Tag Archives: Baking with beer

Chocolate Covered Strawberries Infused With Founders Cerise

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How is your sumer to-do list coming? Have you played in a sprinkler yet? Made popsicles? Had a summer fling? Have you found any beer infused recipes to tackle? Was that even on your list? Well it should be.

My weekend was spent crossing things off that list, and we’re going to consider Thursday night as the beginning of the weekend. Thursday I went bowling for the first time since high school, and sang karaoke for the very first time (TLC “No Scrubs,” in case you were wondering). Then Sunday I spent the day with great people out at our local reservoir, playing in the water, laying under the sun, jumping off docks. There were sunny times had by all. And then there was chocolate covered fruit.

We’re going to soak almost ripe strawberries in Founders Cerise, a beer brewed with cherries, and dip them in melted semi-sweet chocolate. The beer is going to take your still-crisp strawberries, deepen and fill out a full, rich flavor. That richness is also then going to balance out the semi-sweet chocolate so that you have the perfect semi-sweet strawberry. And then we’re going to eat them all.

Before the recipe, though, I have to tip my hat to the Beeroness, whose Beer Soaked Chocolate Covered Cherries inspired this experiment. This girl knows her stuff.

Chocolate Covered Strawberries infused with Founders Cerise

1 pint fresh strawberries, just barely ripe
1 bottle Founders Cerise*
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1. Use a fork to poke holes two – three times in each strawberry.

2. Layer the strawberries in a small bundt pan and cover with Cerise. I used a bundt pan because the strawberries fit perfectly in the roundness of the pan. *If you have to use another pan that is more level, you’ll need another bottle of Cerise to cover the fruit.

3. Let soak for twenty minutes, rotate the strawberries, then soak for another twenty minutes.

4. Drain the beer, and pat dry on paper towels. Let air dry for one hour, or until the strawberries are just a little sticky to the touch. You may need to pat dry every so often to help the process along.

5. Melt and preferably temper your chocolate over a double boiler, dip strawberries and place on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. If you have not tempered the chocolate, store in the refrigerator for up to one day.

If you can manage, share these with others…you’ll get a lot of smiles.

Bread & Belgians: New Belgium Trippel Pretzel Rolls with Ham

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I would love to tell you in delicious detail about how adorable and tasty these pretzel rolls are. That the combination of sweet dough, with salty ham, and feisty mustard is in the running for the perfect game day snack. But that’s where it ends, because my goodness, all I can think about are lemon cupcakes.

And waffles. Lemon cupcakes with lemon cream cheese frosting, and Belgian waffles. Waffles for breakfast and cupcakes for lunch…extremely balanced meals right?

This is an aspect of my life where I have a one-track mind. I have a lot of self-control when going out, I can just have one beer when I’m out with friends (I usually have to drive home. Be safe my friends!). I can keep my cool with extremely hot-headed customers. I can patiently wait for about everyone else to stop talking before I start. But if I start thinking about a food…look out. It’s a little bit like being unable to just leave a crooked painting or picture on the wall. So bear with this oddity of mine, and maybe you’ll see a cupcake or waffle recipe coming up here pretty soon.

(I hope you’re okay with the Instagram pictures today – I have to borrow someone else’s camera for all my pictures usually (since I don’t have one myself), so I’m a little beholden to their schedule. This weekend I had to get buddy buddy with my iPhone.)

New Belgium Trippel Pretzel Rolls with Ham
(pretzel recipe from Smitten Kitchen)

1 cup water
1 cup New Belgium Trippel (or other tripel)
1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons sugar
1 packet active dry yeast
5-6 cups All-Purpose flour
1 Tablespoon salt
1/2 cup chopped, cooked ham (I found mine in the meat aisle at Marsh)
cooking spray, canola or vegetable oil
1/4 cup baking soda
egg yolk from one large egg
poppy seeds
your choice of mustard

Italicized ingredients/measurements are those differing from the original recipe. 

1. Mix water and beer together. Warm mixture to 100-110 degrees F. I used a candy thermometer to measure temp, which is very important in proofing yeast. Mix water/beer with 1 Tablespoon sugar in a medium mixing bowl, and sprinkle with one packet yeast. Let rest around 10 minutes – the yeast should gradually foam up.

2. Mix one cup flour into yeast and mix slowly with large whisk until combined-ish…there will still be chunks of flour that won’t combine thoroughly. Gradually add salt and 4 cups flour. Switch to a wooden spoon to mix, then knead when the spoon isn’t cutting it. If the dough is still sticky enough to pull onto your hands, keep adding flour until warm and tacky but smooth.

3. Grease a larger bowl (or just clean your first one out), transfer dough, lightly spray top of yeast with oil (really really lightly!), cover with towel, and let rise in a warm place for about one hour. Dough should have almost doubled in size.

4. Punch down several times and let rest for ten minutes. Grease three cookie sheets (or put wax paper on your counter if you only have one or two).

5. Tear off a golf ball sized piece of dough, then flatten with your hands on counter or cutting board into a square shape (about 1/4 – 1/2 inch thick). Put bits of ham on one side of the square, and simply roll up (you’ll need to use your judgement here about the amount of ham). Pinch all ends to seal, and roll to get your…roll shape back. (Eloquent eh?)

