Founders Breakfast Stout Pudding

Pudding: the ultimate kids' dessert.  I can't open a Snack Pack without having instant flashbacks of my childhood. (Yes, I do still eat Snack Packs from time to time.  Don't judge.)  There's just something about the cold, creamy texture and sweet, rich flavor that unfailingly makes kids (and me!) happy.

Something that is so deliciously comforting should not just be for kids.  They aren't the only ones that need comforting.  After all, when is the last time you saw a child worrying about job security?  Rising gas prices?  Their 401Ks tanking?

As delicious as pudding is, it probably won't be enough to assuage your concerns about your 401K, but beer will help with that. So I present today's cooking with beer recipe: Founders Breakfast Stout Pudding. This adult-only pudding is dense, rich, and creamy.  And, unlike a lot of desserts with beer, you can actually taste the stout in this pudding. It's subtle, but that distinctive coffee, malty, chocolate-y flavor is detectable, and it's incredible.

So, here's what you'll need for this recipe:

-8 large egg yolks
-1 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar (divided)
-12 oz. bottle Founders Breakfast Stout
-3 cups heavy cream (I never said it was health food!)
-7 ounces high-quality bittersweet (I used 85%, but 70-72% would probably be fine) chocolate, finely chopped

In large nonreactive mixing bowl, whisk together egg yolks and 1 cup sugar.

Open the stout and slowly pour into 4-cup measuring cup, pouring down side of cup to reduce foaming. Pour a little more than half (just shy of 1 cup) into heavy-bottomed 3-quart saucepan. Add 2 1/4 cups cream and whisk to combine. Set over medium heat and heat, whisking occasionally, until bubbles just begin to form at edges. Remove from heat, add chocolate, and whisk until smooth.

Slowly pour hot chocolate mixture into eggs, whisking constantly to prevent curdling or cooking the eggs. Return mixture to saucepan and set over moderately low heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until mixture thickens and coats back of spoon, about 15 minutes.

Pour into blender and blend on high for 1 minute to make the pudding really smooth. Divide pudding among glasses, leaving at least 1/2 to 1 inch of space at top of each, depending on the size of your glasses. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled and set.

Meanwhile, pour remaining stout into small saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Reduce heat to moderately low and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 1 tablespoon, about 20 minutes. Pour syrup into small bowl and let cool.

The reduced syrup

Beat remaining cream until soft peaks form. Add Breakfast Stout syrup and remaining 3 tablespoons sugar and beat until combined.

Soft peaks

The cream with sugar and stout syrup

Divide cream among 6 glasses of pudding and serve.

The finished dessert mimics a frothy pint of stout.  Using a 70-85% dark chocolate will yield the nicest dark stout appearance.  If you find that your color isn't as dark as you'd like, you can add some dark cocoa powder for extra color.  Since I used 85% dark chocolate, my color and flavor turned out fine without it, but I had some on hand just in case.

The topping is definitely the most Breakfast Stout-like tasting portion of this dessert.  If you are serving this to little ones, you may want to make a plain vanilla topping and forgo the stout reduction completely.