recipe: chocolate stout brownies

i needed a yum dessert to bring to a fairly beer-loving crowd, and found a ton of amazing beer-inspired, beer-infused recipes. i decided to go with brownies (classic) from Foodie Crush, and omg am glad i did -- these turned out super-gooey, rich, and were actually one of the better brownies i've ever had - homemade, professional, or otherwise. i have a fear of making brownies and ending up with cake-like brownies (or... just icing-less chocolate cake?), these were more like uncooked brownie batter. YUM!

the recipe originally called for 1/2 cup stout, which reduces to about 1/4 cup... i used about 3x that as it very quickly evaporated. i'm not sure if that gave it even more of a rich, stouty flavor or not, but more beer never hurts :)

ingredients list:

- 1.5 cups stout

- 10 oz 60% bittersweet chocolate chips (i used a combo of semisweet chocolate chips & Ghirardelli dark chocolate 

- 1 cup butter

- 1 cup sugar

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1/2 tsp kosher salt

- 3 eggs

- 1 cup flour

recipe: paleo brownies with caramel & toasted coconut flakes

one of the Portland struggles is having friends with special diets. hosting or bringing something to a party there is guaranteed to be a vegetarian, a gluten-free, a paleo, a pescatarian, a vegan, a lactose-intolerant, a organic only, or 1,000 combinations of diets in between of that. i was tasked with needing to bake a paleo-only desert, not really knowing what that was before i embarked on my journey of recipe searching. baking without grains or dairy blew my mind. 

i searched quite a few recipes, and they all sounded just based on ingredients alone that they would taste like hot garbage. the brownie recipe from Amazing Paleo sounded like one of the better recipes of the bunch, and didn't seem like they would end up as "dry and sandy" as some of the other reviewed recipes out there.

they turned out fairly tasty -- these would never be my go-to brownie if i had a choice, but the folks i brought them for said they were one of the better paleo deserts they have ever had (they recently gave up baking paleo since the results were so poor typically). i'd say if you have to bake paleo, this is a really solid recipe, BUT it is so damn expensive (i think i spent almost $30 on ingredients when all was said & done), buying a desert from a swanky paleo bakery may be a good back up as well! 

recipe: s'mores brownie bars

i was looking but a quick but comfort-foodie dessert to make for last weekend, and the s'mores brownie bar recipe from Serious Eats.com was a perfect lil fit. i had attempted s'mores brownies once before (i want to say 2 years ago), and when it came time to broil the marshmallows on top, 1 minute on the oven was 1 minute too many... i kind of lit the whole tray on fire. after letting them burn out and leaving me with a tray of char, i had put that idea aside for a while until this past weekend. seemed like a good time to try a new kind and give them a go. 

they came out really yummy, which was a very pleasant surprise for how quick/easy they were.

ingredients list:
- 1 cup graham cracker crumbs (10 whole rectangular crackers)
- 1/4 cup (or less) graham crackers, roughly crushed
- 8 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
- salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips, plus more for topping
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- 1 tsp instant expresso powder
- 1 & 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 3 cups mini-marshmallows

to make: preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease an 8 in square baking pan and set aside. 

grind graham crackers in a food processor until they become fine crumbs. melt 4 tbsp butter. add melted butter, 1 tbsp sugar, and 1/4 tsp salt to crumbs and pulse to combine. press into bottom of prepared pan.

melt chocolate chips and remaining 4 tbsp butter in a small bowl in the microwave, stopping every 15-20 seconds to stir. allow to cool, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.

in a large bowl, mix melted chocolate, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, espresso powder, vanilla, and 1/4 tsp salt. add flower and baking powder and mix until smooth. pour batter into prepared pan. bake for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick comes up with a few moist crumbs attached (being careful not to over bake). 

top with marshmallows, additional chocolate chips, and crushed graham crackers. return to oven for an additional 3-5 minutes, until marshmallows start to get a little golden brown. 

allow to cool about 1 hour before serving, cutting with a very sharp knife as the marshmallow topping will be very sticky.