Stout Brownies with Whisky Ganache

I didn't invent this recipe. But a bartender should serve you this dense fudgy brownie with a shot of Bailey's or nonfat milk.

Spoiler alert: eating these St Pat's-inspired brownies before the ganache settles makes drunk leprechauns silent while they make silly noises as they spoon the gooey stout brownie into their mouths. Added bonus if you have some bananas or strawberries around to dip into the ganache before it settles.


ps. I had to borrow this photo because we just ate these up, no photos were even possible! Well, and we may have had a few too many stouts to drink to remember....

The stout is a heavy beer but smooth. The most famous of them all sells about 5.5 million a day but on this special day over 13 million sold (and hopefully all consumed) in ONE DAY. That's a lot of Guinness! Such a smooth, dark beer makes a smooth, dense and creamy brownie.

The traditional Sunday dinner on St. Pat's weekend wasn't about corned beef, cabbage or Bailey's. It was about "dipping foods." The theme of our get together meant dipping. Salsa. Guacamole. Sweet and Sour. Easy dip. Tasty dip. Whisky ganache got dipped into stout brownies. And strawberries got dipped into the whiskey ganache as it drunkenly fell into the strong, black muscle of a brownie.

Serves 16 (well, I think one serving size of these is about 2 forkfuls. So really, 32)

Ingredients:

16 ounces stout beer (such as Sam Adams Cream Stout or Guinness) Go for the Guinness!!!!

12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I had 2 8 oz bittersweet and 1 8 oz semi-sweet)

2 sticks (8 oz) butter, in pieces

5 large eggs, lightly beaten - lightly. As soon as they are beat, stop.

2 1/4 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups cake flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup hazelnuts, ground. I use my coffee grinder, then my coffee beans have a great hazelnut taste for a few days

For the ganache

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (by chopped, throw that chocolate into a coffee grinder or chopper as small chunks, it is a nicer way to get the chocolate to melt evenly)

2/3 cup heavy cream

2 tablespoons butter (1.5 will do the job)

2-3 tablespoons Irish whiskey (yeah right! I used 5 or 6 tablespoons!) Be generous!

PS. To make ganache that is a little bit healthier, use coconut milk, brown sugar and chocolate. Simmer the milk and brown sugar, then add in the chocolate. Bring it to a simmer. Remove from the heat and voile, healthier ganache. Don't forgot to add your favorite liquor! WHISKY!

If you follow these instructions, you'll make new friends, both sober and intoxicated, and possibly have some people saying, "hey, aren't you the one that made those stout brownies?" in November.

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Butter a 13X9-inch baking pan. Line the pan with foil so that there is a 2-inch overhang. Butter the foil.

There are 3 major things that are about to happen: prepare the stout, prepare the dry, mix the wet together. Then, wet and dry come together and of course, it all gets gooey from there.

Bring the stout to a boil in a saucepan, reduce the heat to medium, and allow the stout to reduce down to 3/4 cup, 10-15 minutes. You need to see that the creamy foam top sits higher than the beer to show that it has reduced.
Allow the stout to cool slightly.

Melt the chopped chocolate with the butter in a large metal bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until smooth. You do this so that you don't melt the chocolate right over direct heat. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and gradually add the eggs, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens to a pudding-like texture. Whisk in the sugar until fully incorporated, then whisk in the vanilla.

Sift together the cake flour, cocoa, and salt into a medium bowl. Add the flour mixture to the chocolate mixture in 2 additions, alternating with 2 additions of the reduced stout, stirring until fully blended. Mix in the nuts.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top is set and a toothpick inserted emerges with a few moist crumbs attached, 24-30 minutes. You know the smell of baked brownies. Set aside to cool. Now, I live at 5280 feet and so my brownies were in at 350 for about 30ish minutes. I may have had a few glasses of wine, so it might have even been 40 minutes.

Prepare the ganache: Melt the chocolate, cream, and butter, stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in your liquor of choice, as much as you want. Allow the mixture to cool to lukewarm, then spread it over the brownies in the pan, smoothing the top. Chill the brownies for at least 2 hours before cutting, if you want them to look perfect. If you want a gooey mess, give them 30ish minutes.

In true Green Day spirit, Cheers! is replaced by "Pot O' Gold!" ... which goes well when one is drinking a golden-colored ale.

To a .."pot of gold!"