Super Fudgy Coffee Guinness Caramel Brownies

 

These Super Fudgy Coffee Guinness Caramel Brownies are – as mentioned – super fudgy ooey, gooey on the inside, which melts in your mouth. These brownies have that crinkly crackly top too, and have an immensely deep, caramelized Guinness flavor to them. No – these Guinness brownies do not taste like beer at all, and are in fact practically non-alcoholic, we just get those flavors of coffee, vanilla and caramel into our brownies.

 

Drizzle this chocolate cake with delicious Guinness Coffee Salted Caramel Sauce for an extra decadent treat, with even more flavor. If you’re out of Guinness, you can still make my delicious, quick 10 minute Salted Caramel Sauce instead.

 

This recipe is based on my Classic Dark Chocolate Brownies, but needed to sweeten things down a bit in order to compensate for the rich coffee, vanilla, caramel situation that is Guinness.

 

 

These Coffee Guinness Caramel Brownies do NOT taste like beer!

 

I am not a beer person.

 

But as I travelled to Dublin for St. Patrick’s Day a few years ago, naturally I had to try the world famous Guinness Extra Stout. And you should have seen my face! I was amazed at how Guinness almost tasted like a coffee, chocolatey vanilla dessert. Yes, that tasted like beer also, but in a much more pleasant way in this deep vanilla coffee situation.

 

I immediately thought this beer would work great in chocolate desserts. And considering that brownies are approximately the best thing ever, with all that chocolate fudginess, I thought they would match perfectly. But I was afraid these Guinness brownies would taste too much like beer.

 

But no – Coffee Guinness Caramel Brownies do not taste like beer. Only coffee, vanilla, caramel and tons of chocolate. 

 

 

Do Guinness brownies contain any alcohol?

 

Both yes and no. You do use real alcohol to make these Guinness brownies, but the alcohol has evaporated, for the most part. Because brownies naturally need very little liquid, we need to reduce the amount of liquid in the Guinness – but still retain all the flavor. So what do we do? We reduce the Guinness Extra Stout into about half. This is also what I’ve done with the apple cider in these amazing apple cider donuts.

 

A rule of thumb when cooking with alcohol, is that if the alcohol has boiled for over 30 minutes – it’s considered non-alcoholic. Keep in mind that this is not all together true. Alcohol boils at a temperature of 173F (78C) and thus the alcohol will evaporate quicker than the water.

 

However, a 1992 study has found that if you boil it for 30 minutes, chances are that 35% of the alcohol still remains. For 2.5 hours it’s less than 5%. You need to let the Guinness reduce for 3 hours for it to really be non-alcoholic. More flavor – less liquid? Sounds like a delicious plan to me!

 

 

I reduce my 8% Guinness for 30 minutes. After my calculations, there should be approximately 8 % x 35 % = 2.8% alcohol left in the Guinness. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup reduced Guinness for the entire 16 serving cake, so it really isn’t much to speak of, but it’s important to note.

 

If you want to serve this with Guinness Salted Caramel Sauce

 

If you want to serve these brownies with Guinness Coffee Salted Caramel Sauce, which you do by the way, you need to reduce two bottles of Guinness Extra Stout (or Special Export) of about 2 x 11 oz (2 x 33 cl).

 

You can do this at the same time, and the caramel sauce will be done before the cake so there’s no extra waiting time. We will use 1/2 cup in the brownies, and 1/2 cup in the caramel sauce. As this will be a lot of caramel sauce, you probably want to know what else to serve it with too:

 

 

• With Classic Dark Chocolate Brownies
• In a buttercream frosting
• Drizzled on ice cream
• Sneak a little into your coffee or chai tea
• Fill these cupcakes with caramel sauce instead of lemon curd!
• Dip for these apple cider donuts
• or just literally anything with chocolate!

 

I now have a jar in my fridge, and you should probably expect more Guinness caramel recipes because that was hellaaa fantastic and perfect for anything with chocolate, vanilla and/or coffee.

 

 

How to make these Coffee Guinness Caramel Brownies

 

Start by reducing Guinness Extra Stout (or Special Export) in a medium saucepan. Two bottles if you’re making the caramel sauce as well. Let this reduce for about 30 minutes, or until you have 1/2 cup with one bottle, or 1 cup with two. Let this cool for 5 minutes.

 

Prepare a baking pan with parchment paper sticking out of its sides. Baking pan of 8x12in (20×30 cm), is perfect for me, but  if you want taller brownies you can also use a 9×9 or 8×8 inch pan. Pre-heat oven to 350F (175C).

 

 

Melt the butter (1), remove from the stove and let it cool for a couple of minutes before adding 1/2 cup reduced Guinness, instant coffee granules (or espresso powder), and chopped semisweet chocolate. Whisk to combine (2).

 

In a large bowl, whip eggs and sugar with a metal whisk (3). About 2-3 minutes. It should be pale and airy. Whisk in the chocolate butter and vanilla extract (4-5).

 

 

In smaller increments, add flour into the mixture (6). Fold, until it’s just incorporated (7). Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan. Bake on the middle rack for about 30-35 minutes. The cake is done when a toothpick inserted in the cake has a few moist crumbs on it. I bake mine for 32 minutes.

 

Cool completely in the pan before cutting into it (8). Serve with vanilla ice cream and a generous drizzle of Guinness Coffee Caramel Sauce. Enjoy!

 

If you like this recipe, I know you’d love this no churn chocolate coffee ice cream for summer!

 

 

Did you like this recipe? Here’s more St. Patrick’s Day goodies!

 

• Classic Dark Chocolate Brownies
• 10 Minute Salted Caramel Sauce
• Guinness Coffee Salted Caramel Sauce
• Classic Irish Coffee
• Quick and Easy Whiskey Sour
• Chocolate Coffee Cupcakes with Irish Baileys Frosting
• The Penicillin Cocktail with whiskey, ginger and honey
• …and don’t forget these 11 Whiskey Cocktails to Celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in style!

 

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