Cooking with wine is commonplace. What should also go hand-in-hand with cooking and foodies? Craft beer! There are many styles out there and many different types of dishes that you can make, anything from appetizers to entrees to desserts. Earlier in January, I invited some friends over for a five-year Deschutes' Abyss vertical tasting (2007-2011). We had pita & hummus, brie and bleu cheeses, honey & pear pizzas, and more. I also made some dark chocolate pudding with the use of one of my favorite beers from Eugene, Oregon...

Oakshire Overcast (espresso stout)

Chocolate Pudding

...

Ingredients: makes about ten 6 oz. servings

1 cup milk, or soy/rice/almond/hemp/coconut milk alternative
5 Tbl cornstarch
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1 1/2 cup (12 oz) Oakshire Brewing Overcast espresso stout (or another stout/porter)
1 can (14 oz) coconut milk + 1/4 cup (2 oz) regular milk/rice/soy/etc milk alternative
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or 4 to 5 oz in chopped up chocolate bars)
1 cup sugar (I used 3/4 white, 1/4 dark brown)
1 tsp sea salt
pinch ground nutmeg
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3 tsp vanilla extract

Ingredient Notes: photos below show component detail

There is a total of 4.5 cups of liquid. If you choose against using a can of coconut milk (usually 14 oz), you can use heavy cream or whipping cream in its place (you need something thicker than normal milk).
I opted for the candy bar route. I got some fancy chocolate bars and chopped them with a knife to aide in their melting quicker. I used a full 3.5 oz (100g) extra dark chocolate bar from Panama (80% cacao) and about a 1/4 of a 3oz (~22g) milk chocolate bar. You can choose whatever style of chocolate that you like. About 4.25 oz (~122g) of chopped chocolate bars was 1 cup in a measuring cup. When making this again, I will likely opt for a higher milk chocolate mix... the pudding turned out great, but the 80% dark definitely made it more on the bittersweet side.

Steps:

Whisk together 1 cup milk and cornstarch in a small bowl. Set aside.
Combine craft beer, coconut milk, additional milk, cocoa, chocolate chips, sugar, salt, and nutmeg into a large saucepan. Warm over medium heat until chocolate chips have melted.
Whisk in cornstarch mixture and cook for 15 minutes over medium-low heat or until pudding thickens* and begins to boil.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
Cover and chill well before serving (4-6 hours, or overnight).
Stir again prior to serving. Enjoy!

*Prep Note: If you double the recipe, you need to heat it longer... you don't want to apply extra heat to do it quicker... it may not thicken properly/consistently.

Photos:

The above pudding recipe would work great for a get together... say, the Super Bowl, or even just a nice dinner party. It's a very versatile dessert.

Dan Temmesfeld (guest contributor)

Dan is a craft beer aficionado, Northwest foodie, and music lover who hails from Eugene, Oregon. He blogs at http://pacificlectic.com/.