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Guinness Brownies with Butterscotch and Pretzels
5 from 3 votes

Guinness Brownies with Butterscotch Fudge

These Guinness brownies are topped with butterscotch fudge and garnished with a crunchy salted pretzel.
Yield: 9x13-inch pan or two 8-inch square pans (for thin brownies) or one 8-inch square (for thick brownies)
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 25 minutes
Cooling Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 35 pieces
Calories: 220kcal

Ingredients

Guiness Brownies

  • cup Guinness stout beer (12 fl oz bottle), or any stout beer of choice
  • ½ cup unsalted butter (113 g)
  • 1 ½ cup dark chocolate (226 g) at least 55% cocoa content*, chopped
  • ½ cup granulated sugar (100 g)
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar (100 g), packed
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (130 g)
  • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (42 g)
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt or fine sea salt
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips (180 g)

Butterscotch Fudge

  • ½ cup unsalted butter (113 g)
  • 1 cup dark brown sugar, (200 g) packed
  • ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cups confectioners' sugar, (227 g)
  • 3 Tablespoons heavy cream (43 g)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla paste or pure vanilla extract
  • salted pretzels, as needed to garnish

Instructions

Guiness Brownies

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line 9x13-inch baking pan* with parchment paper. Grease and set aside.
  • Pour Guinness into a heavy bottom sauce pot. Bring a boil. Continue to boil over high heat for about 5 minutes until liquid has reduced to 6 oz (¾ cup).
  • In a large saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over medium-low heat. Once melted, add sugar and brown sugar. Stir to combine. Transfer to bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Let sit for 5 minutes to cool down.
  • With the mixer running on medium speed, add eggs one at a time, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next.
  • Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Alternate adding dry mixture and reduced Guinness to the batter. Starting and ending with the dry mixture. Fold in chocolate chips.
  • Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 25-28 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center of the brownie comes out clean. Let cool on rack.

Butterscotch Fudge

  • In a medium sauce pan, melt together butter, brown sugar, and salt. Heat over medium heat until sugar mixture starts to boil. Let simmer for one minute. Then remove from heat.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, mix confectioners sugar, cream, and vanilla. Once mixture is paste like, slowly add the slightly cooled butter-sugar mix. Beat at low-medium speed until thoroughly combined.
  • Immediately pour over cooled brownies and level with an offset spatula. If desired, place pretzels on top of fudge. Let fudge set before cutting. Serve same day.

Notes

Ingredients:
  • Any kind of high quality dark chocolate (meaning at least 55% cocoa) works. Highly recommend Ghirardelli intense dark chocolate bars, Lindt excellent bar, and Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bars. I used 72% dark chocolate. 
  • Use regular, plain unsweetened cocoa powder. It is often labeled as natural cocoa powder. Dutch-processed cocoa powder also works. 
  • Mini chocolate chips slices easier than if you use standard chocolate chips or chocolate chunks. 
Baking Time: If using one 8-inch square pan for thick brownies, bake for 30-35 minutes. Insert toothpick in center of brownies to check for doneness. 
Serving & Leftovers: Serve same day. Pretzels will get stale overtime. If the brownies are going to sit out awhile, I suggest using chocolate covered pretzels.
*estimated nutritional content is for 9x13-inch brownie pan

Nutrition

Calories: 220kcal, Carbohydrates: 30g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 3g, Trans Fat: 0.2g, Cholesterol: 32mg, Sodium: 61mg, Potassium: 94mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 24g, Vitamin A: 218IU, Vitamin C: 0.1mg, Calcium: 26mg, Iron: 1mg