Happy St Patrick’s Day! In December I visited Dublin for the first time with my husband and sister-in-law. At the top of our list of priorities was the Guinness Storehouse and I shared a bit about it in my Dublin Highlights post. One of my favourite parts of the experience (aside from drinking plenty of Guinness) was learning about how to use it in food. Along the wall of one of the levels there was a display with loads of recipe ideas, tips for using Guinness in your own recipes, and some recipe cards to take away. I came away with loads of ideas!

There is a huge souvenir shop at the Guinness Storehouse with every kind of Guinness merchandise you can imagine. I spent a decent amount of time looking at all of the food desperately trying to make a decision. In the end I bought someLuxury  Guinness Fudge which was absolutely to die for and it gave me a brainwave…

Today’s St Patrick’s Day recipe is a chocolate fudge sauce with a sneaky extra ingredient. I use Guinness Extra Stout for its depth of flavour, and I’ve adjusted some of the ingredient amounts to compensate for the slight bitterness of the Guinness as well as the amount of liquid it adds.

I add the Guinness at the end to avoid any issues with the cream. The Guinness lends the sauce its distinctive taste and a beautifully rich flavour that’s perfect when poured over a good quality vanilla ice cream. The sauce will keep in the fridge for about a week, but you may find that a thick layer develops on the surface – just scoop that off before serving. It’s best reheated too!

Ingredients

• 200ml double cream
• 1 tbsp golden syrup
• 80g muscovado sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 30g butter
• 75g 70% chocolate 
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 200ml Guinness Extra Stout
• Pinch salt

Method

1. Gently heat the cream, syrup, sugar, salt, cocoa powder and chocolate over a low to medium heat until the sugar is dissolved and the chocolate has melted.
2. Add the vanilla essence and butter to make the sauce thick and glossy. Stir until the butter melts.
3. Pour in the Guinness at the end and stir to make sure everything is combined and smooth.
4. Serve hot over ice cream, or even brownies and chocolate cake.