I must admit I wasn’t too excited to learn that the brownies that my friend made me last month contained stout! I couldn’t understand what a cup of strong dark beer would add to a brownie. But never one to turn down the chance to try a new food, I ate one and I was really impressed. The brownie was thick and gooey and had just a tang of bitterness from the stout. I went home to experiment and came up with these Guinness Brownies with a cream cheese swirl. A perfect treat for St Patrick’s Day!
Guinness always reminds me of my Dad. He was very partial to a pint (or two) of this famous dark brown Irish stout. The black can with white writing and gold harp brought back memories of him, but the smell of the Guinness once opened was a proper trip down memory lane!
Over 850 million litres of Guinness is brewed every year in 50 countries throughout the world. It’s one of the most successful beer brands of all time and is the most popular alcoholic drink in Ireland. It has a burnt tangy taste to it, due to the roasted barley that it is made from. There is a knack to pouring a pint of Guinness so that it leaves a thick white head (which leaves you with a foam moustache)!
Although, I may never be a pint of Guinness kind of girl, I will definitely be cooking with it again and I will definitely be making these brownies again. I tried this recipe without the cream cheese (and added chopped nuts) but I felt that the addition of the cream cheese swirl paired nicely with the tang from the dark chocolate and Guinness, so I’d recommend it. Plus they looked pretty cool too with the white swirl 
. I hope that you try them. Enjoy!
Guinness Brownies
- Prep Time: 30m
- Cook Time: 30m
- Total Time: 1h
- Yield: 16 brownies
- Category: Bars & Traybakes, Cakes, Desserts
Ingredients
For the brownie
- 7 tablespoons /100g unsalted butter
- 200 grams dark chocolate
- 125 millilitres Guinness (or stout)
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup /125g all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup /125g light soft brown sugar (loose packed if using cup measurement)
- 1/3 cup /75g caster sugar (fine sugar)
- 1/4 cup /25g cocoa
- 1 pinch salt
For the cream cheese swirl
- 1 package (8oz) cream cheese
- 1/3 cup /75g sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180°C /160°C fan /350°F. Line a 20cm by 30cm baking tin with parchment paper. Use a little butter to stick the paper to the tin.
- Place the Guinness, butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Stir until the chocolate melts and the mixture becomes smooth. Remove from heat and set aside for a couple of minutes to cool down.
- Add the brown sugar and caster sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves. Set aside to cool for another couple of minutes whilst you beat the eggs gently in a separate bowl.
- Mix the eggs into the chocolate mixture and then sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder into the mixture and stir till combined.
- Put the cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla paste into a separate bowl and whisk until it is combined. You want this mixture to be a similar consistency to the brownie mixture - if it is too thick add a tablespoon of milk to loosen it a bit.
- Spread half the brownie mixture into the bottom of your pre-prepared tin. Dollop half of the cream cheese mixture on top and using a spatula carefully spread it out to cover the chocolate mixture. Spoon the rest of the chocolate mixture on top and gently spread it over the cream cheese layer. Finally dollop on spoonfuls of the remaining cream cheese mixture. Do not smooth this out. Instead drag a knife through the mixture to marble the two mixtures together.
- Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for 25 minutes. The brownie needs to be set but you do not want to over cook it.
- Remove from the oven and leave in the tin to cool. Once cooled remove from the tin and cut into squares.
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