“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” ~ Benjamin Franklin
As you’ll find out when you ask me over for dinner sometime—which I’m hoping you certainly would consider because on a good night I can be a pretty darn entertaining dinner guest and just might clear the dishes from the table if I’m feeling generous—and you ask me to bring a little something sweet to our potluck dinner—say for instance an Irish celebration that is happening this coming weekend—my dessert of choice usually veers from the frilly and delicate sweet treat variety to something a bit more sturdy and craveable. Macarons? Not. so. much. It will be a long, long time before I try my hand at making a macaron. I’m afraid I don’t have the patience or the skill to pull them off.
Basically, macarons scare me.
No, I’m definitely more of a hearty dessert type of gal, baking up something a bit more forgiving and a tad more freeform. Chocolate Stout Brownies in all of their fudgey glory are right up my dessert alley.
So are you staring at your computer right now thinking to yourself, “What the, whhhhaaat? Why would someone waste a perfectly good beer to ruin brownies, or any other recipe by dumping it into a recipe?”
Oh honey. Hold your horses and let the heads of your brews settle down. I have a selection of 20 great recipe reasons to add beer to your favorite recipes. But first we need to get to the bottom of these brownies.
Whenever I make chocolate brownies I find myself adding that little something extra to deepen the flavor and enhance the taste of the brownies. Most of my brownie making escapades involves the addition of instant espresso powder and kosher salt to add to the chocolateness. This time it’s the stout that does the trick. You won’t taste the beer taste at all, it’s merely a richness that enhances my love of chocolateness.
I prefer my brownies dark and somewhat of the fudge-like arena of taste. I don’t really care for them with frosting or too cakey, like, you know, the ones you see in the grocery store with a thick layer of lard frosting and decorated to fit the theme of the month in little plastic containers? If I wanted frosting and cake I’d eat cake. Am I right or am I right?
I also like my brownies with a focus on the chocolate instead of the sugar. I crave an afternoon treat—or maybe even breakfast bite—with a more dedicated taste of deep chocolate, one that perfectly balances a great latte, so I like to use bittersweet chocolate in my brownie recipes but will certainly entertain a semisweet as well.
For this recipe I kept the sugar at just one cup, but if you make these and feel they don’t give you the sugar fix you were looking for, feel free to give them another try with another half cup of sugar added to the mix.
A few brownie making tips:
1. While I didn’t use the flavored Chocolate Stout in this recipe, if you feel so inclined to add yet another delicious layer to your brownie, by all means, DO IT! A chocolate glaze (no, not frosting) on the crunchy top wouldn’t be half bad either. Give it a whirl, let me know what you think.
2. I took a tip in baking these from my Wisconsin cheese tour last year where I learned from a local chef a terrific secret to baking moist and delicious brownies. “Go low and slow,” he said. 250 degrees. That’s all you need. And that’s all I do now. And they come out perfectly crackled on the top and moist on the inside.
3. Patience. Brownies require patience. Not for cooking or preparing. No, patience to keep you from eating straight out of the pan or cutting and devouring too soon. Brownies are best eaten the second day after they’ve had some time to settle in and get ready for the ride, so plan ahead and bake them, let them cool and then put away your salivatory glands until the next day or you’ll end up with an ooey, gooey mess. These babies need standing time.
4. If you’re afeared of the beer, you can omit from the recipe.
Stout Chocolate Brownies
PrintIngredients
- ½ cup stout
- 10 ounces 60% bittersweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 250 degrees F. Prepare a 9" X 9" baking pan with aluminum foil allowing foil to hang over the edges and spray with cooking spray.
- Bring stout to a boil and reduce to simmer and cook for about 10 minutes or until reduced to ¼ cup. Set aside to cool.
- In a double boiler or a small bowl atop a small saucepan filled with 1 inch of water, melt chocolate chips and butter over high heat, stirring occasionally, until melted.
- Pour melted chocolate into a medium bowl and cool slightly. Add sugar, vanilla, salt and stout and mix well with a whisk or wooden spoon. Add eggs one at a time, mixing just until combined before adding the next egg.
- Fold flour into mixture and pour into baking pan. Bake for one hour or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for 2 hours or overnight to firm up for best cutting. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.
Notes
Now that we’ve gotten a taste of the creamy nectar of the beer gods, here’s a few more sturdy stout pours nestled in delicious food blogger recipes. Enjoy, my Irish for a day friends.
