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This recipe for fudgy Guinness stout brownies with dark chocolate ganache features rich, honey-sweetened chocolate brownies to balance out the flavor of stout. They’re topped with a velvety layer of dark chocolate ganache to make them extra decadent!
Guinness isn’t just for drinking, and it’s not only for savory soups, stews, and casseroles!
Guinness is a dry Irish stout that has rich brown color, and coffee and caramel flavor notes thanks to roasted barley. It pairs really beautifully with a lot of baked goods, especially chocolate cakes and brownies.
This Guinness stout brownies recipe is quite unique. It’s mostly sweetened with honey, which provides a lovely slightly floral contrast to the rich, roasted flavor of Guinness.
Whip these brownies up as part of your St. Paddy’s Day celebration, or any time you’re in the mood for rich, fudgy, flavorful brownies!
Guinness Desserts
In addition to savory dishes, this roasty stout is a fun addition to sweet treats and baked goods. I find that the roasted caramel and coffee flavor profile of Guinness is a delicious accent to chocolate.
Guinness Chocolate Brownies Ingredients and Substitutions
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
Brownies Ingredients
- Guinness stout – The malty roasted flavor with notes of caramel and coffee marries beautifully with chocolate.
- Unsalted butter – Butter adds rich flavor and helps create the perfect fudgy texture.
- Honey – Honey adds a lovely floral sweetness that perfectly offsets the bitterness in stout.
- Sugar – We only use a little bit of granulated white sugar here because honey is the main sweetener.
- Vanilla extract – This adds depth of flavor and helps pull out the nuances in the chocolate.
- Eggs – The eggs act as a binder in this recipe and help create the perfect texture.
- Unsweetened natural cocoa powder – Use natural cocoa powder here, not Dutch-processed.
- Salt – Salt helps create a balanced flavor profile, and enhances the flavor of the chocolate.
- Flour – Use regular all-purpose flour for these brownies.
Dark Chocolate Ganache Ingredients
- 80 to 85% dark chocolate – I like to use a very dark chocolate here because we add honey to sweeten it.
- Heavy whipping cream and butter – These are classic ingredients in chocolate ganache that help create the perfect fudgy texture.
- Honey – We use honey to sweeten both the brownies and the ganache topping to tie them together seamlessly.
Instructions
- For the brownies, preheat the oven to 325F. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with 2 pieces of parchment paper so that it hangs over all 4 sides.
- Add the stout to a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until it’s reduced to about 1/3 cup. Beat together the butter, honey, sugar, reduced stout, vanilla, and eggs. Sift in the cocoa powder, salt, and flour, and stir to combine.
- Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake until set along the outside, but a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out moist with a bit of batter, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature before topping with the ganache.
- For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, butter, and honey together in a double boiler or microwave and stir together until smooth. Let the ganache cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate briefly to chill (just until it’s spreadable like frosting).
- Spread the ganache onto the cooled brownies and let it set before cutting and serving.
Storage
Store the brownies covered at cool room temperature for up to 5 days (or in the fridge if it’s during the middle of summer).
Chocolate Guinness Stout Brownies FAQs
What Does Guinness Chocolate Taste Like?
Guinness and chocolate is a truly great flavor pairing. Stout has a creaminess, as well as nutty roasted notes of chocolate and caramel with a malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness. Combined with chocolate, the flavor is intensely rich, deep, and balanced.
Can I Make Guinness Brownies From a Box Mix?
Yes! If you don’t have time to make Guinness chocolate brownies from scratch, you can definitely use a boxed brownie mix.
All you have to do is replace half of the oil with Guinness. Keep everything else the same!
What is Chocolate Ganache?
In its most basic form, ganache is a mixture of chocolate that’s melted with cream. Sometimes butter is added in place of some of the cream, and sometimes other flavorings, such as vanilla, espresso powder, etc. are used. Additionally, you can use different kinds of chocolate (milk, dark, or white) and switch up the flavor profile.
Luscious, rich, and velvety chocolate ganache is perfect to use as a frosting to adorn cakes, cupcakes, and brownies!
Here we make a dark chocolate ganache to decorate the top of these brownies. For the ganache, we use extra dark chocolate and sweeten it with a touch of honey to echo the flavor profile of these honey-sweetened stout brownies.
What Type of Frosting Pairs Well with Guinness Chocolate Brownies?
For this recipe we use a thick, fudgy dark chocolate ganache, but you have a ton of different options. Here are a couple other types of frosting that go well with these decadent brownies:
- Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting – It’s also great on decadent Guinness chocolate cake!
- Vanilla Buttercream Frosting – This American buttercream whips up in 5 minutes and lets the flavor of the brownies shine.
More Fudgy Chocolate Brownie Recipes
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Fudgy Guinness Stout Brownies with Dark Chocolate Ganache Recipe
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Ingredients
Brownies:
- 3/4 cup Guinness stout
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- 3/4 cup honey
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened natural cocoa powder not Dutch-processed
- 1/4 teaspoon + 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Ganache:
- 3 1/2 oz 80 to 85% dark chocolate chopped
- 2 tablespoons heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- For the brownies, preheat the oven to 325F. Line an 8 by 8-inch baking dish with 2 pieces of parchment paper so that it hangs over all 4 sides.
- Add the stout to a small saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until it’s reduced to about 1/3 cup. Beat together the butter, honey, sugar, reduced stout, vanilla, and eggs. Sift in the cocoa powder, salt, and flour, and stir to combine.
- Pour the batter into the prepared dish and bake until set along the outside, but a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out moist with a bit of batter, about 25 to 30 minutes. Cool to room temperature before topping with the ganache, about 1 hour.
- For the ganache, melt the chocolate, heavy cream, butter, and honey together in a double boiler or microwave and stir together until smooth. Let the ganache cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate briefly to chill (just until it’s spreadable like frosting).
- Spread the ganache onto the cooled brownies and let it set before cutting and serving.
Notes
- For Precise Baking: Use a kitchen scale (you can find a relatively inexpensive kitchen scale that will do the job!) to measure the ingredients.
- Storage: Store the brownies covered at cool room temperature for up to 5 days (or in the fridge if it’s during the middle of summer).
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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This post was first published on An Edible Mosaic on March 4, 2019 and updated on March 17, 2024.
I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
Free Bonus
Beautiful, beautiful creation !
Thank you for sharing such a mouth-watering recipe. This looks so tasty and eagerly waiting for more such recipes.