Beer Brownies

I love baking with beer.  They are one of the best ingredients to add to any chocolate cake or brownie recipe.  Plus, you only use half a can, so you get to drink the rest while it's baking! These just might be the best brownies I have ever made.

 A light crust, fudgey, and firm. Not dry or cakey - this is everything a good brownie should be.  And say no to frosting - a superior brownie just doesn't need it. I am always suspicious of frosted brownies - they probably came from a box.  (Having said that, I have never been known to turn one down).

These were the recipe of choice for a Saturday night get together with friends to eat, drink, and watch bad movies.  Yes, watch bad movies on purpose.  Beer + beer brownies + Flash Gordon = awesome.

Beer Brownies
slightly adapted from Joy the Baker

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup stout beer
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

Melt 1/2 cup chocolate chips and butter in a small pan over low heat.  Remove from heat and stir in the stout.

In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and both sugars.  Add the chocolate mixture and stir.  Add the chocolate/egg/sugar mixture to the flour/cocoa mixture and stir until all of the ingredients are well combined.  Fold in the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.
Let cool before slicing (if you can).

Brown Butter Peach Coffee Cake with Streusel

This happy accident was the result of a bucket of overripe peaches on the brink of going bad.  What to do with them all?  Crisp?  Pie?  I like to combine peaches with other fruits for crisps and pies... well, really just blueberries.  I can't recall ever using any other kind of fruit. Blueberries and peaches, in case you couldn't tell by this mini crisp , this pie, or this big crisp, is one of my favourite combos. But, I digress.  What am I to do with all these peaches in my fridge?

This is adapted from a peach muffin recipe.  I did make these muffins last summer, but I wasn't totally blown away by them so it never made it onto the blog.  I wanted to use at least 3 peaches up, so I made a cake.   And, I was blown away.  So here it is, absolutely delicious, and worth a spot on here.


Brown Butter Peach Coffee Cake with Streusel
makes 1 loaf
adapted from the Joy the Baker Cookbook

7 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 peaches, peeled and diced

Streusel
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cold
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375F. Grease one loaf pan or line with parchment.
1. Brown the butter. Remove from heat, pour into a small bowl, and let cool to room temperature.
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Mix together eggs, milk, and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. Gradually mix in the browned butter
4. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients, and gently fold in the diced peaches. Pour into loaf pan.
5. To make the streusel topping, combine the butter, flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and use your fingers to break it down into small flakes and pea-sized bits. Sprinkle over the top of the cake.
6. Bake 35-40 minutes, or until a skewer in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Mini Blueberry Peach Crisps

I have a confession to make.  My husband and I ate an entire family size peach crisp recently in two days.  Now that is pure gluttony.  We kept coming back for just one more spoonful, and then one more, until it was at that point (and I know that you know what I mean) where we just figured, what the hey, let's just finish the dang thing.

Here is the solution - mini blueberry peach crisps!  Just enough for two small servings.  When you get to the bottom of that ramekin, that's it, that's all.  Pure satisfaction - no guilt.

On a side note - today marks two years that I have been blogging : )

Mini Blueberry Peach Crisps

1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oats
1 tbsp flour
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 peach
1/3 cup blueberries

Combine the oats, flour, sugar and butter in a small bowl.  Using your fingers, incorporate the butter into the oats, flour, and sugar until it resembles small flakes.  Set aside.
Peel and dice a peach. Divide the peach and the blueberries evenly between two ramekins. Spoon the topping over the fruit and bake at 375 for about 20 minutes.  Let cool for 5 minutes, and serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Blueberry Scones

These were supposed to be raspberry scones.  But, locally grown raspberries were not to be found on the days preceding this attempt, and I just can't buy fruit from the US in August, of all months of the year. It should be outlawed.  So, I missed the boat when it comes to locally grown raspberries, but blueberries were an excellent substitution, and no less enjoyable (I am not ashamed to admit that I inhaled three of these in one day).

These are deliciously soft and fluffy and not dry and crumbly like so many homemade scones.  These are not tea biscuits.  A scone has three essential ingredients - cream, sugar, and butter.  The original recipe calls for heavy cream and 1 tbsp of orange zest.  I used half and half and omitted the orange zest and I think they turned out perfectly. 

Blueberry Scones
slightly adapted from Ina Garten's recipe and Le Petit Brioche

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup cold cream
1 cup blueberries, fresh or frozen
extra cream for brushing the tops
raw sugar for sprinkling the tops

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Combine 2 cups of flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter and mix together using a pastry cutter or your hands until butter is blended in small flakes or pea sized chunks.  Combine the egg and cream and slowly add to the flour and butter mixture.  Continue mixing until just blended. Its ok if there are butter bits - you want to keep those.  It's important that the mixture remain as cold as possible. Add the blueberries to the dough gently - some will smush, that's ok.

After sprinkling flour on your rolling surface, start kneading the dough into a ball.  Roll the dough out until is it about 3/4 inch thick.  You can shape it however you like - round like me, or properly square like professionals.  Cut into quarters once, and then once more - to make 8 triangles.

Brush the tops with cream and sprinkle with sugar.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, or until the tops are nicely browned.