Chocolate Stout Sorbet from Hannah at Nothing but Delicious
Drunken Buffalo Sandwiches with Fried Sage from Bobbi of Fresh and Foodie
Guinness Floats from Ali of Gimme Some Oven
Chocolate Stout Waffle Sundae with Chocolate Stout Fudge Sauce from Jackie of The Beeroness
Zeppoles (Italian Donuts) with a Stout, Chocolate Chili Sauce from Zach and Justine of Cooking & Beer
Beer-Candied Bacon from Laura of Tide and Thyme
Scallops On Smoked Sweet Corn Puree with Stout Balsamic Glaze from Jackie at Domestic Fits
Chocolate Stout Pudding Pie from Giselle on the Kitchn
Chocolate Stout Cookies with Salted Caramel Frosting and Pretzels from Theresa of Craving Chronicles
Beef and Stout Pie from Lana of Never Enough Thyme
Milk Stout French Toast from Steph of The Girl and Her Beer
Stout-Braised Short Ribs from Angie at Sea Salt with Food
Stout French Dip from Jackie of The Beeroness
Fried Spicy Sweet Pickles and Shiner Bock, with a Chipotle Mayo Dipping Sauce from Kelly of the Meaning of Pie
Cheeseburger Beer Soup from Karen at Soup Addict
Gingerbread Cake from Krissy at Krissy’s Creations
Chocolate Stout Crepes and Irish Cream Whip from Megan of Wanna Be A Country Cleaver
Mushroom and Stout Pot Pies with Sweet Potato Crusts from Laura of The First Mess
Vegan “Beef” Stew with Dark Truth Stout from Katherine of Gouda Monster
Stout Cupcakes with Chocolate Covered Pretzels from Jamie of My Baking Addiction
Crispy Beer Battered Fish Sandwich from Kevin at Closet Cooking
If these recipes find you just tipping the top of the cooking with beer iceberg, definitely head over to see what Ali at Gimme Some Oven is cooking up during Guinness Week and Jackie has a plethora of beer induced recipes at The Beeroness.
Related Recipes
Mom’s Homemade Fudge
Caramel Apple Brownies
Devil’s Food Bundt Cake with Espresso Ganache
Thanks for reading and please keep in touch by subscribing to FoodieCrush and follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest. Posts may include affiliate shopping links of which I receive a small percentage of sales to allow me to create new and special content like this for my readers, so thank you for your support. All opinions are my own.
Marina
Hello!
We contact you from Billy Mobile to communicate our interest in purchasing 100% of mobile traffic (all devices and operating systems). Our format is fully compatible with AdSense.
We buy traffic worldwide, payments are monthly. In addition, we offer 24/7 support during activation and campaign tracking.
If you are interested, we will send you a customized proposal shortly.
Kind regards,
Marcelino
Thanks for sharing your thoughts about beer. Regards
Jackie {The Beeroness}
Beer and chocolate are so perfect together! Great post, Heidi and thanks for the links :)
ami@naivecookcooks
Ohh man!!! I want some too!!
rival seal a meal vs106 vacuum food sealer
It’s difficult to find knowledgeable people in this particular topic, however, you sound like you know what you’re talking about!
Thanks
Lilly Sue
These look so delicious! As well as all the other recipes you have shared! YUM :) Thanks for the tips…and I agree about brownies. I don’t like them too cakey because like you said I will just have cake if that is the case :) And no frosting!! My recent post was titled “Cake Please. Hold the Frosting.” I think we are one the same page ;)
marla
Geesh, woulda thought I would have commented on these already…..well I want ’em now….
Cookie and Kate
Oh boy, why didn’t we make these when I came to town?! Chocolate… stout… yes. So 250 degrees is the trick, huh?
That’s the ticket my friend, low and slow.
BigFATcook
gosh, these brownies look so amazing… daaaamn i have cravings!
Fresh and Foodie
Thanks for including me in your awesome round up. There are some great stout recipes in here that I’d love to try for myself.
Georgia @ The Comfort of Cooking
What a delicious, decadent brownie for St. Patrick’s Day! These look so mouthwatering, Heidi. Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Wendy
This is an amazing list of recipes! I pinned a most of them. Now having to buy too many bottles of stout for a recipe (due to goofy state laws) will never be a problem. :) Thanks!
Drinking a whole 4 pack of stout is a feat unless you have someone to share with. All the better for cooking!
Rachel @ Baked by Rachel
Beer and chocolate go beautifully together! Definitely saving this for next year :)
Lisa
Just a question… when do you add the beer to the recipe? I’m assuming with the vanilla & sugar?
