May you have the luck of the Irish ~ Chocolate Guinness Goodness

Happy March 17^th!

Guinness combines surprisingly well with chocolate, and those two together make the perfect St. Patrick’s Day pair. I made a very fun and festive dessert tonight called Chocolate Guinness Goodness :). It is chocolate and Guinness pudding served in a beer glass with Guinness flavored whipped cream smoothed over the top. The result is a dessert that really looks like a pint of beer!

I borrowed the idea from Epicurious.com, and then I mixed and matched bits of that recipe with a MarthaStewart.com recipe. That lightened the original quite a bit. In addition, I omitted the butter, I used only two egg yolks and I replaced skim milk for whole.

Chocolate Guinness Goodness

2/3 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

Pinch of salt

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 cups skim milk

½ cup Guinness

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup whipping cream

Put a fine mesh sieve over a medium bowl and set aside. In a medium saucepan off the heat, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt and cocoa powder. Very gradually whisk in the milk and ½ cup Guinness, taking care to dissolve cornstarch. Then whisk in the egg yolks.

Whisking constantly, cook over medium heat until the first large bubble forms. Reduce the heat to low. Still whisking, cook 1 minute. It will be thick and creamy at this point. Remove from the heat and immediately pour through the sieve into the bowl. Stir the vanilla into the hot pudding.

Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pudding and chill at least 3 hours or up to 3 days. Before serving, whisk the pudding again until smooth.

For the whipped cream topping, reduce a cup of Guinness in a pan on medium low heat for about 20 minutes, or until it is thicker. Cool completely. Whip the whipping cream with a hand held mixer until soft peaks form on the beaters. (It can quickly turn to butter, so watch it closely.) Add a tablespoon of the reduced Guinness and blend it evenly into the whipped cream.

Carefully spoon the pudding into a beer glass and then cover with an even layer of the whipped cream. Each pint serves about 4. This recipe makes a little more than a pint’s worth, but leftovers aren’t a bad thing ;).

These pair perfectly with a glass of green sparkling wine for the occasion :).

P.S. For another chocolate and Guinness recipe, check out my cupcakes on this website from last St. Patrick’s Day.