Category Archives: beer

Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake

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guinness chocolate cheesecake

As I’m sure you’re well aware, St. Patrick’s day is just around the corner and we all know what that means pretty much two things: the color green, and a nice frosty glass of Guinness stout. Two things I absolutely love: green is my favorite color, and stouts (especially the Guinness extra stout) are one of my favorite beers. The next baking recipe will include some green hues in it, but for now I’m going to focus all of my attention of the Guinness and present you with this delectable Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake.

I’ve baked with Guinness quite a few times in my life. Not to mention vegan chocolate stout cupcakes (for some reason I didn’t get around to posting that recipe a few years ago… I should fix that). Stout can do such amazing things once it is incorporated into baked goods. Obviously it pairs well with chocolate, hence chocolate chips, cocoa powder, and in this cheesecake. It’s absolutely insane. Almost like a flourless and dense chocolate cake, very fudgy, creamy, but also light like a chocolate souffle. But better.

Honestly, does it look like it could get any better? This is the ultimate chocolate dessert. It’s especially enhanced with a squeeze of whipped cream on top and a few sliced strawberries or raspberries. What more could you want? If you’re looking for a dessert recipe to take to a potluck St. Patrick’s party or to host at your home, look no further. This is all you’ll need. (And a few more bottles of Guinness…) Just make it ahead of time the night before!

Guinness Chocolate Cheesecake

From: Closet Cooking

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup honey graham cracker crumbs
  • 3 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 12 ounces 56% semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 3 (8 ounce) packages neufchâtel cream cheese
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup Guinness Extra Stout

Directions:

  1. Mix the graham cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, sugar, and butter and press into the bottom of a 9 inch spring form pan.
  2. Melt the chocolate in the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat.
  3. Cream the cream cheese in a large bowl with a hand-held mixer.
  4. Mix in the sugar, chocolate, sour cream, eggs, vanilla, and Guinness.
  5. Pour the mixture into the spring form pan.
  6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 55 minutes.
  7. Turn off heat and leave cheesecake in the oven with the door slightly ajar for 60 minutes.
  8. Let cool completely and chill the cheesecake in the fridge overnight!

Soft Chocolate Stout Cookies

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If you’re anything like me, you too probably have hundreds (or maybe even thousands!) Pinterest recipes pinned onto your boards. My baking board has 224 pins on it at the moment, and the general food(ie) category… 484.

Someday I will make all of these recipes, yes? (psst, here are my boards if you’re interested–let’s be pinning friends!)

I know you’re just as highly ambitious as I am.

That being said, fall is here. And it’s time to get down to business. This is my absolute favorite time of year to cook and bake, so I have a feeling I’ll be chipping away at a majority of those recipes in these upcoming months.

Here’s one that I found over the weekend when I was in the mood for chocolate, and perhaps the easiness and simplicity of baking a batch of cookies. Chocolate cookies with stout in them. Y-U-M.

I had all of the ingredients on hand (also a huge plus when I’m trying to decide on what to make) so I went ahead and did it, and absolutely do not regret it. Between my boyfriend and I, we’ve eaten over half the batch in two days.

The stout adds a spectacular new dimension of flavor, almost something you would never expect. I’ve done chocolate stout cupcakes before, but typically those recipes only call for about 1/4 cup of beer or so, nearly undetectable in the floury texture of the cake. But not in this. 3/4 of a cup, baby, chock full of chocolatey stout goodness.

Definitely a keeper, I’d say. Next time I can’t wait to try it out with a pumpkin stout and add a bit of spice to the mix!

Soft Chocolate Stout Cookies

Adapted from Butter Me Up, Brooklyn! 

Makes 18-24 cookies

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/4 + 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
  • 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tablespoon molasses
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 3/4 cup oatmeal stout, ie. Samuel Smith’s (my absolute FAVORITE! plus you’ll have some leftover for drinking, too ;))
  1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powders, salt, baking soda, baking powder and chocolate chips. In a larger bowl, beat the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the molasses, vanilla and egg and beat well. Alternate the flour and the beer with the egg mixture until combined.
  2. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes, or until it has firmed up enough to scoop out cookies, and meanwhile toward the end of chilling time, preheat the oven to 350° F. Scoop on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes or until the top springs back lightly when touched. Cool completely and devour.

What I’m Grateful For

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Hopefully many of you have now found where I’m newly located. Thanks for making it here. After moving and going through many changes of my own, I figured it was rather appropriate to change up my blog. I felt that it was too stagnant and not exactly what I wanted. I feel that WordPress will grant me more flexibility, organization and creativity over the blog, shaping it into my vision, able to reflect more of who I am and what I desire to express. I’ve sincerely been wanting to get back into the “right” hemisphere side of my brain, because lord knows the last two years of stress and dental hygiene school made it almost rot to pieces. Now is the time to make some changes.

Although some days can be the pits, and it has been hard to be patient waiting to finally be an RDH and get my license, I have to remind myself that I have so much to be grateful for and to enjoy this time while I have it, not dwelling in misery, guilt and anxiety that I’m not able to do much about the situation. I have great health, some loving supportive people in my life (particularly my grandparents… I don’t know what I would do without them), the best apartment I could ever imagine in the best location I could ever imagine, a wonderful, affection and frisky kitty that I have the pleasure of witnessing growing into a tomcat, a wonderful boyfriend that I have the pleasure of sharing new experiences with, yummy food (and beer!) in my fridge, a car for convenience, and most importantly, my independence. I can pretty much do anything I please. I have plenty to keep me busy.

