brownies are fully cooked, let them cool before adding garnishes.

Sauce Directions

1. Combine the cream and chocolate stout in a saucepan over medium heat and let it simmer.
2. Pour the rest of your semisweet chocolate into the saucepan and whisk it until the chocolate is melted.
3. Take the saucepan off the heat and let it cool. Once it is lukewarm, pour it over the brownies.

*You can add chopped nuts and your choice of ice cream to garnish your brownies

If you’re in a bit of a time crunch, but still want to impress your friends, just purchase a box of dark chocolate brownie mix and replace the water with chocolate stout. Then continue to make the chocolate stout sauce as directed. Enjoy!