Special Chocolate Brownies

Serves 10-12

For Guinness Brownies, you will need:  
1‐cup plain white flour  
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder  
1/4‐teaspoon salt  
6 tablespoons butter, cut into cubes  
8 ounces (225g) dark chocolate (I buy a 250g block of Whittakers and save 25g to chip over the top of mix at the end)
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar  
1 and a 1/4 cups Guinness   

How to make Guinness Brownies:

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.  
Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate, and white chocolate in a saucepan over another saucepan filled with water (or a double boiler) on a very low heat, stirring constantly until melted.
Remove from heat.  
In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined.  
Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in Guinness. The batter will seem a bit thin. 
Drop leftover chips of semisweet chocolate evenly on top of batter.  
Pour into a lightly greased flat baking pan. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for 25 to 30 minutes on centre shelf in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out almost clean. Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature. Dust with icing sugar before serving.   

Note: The Guinness should be at room temperature. This recipe uses a little less than a standard 12‐ounce bottle of Guinness stout beer. Do not include foam in the 1 and a quarter cup measurement. Either spoon off the foam or let it rest until the foam subsides.

This is a perfect St Patricks Day recipe... to be sure, to be sure.

How to make your own Oreo Cookies

For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar [see recipe note]
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375°F.
In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.