Session #47- Beer Brownies

This would surprise most people, but I cook dinner 80+% of the time at my house (my wife and I cook together many days- she would attest to my help).  So when this month's The Session topic came up, I was kind of intregued.  Until I realized that I rarely use beer in my cooking- other than drinking it while cooking that is.

The Session was hosted by David Jensen over at beer47.com:

We all know beer is great for drinking but what about using it as an ingredient in cooking? Wine is used as an ingredient for numerous dishes and recipes yet beer seems to be under utilized in cooking. However, with the rise in popularity of craft beer and advocacy from the likes of The Homebrew Chef, I think this trend is slowly changing. For the month of January, Beer 47 will be hosting The Session #47 and encouraging beer bloggers from all over the internet to discuss Cooking with Beer.

The food with beer that I have experienced the most, were brownies made with stouts and porters.  What makes eating a delicious stout brownie even better is that you can wash it down with another stout.  If you use a milk stout for in the brownie, try Lancaster Milk Stout, I would think that milk would wash the brownie down as well as anything else.  If you would use a chocolate stout, think Young's Double Chocolate, it would work extremely well with the chocolate in the brownie, giving you a double dose of chocolate.  Maybe plop a scoop of ice cream next to it, call it a sundae.  Finally, if you like coffee with your dessert, use a coffee stout, maybe Southern Tier Java to compliment the coffee in the mug.

I think this sounds like a great idea- maybe I will make a few batches of brownies this weekend.  What stout would you use to make the brownie?  What else would you "pair" with it? (coffee, ice cream, milk, etc.)

Here is a recipe for a stout brownie that comes from CraftBeer.com, sounds like a winner:

Ingredients


Butter for coating pan
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
4 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup coffee stout
2 tablespoons bourbon
3/4 cup sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts, such as macadamia, pecans, or walnuts (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Prepare a 9-inch metal baking pan by buttering it well and dusting inside with 1 tablespoon cocoa powder. Set aside. In a large 2-quart saucepan, melt stick of butter over low heat until liquid. Add chopped chocolate, stirring often, until melted and smooth. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool to luke-warm (still liquid but not hot).
Stir in sugars and mix well. Beat together 2 eggs, yolks, vanilla, stout, and bourbon in a large measuring cup until smooth. Sift flour with salt. Stir stout mixture into saucepan by thirds, alternating with flour by 1/3 cupfuls, and batter is just blended. Stir in nuts if desired. Do not overbeat.
Scrape batter into prepared 9-inch-square metal pan and bake at 325°F for about 1 hour. Let cool to lukewarm before slicing. Use a knife dipped in warm water and wipe clean with each slice (otherwise, because of the very fudgy texture, the brownies clump).

(from The Best of American Beer & Food by Lucy Saunders)