Love the idea of cooking low and slow…
Add the stout with the sugar etc., into the chocolate and mix. :)
Denise | TLT
Now this is such a great roundup, but those brownies are really just mouthwatering, crazy good. I think the stout would make a great addition to brownies, really need to try that! Hope everything is well!
Hi Denise! Thanks for commenting, all is good here, how can it not be when there are brownies to eat? Hope all is well with you too.
Natasha
I am a huge fan of stout beer, so these sound amaaaaazing to me. And cakey brownies should not even be a thing. Gooey, chewy, fudgy brownies are the only true brownie!
Annalise
Girl, it’s like you’ve read my mind. Making my own version of stout brownies later this week! Yours look fabulous, great roundup too!
Stephanie @ Girl Versus Dough
Love this roundup! Now all I can think about is beer and brownies (story of my life :)).
dana
I think my jaw just hit the floor. So much gorgeous, beery goodness!
Well pick it back up and put a brownie in it :)
Leanne T
We have been invited to friends this Sunday for St. Patricks Day and this will be the perfect thing to bring to the party! I love the crackly tops and gooey center type brownies. I am like you, leave the frosting for the cake please! Thanks for the great recipe round up, the scallop recipe looks fantastic too!
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Fudgy brownies are my fave, these look incredible!
Gina
Looks amazing- printing this for some late night treats! YUM! All these others- oh my word, I’m starving now.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
Oh wow! So many great suggestions AND a fabulous brownie recipe! I’m afraid of macarons too..one day we’ll be able to do it!!
Giulia
We made Beer Cupcakes for my husband’s birthday party last year – beer and bow ties was the theme. The cupcakes were a great success! Maybe I will try the brownies this weekend – my in-laws will be in town and with a last name Doyle, I should be making these.
Stefanie @ Sarcastic Cooking
I love a fudgelike brownie. I have to try these for the low and slow cooking method. It totally makes sense, I don’t know why I haven’t tried this technique yet.
Anna @ Crunchy Creamy Sweet
Now you got me intrigued by the chocolate stout….. Love the brownies and this round up, Heidi! Need to try your low and slow tip!
kelley
Dinner at my house this weekend? You bring dessert.
pattyabr
They all look really yummy!
Bev @ Bev Cooks
I can’t even move right now.
Cassie | Bake Your Day
Amazing brownies! I did Bailey’s brownies last year…I think I need to go the stout-route this year.
Maria
Love crackly tops! Gotta try the slow and low method!
I have a few leftover, will bring you one to try.
marvin becerra
can i use a bigger pan for the brownies ???
Sure, they’ll just be thinner.
Karen
Stout makes everything better! Sizzled up some stout-simmered brats just the other day. Thanks for including my cheeseburger beer soup in this awesome list! :)
Audra | The Baker Chick
What a wonderful round-up! Your brownie recipe looks great as well!
Dorothy Stainbrook
I just recently won a “growler” of chocolate stout at a Curling Tournament and can’t drink that much before it goes bad. Thank you so much for the awesome looking recipes using stout. I plan to try several (including the brownies)!
You’re a lucky lady. Irish perhaps :0? Stout is pretty filling I can see why you’d have a little left over.
Dorothy Stainbrook
It was a chocolate stout from a microbrewery and it was delicious, but after 4 sips I was done.
Cookin' Canuck
Oh yeah…bring on the stout! Thank you for sharing the “low and slow” tip for brownies. I have never baked them on such a low heat, but if that guarantees a gorgeous crackled top, then I’m all for it!
Lana @ Never Enough Thyme
Oh, I couldn’t agree more…brownies are all about the chocolate for me, too! No frosting on mine, thank you, and less sugar. I recently made a brownie recipe from a 1957 advertising booklet for cake flour. They were the best ever, but you had to wait until the next day for them to reach their peak. Just like you said :-)
Thanks bunches for including my Beef and Stout Pie. And happy St. Patrick’s Day to you!
Jen @ Savory Simple
Beer and chocolate are an amazing combination! One of my favorite ice creams is stout and milk chocolate from David Lebovitz.
DAWN
these recipes look fantastic! can’t wait to try some. thanks!
Averie @ Averie Cooks
What an awesome roundup! I just cheated on my longtime brownie recipe for the first time over the weekend and it was my post Monday. As long as I’m cheating, I need to make your brownies now! They look so rich and fudgy!