6. Place on cookie sheets and keep covered with kitchen towel as you work. Place cookie sheets by your stove, and boil 2 inches of water in a large saucepan. When at the boiling point, dump baking soda and remaining sugar in water (do this quickly as it will foam up a lot), and turn down to a simmer. Using a slotted spoon, boil rolls for about 1-2 minutes and place back on cookie sheet.

7. Brush rolls with an egg yolk mixed with about 1 Tablespoon milk and sprinkle with poppyseeds. Bake at 450 degrees for 13 minutes. Keep your eye on the rolls toward the end, as my oven tends to be a lot hotter than yours may be.

8. Enjoy with mustard or topping of your choice! (I personally prefer the mustard, it holds up the sweetness of the pretzel & salty ham) These can be left uncovered for about a day.

Bread & Belgians: Unibroue Éphémère Apple Cinnamon Bread

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Who would like apple pie in bread form for breakfast? Or lunch? Or dinner? Or all three?

More specifically, who would like soft cinnamon sugar bread, baked with white ale brewed with apple juice, stuffed with crisp green apples?

If you can say no to that, I envy your self-control.

But first, a lesson. Be careful when you turn a stovetop burner on low. Especially when it doesn’t light up red to indicate that it’s hot. Because then you might accidentally plant your left hand right down on it, and sling out a series of curse words you weren’t even sure you knew.

Needless to say I spent all of my Saturday afternoon & evening with my hand literally in cold water. (no joke, I tried getting ready to go out last night but ten minutes without cold water resulted in more curse words.) So I’ll ask you to forgive me for not posting step by step pictures (I had to capture the rest of my pictures using one hand…skills). I would recommend following the link below for beautiful process photos. And really for beautiful photos in general.

And now I’m speedily typing with one hand so I can post this and share the love. Let’s get to it! For this I took Joy the Baker’s Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread recipe, substituted Unibroue for the water, and then slid slices of green apples between the folds of dough – I wasn’t sure if baking with this beer would really work as I did only use 1/3 cup and it isn’t a very heavy beer at all. But delightfully, the apple flavor in the beer gave the entire loaf a lovely touch of apple and enhanced the vanilla without being boozy or yeasty at all. And the surprise bits of apple? Oh. my.

Unibroue Éphémère Apple Cinnamon Bread
(adapted from Joy the Baker’s Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread)

Dough:
2 3/4 cups + 2 Tablespoons AP flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 envelope active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 oz unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/3 cup Unibroue Éphémère, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 oz unsalted butter, melted
2-3 Granny Smith apples

Italicized ingredients/measurements are those differing from the original recipe. 

1. Sift 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, the packet of yeast, and salt together in a large bowl.

2. Melt milk and butter together in a small saucepan, remove from heat, add beer and vanilla. (Her instructions indicate to let the mixture stand until 115-125 degrees F. I didn’t have a candy thermometer, so I let it rest for one-two minutes after adding the beer and vanilla) While letting that rest, whisk eggs in separate bowl.

3. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture, stir with spatula or wooden spoon until combined. Add eggs and mix again until combined (you’ll need to be patient with this part). Then add 3/4 cups flour and knead in with your spoon/spatula until incorporated but still a bit sticky.

4. Grease a medium bowl (with oil or cooking spray), and spoon dough into bowl to rise. Put in warm place covered with a towel for about an hour or until it is twice its original size. Enjoy the rest of your beer and catch up on Downton Abbey. Or a non-Masterpiece Classic show if you must.

5. Melt 2 oz butter in small glass cup. Mix cinnamon, sugar, and nutmeg together in another small bowl.

6. Once dough has risen properly, punch down (Really though, you need to punch it) several times and let rest for 5 minutes. Knead in about two tablespoons of flour with a wooden spoon until you can handle the dough without it getting stuck all over your hands. Let rest another 10 minutes. (This lets the gluten relax a little so that it is easier to roll out. If it is still too hard to roll out, simply let it rest a few more minutes.)

7. On lightly floured counter or a large piece of parchment paper, roll dough out into a rectangle approximately 12 x 20 inches in size.

8. Spread melted butter on flattened dough, and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar mix.

9. Slice dough with knife or pizza cutter into six vertical strips. Place into two stacks and then slice horizontally again in six sections. Set greased 9 inch bread pan on its end, and place stacks of bread dough inside. When full, let rise for 30-45 minutes.

10. Peel and slice apples as big or small as you’d like, and using a knife, peel apart the bread dough and stuff inside. Bake for 35-45 minutes at 350 degrees F. The top of the dough should be crispy and very brown when done. Let rest 20-30 minutes, and use a knife around the edges of the bread to separate from pan.

11. When cool, place a cutting board or cookie sheet on top of bread. Invert once, and then repeat again until dough is right-side up. Enjoy for breakfast (amazing with cream cheese), lunch, and dinner! If you can resist eating it all, then this will keep for one-two days uncovered at room temperature, but it’s best if you can put it in a cake plate or something of the sort.