Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Beer Brownies with Spent Grain Flour

Oh jeez, it's been over a month since I posted here! Sorry! I have been so busy with school, grad school, and wedding planning!  Life just gets in the way, you know?

However, I have still been cooking/baking up a storm over here. In fact, I have made some pretty great recipes recently.  For example, for the Super Bowl, I decided to make a bunch of stuff that I was craving and just sit around and eat while I watched the commercials (err...I mean the game?).  I made Vegetarian Buffalo Dip, Homemade Soft Pretzel Bites, and Beer Brownies.

Yep...Beer Brownies!  Also, they just happened to be the best brownies I'd ever consumed.  I adapted the recipe from Joy the Baker and used my own Spent Grain Flour and new favorite, dark beer.  They are just AHHHMAZING!  Finch's Stout for the beer, Spent Grain Flour from the time I homebrewed, and lots and lots of gooey chocolate. How can you go wrong?  I even made this again for Valentine's Day!

Let's talk beer.  I am usually not a Stout kinda girl, but this beer from Finch's is pretty fantastic.  It has this amazing coffee flavor that I just adore.  Plus, Finch's is local (right in the heart of Chicago) and so the Mariano's grocery store down the street carries their beer!  If you are not a beer fan, you can also use coffee and the brownies will still be fantastic, you just can't call them Beer Brownies then!

Beer Brownies with Spent Grain Flour

Ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup spent grain flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz bittersweet chocolate chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup dark beer (I used Finch's Stout)
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 and line a 9 by 13 inch baking pan with foil.  Spray the foil with cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, spent grain flour, cocoa powder and salt.
3. Place a heat-proof bowl over a pot of boiling water with the butter and bittersweet chocolate.  Stir until melted.  Remove from heat and stir in the beer.
4.  In a large bowl, beat the eggs with both sugars until pale yellow and well combined.  Pour in the warm chocolate mixture while continuing to stir.  Beat until combined and then mix in the dry ingredients until just combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan and bake for 40 minutes.  Let cool for 20 and then cut into pieces.

Enjoy :)