LONELY BLONDIE BARS
These chewy blondie bars are guaranteed to draw a crowd, so the
ale may be Lonely, but you certainly won't be!
This recipe yields about 4 dozen bars, which is perfect for a party. We suppose you
could halve the recipe to make less, but...why?
INGREDIENTS:
1 ½ c. (3 sticks) butter
3 c. brown sugar, firmly packed
3 eggs
1 (12 oz.) bottle Lonely Blonde
1 T. salt
4 c. all purpose flour
1 c. granola
1-2 c. mix-ins (dates, coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips... use your
imagination)
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and set aside 3 square baking pans, or 2 9x13” pans, 3 9” cake plates, or 1 giant bar pan.
1.) Unwrap the 3 sticks of butter, place in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat on
high for 1 minute to partially melt butter.
2.) Open the beer. Measure out and set aside 1 c. for baking. Drink the rest and
give some serious thought to how great your life is at this moment. Repeat
with a second bottle if necessary.
3.) In an electric mixer, beat the partially melted butter on medium until smooth.
Mix in the brown sugar and beat on high for 2-3 minutes to cream the butter
and sugar (mixture should increase slightly in size, which means it’s captured
some air).
4.) Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition to incorporate fully.
5.) Scrape the sides of the bowl, turn the mixer on low, and slowly pour in beer
until fully incorporated. Beat on high another minute. Mixture should have
grown again (plus, now it smells awesome!).
6.) Add flour, ½ cup at a time, mixing carefully after each addition. Repeat until
the mixture has taken in all of the flour (note—in low humidity or high
altitude conditions, you may need to slightly reduce the amount of flour).
7.) Mix in the granola (quickly pat yourself on the back for making something so
healthy!) and whatever other mix-ins strike your fancy. Dates pair
ridiculously well with the Lonely Blonde, and coconut gives a great,
chewy texture to these bars. There was a big debate here at the brewery
about the merits of butterscotch versus chocolate, but before it came to
blows, we all agreed that the best solution would be to just add both.
8.) Bake for 30-40 minutes. If you’re using dark pans, reduce oven temperature
to 325°F. If you have the patience to allow the bars to cool completely in the
pans, even overnight, you’ll need less colforful language to help remove the
bars from the pan (if you want them to look pretty on a serving plate, that is).
Then again, you and your friends could each just grab a fork. We’re just
sayin'...
