soft stout cookies

November 21, 2011

I have been trying to find a way to put beer in a cookie for a very long time. Probably much longer than I’d like to admit.

Other people learn foreign languages in their spare time. Or take up golf! But after mastering French my sophomore year of college, I spent my free time dreaming about getting beer into cookies.

This cookie is the ultimate recipe hack and cobbled together from across the interwebs. Most recipes I found that called for beer in cookies started off by cooking down the beer with a bit of sugar to make a beer syrup. Who has time for that? I would take my time when making something like, oh I don’t know, a wedding cake, but we are making beer cookies. This is a open the can and pour in to the cookies type of situation.

After hours of research – an amount that rivaled my art history thesis – I came across a recipe for drunken pumpkin cookies. No beer syrup, dudes. I found a winner!

I added cocoa powder to make a rich chocolate cookie, a tablespoon of molasses for a hit of flavor, and took out everything related to the pumpkin part of the recipe. Success!

These soft stout cookies are screaming to be used as an ice cream sandwich. It is practically holding up a little sign and yelling at you. They are just barely sweet, perfectly soft, studded with bits of chocolate and would be sublime as the “bread” in an espresso ice cream sandwich.

But if you make those then you must invite me over to share with you.

Soft Stout Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

Inspired by several sources, but mostly by this recipe in Draft Magazine

6 ounces stout beer, such as Guinness
1 stick butter, softened
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 tablespoon black cocoa (or unsweetened cocoa)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment. 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.

Chill the dough for about 30 minutes, or until it has firmed up enough to scoop out cookies. Scoop on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes or until the top springs back lightly when touched. Cool completely.


 

P.S. Thanks to all that entered the BAKINGMAKESFRIENDS giveaway! That was fun, right? More coming soon!

{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }

Tina@flourtrader November 21, 2011 at 2:46 pm

I love chocolate and the idea of the malty beer cooked into chocolate cookies, sounds like an awesome combination. Also, I like the fact that it is so unusual. Thanks for all the research you put into coming up with this recipe, very impressive and creative. Can’t wait to try these-yum!
Have a wonderful holiday.

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Lillie November 21, 2011 at 6:55 pm

Thanks Tina! Have a wonderful holiday too!

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Bennett November 21, 2011 at 5:57 pm

I would like to place an order for 1 dozen stout cookies please. You can ship them to my office at 1 Cookie Ln.

Also, I would like to subscribe to your blog, but unfortunately all I’m told is that it’s coming soon, what’s the hold up!!

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Lillie November 21, 2011 at 6:52 pm

Ha! 1 cookie lane should be easy to find on my delivery route, since I routinely drop off at 236 glass of milk plaza. You will be able to subscribe oh so very soon!

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Dana November 21, 2011 at 11:56 pm

Eric has requested that I make these immediately!!

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Lillie November 22, 2011 at 12:17 am

Yay!!! Let me know if you use a different stout! Maybe a specially chosen one to pair with chocolate? 🙂

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Dana November 22, 2011 at 12:56 pm

i have a bunch of different stouts in my fridge – i’ll let you know which one I end up using!

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Eric November 22, 2011 at 1:44 pm

Maybe Brooklyn Choco Stout?

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Lillie November 22, 2011 at 4:59 pm

Yes – that would be delicious!

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Kelly December 11, 2011 at 9:37 pm

Do I see a possible bombluck pairing in the works?!

Kat May 1, 2012 at 2:05 pm

Just baked up a version of these with honey instead of molasses with a local brewer’s Ice Cream Stout (Bull and Bush) at the Cafe. Rave reviews from people, suggesting they are a bit like muffin tops, or cake-cookies, or just plain “the best brownie I’ve had in a long time”. Call it what you want, I appreciate the ease of making these without having to reduce anything, and was skeptical since everything else out there requires a stove top to make stout beer baked goods, but they worked great!

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Lillie May 1, 2012 at 3:00 pm

Hi Kat – I’m so happy to hear that they were a success! Ice Cream Stout sounds like the perfect beer pairing for these cookies too. p.s. I wish I could visit the store in Denver. Bikes. Beer. Coffee! Three of my favorite things. 🙂

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Kate May 23, 2012 at 11:17 pm

Just baked these exactly per the instructions and they came out perfect.

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Lillie May 23, 2012 at 11:39 pm

Yay! That makes me so happy! 🙂

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hector July 3, 2012 at 6:22 pm

1 stick butter = 100gr o 200gr ?

gracias!!

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Lillie July 4, 2012 at 6:58 am

1 stick of butter = 113 grams. Happy baking!

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Mark November 4, 2012 at 5:50 pm

So this looks awesome! I went out and bought 6 different stouts to taste as candidates for this recipe. I think I am looking for a strong dark witch flavor. More so than a typical Guinness. So here are the ones I got, perhaps tou can hive an opinion.

Lion stout
Youngs double chocolate
Old Rasputin imperial stout
Samuel smith oatmeal stout
Green flash double stout
Left hand milk stout

Any ideas which would be best for this recipe?

Oth suggestions?

Thn
Anks

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Lillie November 7, 2012 at 4:06 pm

Amazing! Off the top of my head I would probably go with Old Rasputin Imperial Stout due to its big, bold flavor. I would love to hear what ends up being the best!! Happy baking!

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Felix December 21, 2012 at 1:32 am

What a great recipie and soo awesome pictures! I will try it right before christmas (or after) Thank you so much!!

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Rebecca February 13, 2013 at 11:07 pm

Just baked some for my coworkers at Carton Brewing using our Carton of Milk stout. I’ll let you know what they all think! Thanks for the recipe.

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Leanne January 26, 2015 at 8:32 pm

Thanks for this recipe, it is exactly what I was looking for when I found myself with half of an enormous bottle of Lagunitas RIS left over. I totally didn’t want to make a dumb syrup and this fit the bill. Since I had 12 oz of beer to work with, I doubled the recipe and added one more egg for good measure (3 eggs for doubled recipe, with everything else the same). Since I was working quickly and going back and forth between my kitchen and my laptop in the next room, I didn’t beat the eggs and sugars together like I was supposed to, and mixed the sugars in with the dry ingredients. (Oops). Luckily I had left out the chocolate chips until the end, thinking it would be easier to mix that way, and was able to beat everything together successfully (this is how instant mixes work, after all). I don’t think you mentioned how large to make the cookies or how widely spaced, so I made what I thought was normal cookie size of about a TBS each at 2 inches apart. These spread out and melded together making one enormous sheet cookie. I sliced them apart and they were delicious. My takeaway is, give these space. I froze half of the batter and will try and update with how it holds up. Looking forward to ice cream sandwiches!

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Dustin H December 18, 2015 at 8:49 am

Hmmm… I haven’t made these yet, but already trying to determine if making these with Abita’s Bourbon St Bourbon Stout would be tasty or not… have you given any bourbon stouts a try just yet? I just may have to give it a go… thoughts? I’ll be sure to write back if I give that route a try!

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Lillie December 11, 2011 at 9:40 pm

Yes!! Most definitely!

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