Amber Ale & Cappuccino Stout: 2 Wintery Ways to Bake Beer
Wintertime is all about cozying up with blankets, comfort food and a beer, especially apres ski. That's why today, armed with two delicious beers (Fat Tire Amber Ale and Cappuccino Stout), we're serving up two toasty dishes perfect for warming you up and maybe getting you a little tipsy. And if you're thinking of classing up your Super Bowl party, these two will do just the trick.
1. Amber Potato Parsnip Bake with Crispy Kale
Ingredients:
– 1 bottle amber ale (we used Fat Tire)
– 2 parsnips, sliced (about 2 cups)
– 3 large carrots, sliced (about 3 cups)
– 2 lb yukon gold potatoes, sliced
– 1 can white beans
– 1 1/2 cup coarsely grated gruyere
– 3/4 cup mozzarella
– 2 tbsp butter
– 3 cloves of garlic
– 1 tsp olive oil
– salt and pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Slice up all your carrots, potatoes and parsnips and keep separate. This bake is similar to a gratin but instead of cream we'll use Amber Ale, and we cook all the veggies ahead of time. Cook carrots in a pot of water until tender. While carrots are cooking, cook parsnips in water until tender. And while those are cooking, cook up potatoes in a combination of amber ale and water. We had extra amber ale on hand, so we used two bottles and skipped the water. One bottle is about 2 cups.
Parsnips should finish cooking first. Drain and place in food processor. Use the parsnip pot to melt butter and saute garlic until lightly browned. Add drained can of white beans and cook for 5 minutes. Back to the food processor! Add 3/4 cup gruyere, squeeze half a lemon, and 1 tsp olive oil. Process until pureed. Set aside.
When your potatoes and carrots are done cooking, drain and keep separate. Now, time to assemble your bake! Lay out one layer of potatoes (using about 1/2 the potatoes you have), and sprinkle 1 tsp salt. Next, lay out all the carrots. Sprinkle mozzarella over the carrot, and layer the remaining potatoes. Next, spread the lemon white bean parsnip puree over the whole casserole dish. Sprinkle the remaining gruyere over top, add some salt and pepper and bake for 15-20 minutes.
While this is baking, prepare your kale. We use kale as the crispy topping to give a healthy green twist to something normally topped with bread crumbs or panko. Simply tear the kale and toss with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Place on a cookie sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, until crispy. If just making crispy kale, I would recommend lowering the oven temperature to 225 degrees, but since we've got our veggies in there we'll go with 350.
Take both the veggies and kale out. Crumble the kale over the veggies. Add a sprinkle of any cheese you have remaining and bake for another 5 minutes before serving. The amber ale taste is subtle, but it does come through and adds a woodsy flavor to the dish.
2. Cappuccino Stout Caramel Brownies
Ingredients:
– 1 box brownie mix
– 2 eggs
– 1/3 cup stout beer
– 15 caramels
– salt
– micro mini aspic cookie cutter set (available on Amazon)
First off, yes we used a mix. In the Brit kitchen, we're all about hacks on making super delicious treats, and sometimes using a boxed mix is in order. Follow the directions on the box, but instead of 1/4 cup water, use 1/3 cup stout beer. We upped the quantity to account for the bubbles! We also used our sweet silicone brownie squares baking mold, but you can certainly use a regular pan. Spoon or pour your mix into the pan. Slice up 4 caramel cubes and add to each brownie mold, or divide equally on a regular pan. Bake as directed.
While the brownies are baking, unwrap 10 caramel cubes. Place in aluminum foil, and warm up in the oven for about 5 minutes. This will soften the caramels so you can roll them out and cut with your cookie cutters. I recommend checking on the caramels after about 3 minutes to make sure they aren't melting too much.
Roll caramels out using a rolling pin, or simply flatten using your hands.
Press cookie cutters into caramels and you've got a whole bunch of adorable shapes!
Then press into a bit of salt and set aside.
As soon as the brownies are done, take them out (of course), and quickly press caramel cutouts into each brownie. The stout flavor gives your run-of-the-mill brownie mix a run for its money, and salted caramel is always a win.
And there you have it, two delicious ways to incorporate beer into home-baked goodness.
Have you tried any of our 12 delicious ways to eat pale ales, lagers, and stouts? Or have any other beer recipes? Leave us a note in the comments below or say hello on Twitter.
