Mocha Munch Madness

Baking with Mocha Death

Is cooking with beer still a thing? That’s a question some of our cousins tackled on Episode 28 of the Life Behind Beer podcast recently. And it was great that they talked about it because I had been planning to try cooking with beer or specifically baking with beer, so it was kismet.

I had never tried baking with beer until last weekend, and I learned when you’re baking with beer, most of the beer is actually consumed during the process because the recipes generally call for very little beer.

TBH I had a couple failed batches that I didn’t even think were worth sharing with the cousins, so we will just skip right on past those and not even talk about them anymore. It wasn’t all pinterest fails though.

In case you didn’t know, Mocha Death is best paired with breakfast, and is also an acceptable substitute for breakfast. So naturally, it got me thinking about making mocha death scones. Of course when you think of mocha death the words chocolatey and rich also come to mind, so I had to go with some brownies.

The obvious winner was the mocha death brownies which really only incorporated the beer into the glaze, but when you have a winner you don’t question it. We’ll start with the brownies first so you can just get to baking something your friends will drool over.

In case you are wondering about the recipes, I adapted the brownie recipe from my favorite food blogger, molly yeh. I fangirled so hard when she signed my cookbook and mailed it back to me. The mocha scloaf is modified from life, food and beer, which was a random internet find that did not steer me wrong. Of course the scloaf twist was another sneaky move by molly.

Now to the fun part.

Mocha Death Breakfast Brownies

Ingredients
Brownies: ½ c all-purpose flour
1 c sugar
⅓ c unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp kosher salt
¼ tsp baking powder
½ c butter, melted & slightly cooled
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 can of mocha death (for drinking)

Mocha death glaze:
3 tb butter, melted
1 tb honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 c powdered sugar
1 tb mocha death beer

1. Download the mocha death spotify playlist and hit play. Ya gotta have some background music going while baking.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8×8-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper, allowing 1-inch wings to hang over the edges. The paper makes it super easy to lift out of the pan onto cooling racks later. You will thank yourself if you do this. 
3. Crack open a can of mocha death. Smell the beautifully sweet aroma of cocoa, espresso and irish death and let it fill your head with thoughts of all the wonderfully non-basic seasonal activities you’re going to participate in during the upcoming months. Take a sip. Audibly ooh and ah over how tasty it is. Take a second sip and then get to baking.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder. In another medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, eggs and vanilla. Slowly pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture & stir it all up. Pour the mixture into the baking pan & bake for 25 min. Fold the laundry, call your grandma, or do something that will take roughly 20 minutes. 
5. A few minutes before the timer goes off make the mocha death glaze. In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, honey, vanilla melted butter, cocoa powder and mocha death. If you feel like you don’t have enough glaze later, you can increase it by adding in more powdered sugar & mocha death. You just don’t want the glaze to be too runny so add more powdered sugar if it is too thin.
6. When the brownies are finished baking, cool in the pan or on a rack for 10 min. Then lift them out of the pan onto the rack to continue cooling. Pour on the glaze while the brownies are still warm and top with sprinkles of course. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP. SPRINKLES ARE LIFE. I didn’t have chocolate sprinkles on me, but that would probably be best for this recipe. There’s a reason it’s called mocha madness! Let cool completely and cut into rectangles or whatever odd shape you manage to cut out. Personally I like to put my brownies into the fridge for about 10 min after pouring on the glaze because it’s easier to cut with clean lines after it hardens slightly. But if you want to serve them up warm you don’t have to do that!
7. Serve ’em up with a can of mocha death.

Mocha Death Scloaf

A second recipe that I would make slightly differently if I do it again is a mocha death scloaf (scone loaf because making perfect geometric shapes is hard). In my version I did not add banana, however after tasting it I think it could’ve used a bit more flavor, so I’m telling you to add it in. If not banana maybe some shredded coconut or your other favorite dried fruit. But not raisins. Nobody wants to find a raisin in their scloaf. I didn’t put a mocha death glaze on this but it would probably have tasted just as good as it did on the brownies so you should probably go for that.

Ingredients
1 ¾ c all-purpose flour (+ some extra for dusting)
¼ c brown sugar
1 ¼ tsp baking powder
2 tb cocoa powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
6 tbs cold butter
1 ripe banana
⅓ c mocha death (or other dark beer)
¼ c plain Greek yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
¼ c chocolate chips
½ c toasted almonds
1 tb melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. In a large bowl, combine your flour, sugar, baking powder, cocoa, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Cut the cold butter into small pieces and add to flour mixture. Using a fork or your hands mix the butter in until it is fully combined with the flour. It should resemble a course meal.
3. In another bowl, combine the beer, yogurt, vanilla and banana (chopped into little bits). Add the wet ingredients into the flour bowl and fully combine. Chop the almonds. Then add the chocolate chips and almonds and stir to fully combine. Helpful hint, if you are allergic to nuts you should just leave them out. IHB is not liable for you having an allergic reaction. 
4. Lightly coat a clean surface and your hands with flour. Place the dough on the floured surface and knead several times. The dough will be sticky- add more flour if needed.
5. If you want to actually make scone shapes this is where it happens. You probably do something like divide up the dough evenly blah blah blah. I do not have the patience to form them into perfect little triangular cones so instead I decided to loaf it. Grease a standard size loaf pan and line with parchment paper so it slightly hangs over the edges. Pour the dough into the pan and spread evenly throughout.
6. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Before the scloaf is fully cooked, brush the tops with melted butter and return to the oven.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. If you want, make the mocha death glaze from the brownie recipe real quick and drizzle on top.
8. Cut yourself a slice and enjoy with a can of mocha death.

Now tell me, what recipes have you made with mocha death? Do you cook with beer?

BONUS: Wow, if you truly read all the way to the bottom of this recipe post, you deserve a bonus. Show us how much you love mocha death for breakfast. Take a picture of a mocha can and your breakfast. Submit it to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook with the hashtag #mochadeathbfast to be entered to win a branded stainless steel mug. Must have a public profile for us to see your entry. Or join in the larger mocha death kegerator giveaway by visiting www.mochadeath.com.