Re-sharing these bites of heavenly brownies. With over 23,000 pins on Pinterest, you know they’re delicious!
Trust me. He told me. He wants a super thick fudgy brownie laced with his favorite beer.
And these are sooo it.
Plus, it only uses 1 beer from his stash. I’m not trying to be sexist here—in my house, we each have our own beer stash. Mine is up here in the fridge–quick access to my fruity shandy beers. His beer is in the basement fridge–all dark and shady. I confess to stealing an oatmeal stout from his stash every now and then. I used to think people only ordered dark beers to prove their manliness. And then, my lactation coach told me to drink dark beer. Now I think dark beer is synonymous with lactation, and that’s just about as girly as you can get. Sorry, boys.
To make these brownies, I stole a coffee stout from his stash.
See how thick these brownies are? I basically doubled my usual small batch brownie recipe. I was worried it wouldn’t work, but I was so glad to be proven wrong. Biting into these brownies is almost like biting into fudge. Deep, dark fudge. I love it. I used cocoa powder, but also added 2 squares of unsweetened baking chocolate. I really believe in my heart of hearts that the best brownies are made with unsweetened chocolate. However, you can omit it, or use half the amount. These brownies hit you in the face with their rich chocolate flavor.
Start with an entire stick of butter (praise Jesus!), granulated sugar, cocoa powder, and chopped unsweetened chocolate. Like I said, the unsweetened chocolate part is entirely optional and only for those who love love love chocolate.
After microwaving on HIGH for two 30-second pulses, let it cool for 1 minute. Then, stir in the egg white, vanilla, and salt. After they are well-incorporated, add the flour. Now, you’re going to roll up your shirt sleeves and give this brownie batter 50 strokes. I explain this in the Dessert for Two cookbook, but I’ll go over it again–in most baked goods, you want to minimize stirring for fear of activating the gluten in the flour. When gluten is activated, it makes baked goods chewy. But when it comes to brownies, we want chewy! (Side note: this is why gluten free breads have zero chew to them…see also: zero taste LOL).
Scrape the beautiful batter into your loaf pan, and bake for 40-45 minutes. It’s a long time, I know. But in the meantime, we’re going to make a beer concentrate.
Add 1 cup of his favorite beer to a small sauce pan. I used coffee stout. Chocolate and coffee love each other so.
Boil it down until it’s only 1/3 cup of liquid. Keep an eye on it–the foam can over-flow.
You’re going to use 4 tablespoons of the beer concentrate in the brownies. The final tablespoon is used in the frosting. (One-third cup is 5.33 tablespoons…drink the remaining 0.33 tablespoons….)
They’re very rich, so I cut them into 8 tiny pieces. But if your burly man can probably take down at least half in one sitting.
Happy Valentine’s Day, dudes!
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup dark beer (I used coffee stout)
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (optional)
- 1 large egg white
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Instructions
- First, make the beer concentrate: add the beer to a small saucepan and boil until it reduces to 1/3 cup. It will take about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on it to prevent boiling-over.
- Preheat the oven to 325, and line a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter, cocoa powder, sugar, and unsweetened chocolate (if using). Microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Stir, and microwave for another 30 seconds.
- Let the mixture cool for 1 minute.
- Stir in 4 tablespoons of the beer concentrate, the egg white, vanilla and salt.
- Finally, stir in the flour and stir for 50 strokes to incorporate and activate the gluten in the flour.
- Pour the mixture into the loaf pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. It's done when the surface is dry and a toothpick inserted has only moist crumbs sticking to it. Let cool.
- Once the brownies are cool, make the frosting: beat together the softened butter and powdered sugar until combined.
- Beat in the remaining beer concentrate (1 tablespoon).
- Frost the brownies and serve.
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