Guinness Brownies

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and grease and line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper. Allow the paper to stick up and over the edges for easy removal.
2. To remove some of the carbonation from the beer, pour it into a glass. Grab a separate empty glass and pour the beer back and forth between the two cups. When your cup starts to pour just foam, rinse it with water and continue pouring back and forth. It should take about 8-19 pours total until no foam remains.
3. Measure out 1/2 cup (120ml) of the beer and set aside.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.
5. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter and chopped chocolate in 30 second intervals until smooth, mixing between each time. It shouldn’t take more than 90 seconds total. Set aside.
6. In a large mixing bowl, vigorously whisk together the sugars and eggs until pale and frothy. You can do this by hand (3 minutes) or use a stand mixer on medium high speed (1 minute).
7. Pour the chocolate and butter into the sugar mixer while the mixer is running on medium low speed. If mixing by hand, pour the chocolate into the batter in thirds, mixing between each addition.
8. Once combined, mix in half of the dry ingredients, then the 1/2 cup of Guinness, then the rest of the dry ingredients. Careful not to over mix.
9. Pour it into your baking pan and bake for 20 minutes. Take the pan out the oven and close the oven door. Drop the pan against the counter about 8 times (lifting only a few inches off the counter) to help flatten the edges as they rise faster than the center. If using a glass baking dish, drop it onto a kitchen towel.
10. Place the brownies back in the oven and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes. The edges will be cracked and the center will be puffed up. Drop it against the counter just once to help flatten the top.
11. Let the brownies sit out for 30 minutes to cool then place them in the fridge for a couple hours or in the freezer for 1 hour. This is to help get those nice clean edges when cutting them as these brownies are very fudgy.

Optional Toppings

1. Make the salted caramel before the brownies. Pour into a glass container and allow it to cool in the fridge while you make and bake the brownie batter.
2. After the brownies have cooled for 30 minutes, top with an even layer of the caramel and sprinkle as much or as little pretzels as you like. If the caramel has thickened too much to spread, microwave for 10-15 seconds to loosen.
3. Allow the brownies to chill as instructed.