Guinness Brownies and Shamrock Shakes for St Patrick's Day

Happy St Patrick's day to all my readers!! As today is the Irish (or should that be Welsh?) saint's feast day, I have two special recipes for you, both themed for St Paddy's day.

The first is a rich chocolate brownie made from that most Irish of drinks, Guinness, but decorated with green sugar crystals. The second is a green milkshake in both an adult and kid-friendly version.

Guinness Brownies

Serves: 16

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

4 eggs
150g (3/4 cup) granulated sugar
225g (8 oz) dark chocolate (at least 60% cocoa solids), chopped
115g (4 oz) white chocolate, chopped
6 tbsp unsalted butter
90g (3/4 cup) plain flour
90g (3/4 cup) cocoa powder
300ml (1 1/4 cups) Guinness (or other Irish stout)

For the Icing:

120g dark chocolate
2 tbsp Guinness
60g butter
120g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp cream
green sugar crystals, to decorate

Method:

Beat together the eggs and sugar until pale and creamy.

Combine the dark chocolate, white chocolate and butter in a saucepan. Melt gently over medium heat, stirring constantly until smooth.

Take off the heat, allow to cool slightly then beat in the egg and sugar mixture. Sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl, then beat into the chocolate mixture.

Finally whisk in the Guinness.

Turn the resultant batter into a greased and lined 20cm (8 in) square baking pan. Level the surface, then transfer to an oven pre-heated to 190ºC (375ºF). Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cake is firm and a skewer inserted into the centre emerges cleanly.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack.

Once the cakes have cooled, prepare the icing (frosting). Heat together the chocolate and Guinness in a bain-marie (double boiler) set over just barely simmering water. Beat in the butter until melted and add the cream. Take off the heat and allow to cool slightly before beating in the icing sugar (you should end up with a just spreadable icing, if too stiff add a little more cream). Spread this liberally over the top of the brownies.

Allow the icing to harden slightly before dusting with the green sugar crystals, then allow to harden completely before slicing into squares and serving.

Shamrock Shake

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

2 scoops vanilla ice cream, or pistachio ice cream

250ml (1 cup) semi-skimmed milk

3 tbsp menthe vert (green mint syrup) or green crème de menthe if making an adult version

a few drops of green food colouring (if needed)

sprig of mint, to garnish

Method:

Combine all the ingredients (except the mint sprig) in a blender. Process on high for 20 seconds, then pour into a chilled highball or large margarita glass.

Garnish with a sprig of mint and serve.

If desired, the shakes can be garnished with chocolate sauce before serving.

For more information about St Patrick and his feast day, and many more St Patrick's day recipes, why not visit the Celtnet St Patrick's day information and recipes pages?

For many more traditional Irish recipes, why not visit the Celtnet Ireland history and Irish recipes pages?