Guinness Brownies

I caved. I had to make them.

I really wasn't planning to cook or blog, or in fact do anything St. Patrick's Day-related today because I am in thesis-land. And I intend to remain firmly there. For the most part.

 
But my sister has been under the weather, and I asked her what she was craving yesterday and she replied, surprise surprise... chocolate. I was prepared to make her some chicken soup or honey lemon tea or something equally healing. But, I am not one to ever say no to the possibility of chocolate. Normally, I wouldn't even think to make brownies for my sister because she herself happens to make THE best brownies in the universe. But seeing as she hasn't been feeling well, and lately I've been drooling over all the photos floating around online of guinness & chocolate based desserts... I succumbed to trying my hand at the ol' beer & chocolate combo. Didn't take much. Anyway, these brownies took about 30 minutes to make from beginning to end. I only ate oh, about a dozen of them before my sister got home. It helps with the thesis. I swear.

Luna got in on the action when she thought I wasn't looking, then later pretended there was something more interesting going on outside (as if anything could be more interesting than chocolate). Silly monkey-cat.

Because my sister is avoiding gluten these days, I made these with sorghum and almond flours, although technically, the beer has gluten. But she's not quite that hard-line about it. I also used coconut sugar which supposedly doesn't make your blood sugar climb a mountain. Though it tastes so damn good I can't imagine how it wouldn't. Mainly though, its rich flavour is a perfect marriage with the bitterness of guinness. Mmmm.

These are dark and moody brownies, deeply flavorful, not too sweet, and deliciously unctuous. I recommend making them. Immediately. St Paddy's Day is not over til you've had these. (Oh and my sister, aka the brownie expert, immediately popped five in her mouth when she got home and made some muffled moaning noises, while giving me the thumbs up sign).

GUINNESS MINI-BROWNIES
*If you want to use all-purpose flour, simply omit the sorghum and almond flours and use 1/2 cup flour of choice instead

 8 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup and 1 tbsp guinness
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter
1 cup coconut sugar (or any other sugar)
2 eggs
1/4 cup sorghum flour
1/3 cup almond flour (ground almonds)
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350F.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add cocoa powder and eggs and beat well. Mix in the guinness. In a small bowl, combine the sorghum flour, ground almonds, and salt. Incorporate melted chocolate with flours and egg mixture, and mix until thick uniform batter is obtained. Drop batter by the tablespoonful into a mini muffin tin. The batter should come almost to the top edge, but not quite. (They will rise a bit).

Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. They should still be moist on top when they come out. Cool in the pan for about 45 minutes. Remove from pan and continue cooling on  rack if necessary. Devour. (Whipped cream or sour cream with a little sugar and fresh mint mixed in is delightful with these).

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And just because ever since I saw this video, I start cracking up whenever I bake desserts with gluten-free flours, here is a little treat for you. Many people can probably relate to this... (although to be honest, even though I am not gluten-intolerent myself, I often prefer the taste and texture of gluten-free desserts... )