This. This is what I need to remind myself of. Nothing will stand in the way of me, success, and my goal. No one else’s success will influence or determine my success. Sometimes things work out for reasons I do not yet know. Maybe there’s a reason I have to wait this long. Nobody knows. 

In the meantime, I have all of these things to be grateful for…

Kitty kisses.

Beer tasting flights.

Spontaneous picnics in the park.

Observing kitty/boyfriend naps.

Classic grilled cheese and tomato bisque soup, imagining it the way your mom used to make it for you. Pure comfort.

Although I don’t do caffeine, discovering this great idea as the best way I can use up my gifted bag of ground coffee is delicious. I like mine with cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom, plus a tablespoon or two of sweetened condensed milk.  My heightened anxiety and heart palpitations can suffer in the meantime for this deliciousness.

Getting out for a walk and breath of fresh air around my apartment on a sunny evening.

Look at those canines!

More of this little rascal.

This man.

Making tasty dinners for this man. (Recipe to follow soon.)

Pitchers of PBR.

And pizza.

And meatballs.

And more beer. (I’m so in love with this stout it’s ridiculous.)

Gigantic scoops of blackberry cobbler and peanut butter curry ice cream (AHEM, my new favorite ice cream shop).

This thing was seriously as big as my face.

The ridiculous plethora of good bars around here. We’re totally spoiled.

Sweet Italian vermouth and lemonata.

Late night walks crossing the Willamette.

My bike.

Discovering awesome new cafes and bakeries.

Laurelhurst Park.

My new juicer.

Taking care of my health and teeth (#1 priority, of course).

My kitty-filled apartment complex.

All of this delicious food from a cart for $8. Hot ‘n sour soup, chow mein, lemon chicken, and sauteed veggies. (Beer not included.)

This place.

Beet Cake, Mixes, & Clever Cards

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Lately I’ve been addicted to making 8 track mixes on this website 8tracks.com.
Have any of you heard of this/been listening/created mixes?
Let me know… I’d love to hear some new stuff!
Here are all of mine so far…
Second of all, I was browsing the local bookshop today looking for a birthday card for my friend and came across this awesome one and couldn’t resist… I wish I would have bought the entire stack to give out to hygiene friends/teachers/cohorts!


Too awesome.




And here are some more great ones… I love this company!
I can’t remember the last time a greeting card actually made me laugh!
So clever.
The most beautiful cooking/baking video documentation I have ever seen.
How to make a beet cake.
I’m gonna do it.
Oh yeah and to keep up with this ice cream trend I seem to have been going on (on average, about every other day this past month? NEWS FLASH: ice cream is a health food!), here is something you need to be aware of (if you are not already):
Ben & Jerry’s “Late Night Snack“.
More like “Late Night Crack“.
CHOCOLATE COVERED POTATO CHIPS.
Enough said.
It’s okay.
You’re totally allowed to make a mid-night trip to Safeway in your PJ’s and slippers just to acquire a pint of this. I won’t tell anyone… the secret’s safe with me.
You probably wear cute PJ’s too, so that’s totally allowed.
Just don’t run over your neighbors cat as you frantically pull out of the driveway…
I know you’re on a mission now.
Between homemade ice cream sandwiches, late night post-bar nothing-is-open-”I reluctantly have to resort to Cold Stone” runs, Humphry Slocombe in the city pre-Iron & Wine show going (peanut butter curry and cinnamon brittle, anyone?), and the new local Penny Ice Creamery (pistachio cardamom chocolate chip, balsamic cherry), I have been on the longest ice cream kick of MY LIFE! No joke, folks. I swear I’m not pregnant. But my hormones have been pretty whacko lately and all I have been wanting is cold creamy goodness. A little salt and sugar mixed in don’t hurt either. Oh lovely hormones… you make the world go ’round.
Oh yeah, and because ice cream and beer go so well together and one without the other on a warm summer evening would just be a sin, here is a new seasonal one out by New Belgium: Somersault ale. Being a fan of all things limited edition and seasonal, I bought a 6-pack today and must say it’s quite delicious. Looks like it is temporarily replacing the past summers of Skinny Dip. As it’s described on the label:
“Somersault Ale is a fun roll around on the tongue and a perfect, summer lounge-around beer that is easy to drink. Color is blonde with a suggestion of amber. Somersault tumbles out with citrus aroma from Centennial hops, a tuck of soft apricot fruitiness, completed by a smooth, upright finish with oats that were fermented in a long, slow mash. Somersaults all around!”
Yum! At least some beer descriptors don’t sound as pretentious and ludicrous as most wine labels… I can handle talkers like this. I’m glad I just now discovered their website! I’m diggin’ the food pairings and un-recipe “recipes”. The peach goat cheese arugula candied walnut salad may be the next to-do on the list…
And a lovely new Vetiver song (that I just can’t get enough of) to leave you with for now…

Hitachino Nest Beer

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I finally got it! 


Oh, I am so excited! I haven’t tasted one yet, but I will write a review once I have done so. The shipping was really expensive (it ended up being $9 a pop) but I think it’ll be worth it. Even if it’s just for the bottle and label. Anywho, just wanted to share…

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