Beer is a major ingredient in a lot of recipes. Guinness, in particular – not to mention other dark stouts – works its way into quite a few baked goods. It pairs especially well with chocolate because of its naturally dark, chocolaty flavor, so Guinness Cupcakes and Guinness Chocolate Cake are fairly common. Guinness Brownies are not seen quite as often, but work for much the same reason. Unless St Patrick’s Day is coming up, I don’t usually keep Guinness around so I decided to play around and see if I could get the brownies to work with something I always have on hand: root beer.
I know that root beer isn’t really beer, but once the idea popped into my head I couldn’t resist trying it out. I used a bottle of Dr Brown’s root beer, pouring most into the brownies and saving a few sips for myself.
Most of the recipes I’ve seen for Guinness brownies include both dark and white chocolate, which is an unusual touch for a chocolate brownie recipe. The sweetness of the white chocolate covers up some of the bitterness of the beer and gives the brownies a smoother finish. I included the white chocolate in this recipe, too, but in my case I was hoping to temper the strength of the darker chocolate and let the root beer flavor come through.
In the end, the flavor of the root beer is definitely overpowered by chocolate – and that’s not really a bad thing for a batch of brownies! They are very chocolaty and have a slightly unusual texture to them. They’re fudgy and definitely give you a melt-in-your-mouth effect, but they are not dense or very chewy. I believe that is the root beer’s signature addition to these treats.
These brownies are much better the day after they are made: fudgier, moister and with a deeper flavor. Make them in the evening, then wrap them up and slice them the next day!
Root Beer Brownies
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
6-oz chopped bittersweet (or semisweet) chocolate (1 cup)
3.5-oz chopped white chocolate (1/2 cup)
4 tbsp butter
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
8-oz root beer (no foam!)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 9-in square baking pan with aluminum foil and lightly grease.
In a small bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
In a small bowl, melt together chocolates and butter, stirring frequently until mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs and sugar until well combined. Blend in cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in half of the flour mixture, followed by half of the root beer. Stir in the rest of the flour mixture, the remaining root beer and the vanilla. Scrap down the sides of the bowl well and stir until just combined. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 26-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with only a few moist crumbs stuck to it. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.
When brownies have cooled, wrap them up well and store them overnight before serving. Brownies are best the day after they are made.
Makes 25 brownies.
Note: White chocolate and bittersweet chocolate seemed to have slightly different weights by volume. Go with the weight measurement, if you can, though I have included the volume for convenience if you need to go that route.
Nikki
October 17, 2008These look fantastic! Can’t wait to try them out!
Katrina
October 17, 2008Interesting! They sure look good!
Isa
October 17, 2008Wooow those look amazing! So fudgy, and rich and delicious looking! Thanks for sharing the recipe
chachiskitchen
October 17, 2008amazing recipe, have to try it.
Sarah
October 17, 2008Oh this is so not fair. I *just* ate dessert & here is a recipe that combines two of my absolutely favorite things. What a great idea! I’m so excited you thought to try this…I will be making it very soon!
Aim
October 17, 2008What a great idea! I want to try these now!
snookydppd;e
October 17, 2008interesting recipe. Pitty root beer is not available here. These look delicious
Kiersten
October 18, 2008this is a really cool idea!
Kiersten
October 18, 2008this is a really cool idea!
Kate
October 18, 2008These looked so good I made a batch today! They turned out so yummy–thank you!
Heather @ Not a DIY Life
October 18, 2008Wow, these sound absolutely wonderful! Thanks for sharing. I stumbled this post.
CookiePie
October 19, 2008What a delicious idea! I have to try these – anything good is better with root beer!
Mike Wilson
October 20, 2008now THAT sounds good. I’ve been a fan of a heavy Guinness beer bread for years. I’ll definitely give these a shot on the soonish.
Kt
October 21, 2008Yum! Those look great … will have to try them.
saucymomma
October 22, 2008Husband will adore these! As will the kiddos. Thanks for such a fun idea.
Jesse
October 22, 2008What a great idea! It makes me wonder what ginger beer would do for brownies?
Lisa magicsprinkles
October 22, 2008So creative! The boys will love these!
Hillary
October 22, 2008Cool idea! I love root beer. It’s one of the only pops I will drink so I would love to try these brownies. I imagine they’re extreeeemely moist and fudgy 🙂
Graeme
October 22, 2008I’ll have Root Beer over Guinness any day.
Great idea, Nicole.
Amber
October 22, 2008Okay you had me at the title on tastespotting and I had to check this out. Very interesting.
Hey, if you add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, you would have root beer float brownies.
You first photo is beautiful.
megan
October 24, 2008wow, root beer brownies. i’ve got to try these out!
That's nasty
November 26, 2008Ew, what the hell? Who in the right mind would want Root Beer in their brownies? Irk.
geek+nerd
March 2, 2009I’m intrigued. I think I’ll have to give these a try.
kcal9
August 23, 2009So i just made these brownies vegan and non vegan…and its amazing!! Though with the vegan version i used 1/4 cup applesauce unsweetened for each egg, and it kinda does taste more like apple with a hint of rootbeer it still came out the same way with the initial recipe did…I used earth balance butter (vegan friendly) instead of regular butter****
mrsblocko
March 9, 2010I made these and wrote about them here: http://tomatoesforapples.blogspot.com/2010/03/root-beer-brownies.html
Root beer in the brownies sounds weird, but they were moist and tasty. Thanks for the fun experimental recipe!
Katrina
August 30, 2011I made these yesterday, they are really good! Course, we had to serve them with some ice cream on top, drizzled with a root beer glaze I made. 😉