“A basic rule of baking is that, in general, it’s almost impossible to make an inedible batch of brownies.”
— Linda Sunshine
Some people are born with natural baking skills and a flair for the right dough, pie crust, or cake batter. They know just when a little extra flour is needed for thickening and how to knead a loaf to perfection. They mindfully dust their masterpieces with a smidge of flour before their final rise, then sit back and reflect on their day while levitating.
For the rest of us, baking is anything but therapeutic. When things don’t come together even though we meticulously follow the instructions we feel frustrated, curse up a blue streak, and swear off baking. The mysterious and ever-so-sensitive chain of chemical reactions in baking leaves little room for the slightest slipups let alone making cavalier substitutions with craft beer.
The beer’s carbonation acts as an extra leavening agent and imparts extra body and its alcohol inhibits some gluten formation therefore the final product is always more tender, delicate, and crumbly. Trigger warning to traditionalists.
Once you break free of baking mandates you can have breakthroughs as beautiful as today’s beer brownies.
Highlander’s Scottish Winter Ale amplifies the toasty flavors of cocoa and adds a complex caramel depth to the sweetness of brownies. As you will soon find out dark malty beers are a match made in heaven for irresistible brownies.
Cheers
