Blueberry Stout French Toast

I love making my wife french toast. Or actually, she loves me making french toast. Err, actually, she just loves me cooking in general, but especially french toast. Her favorite breakfast. I'm always trying out different versions of french toast for her. Figured I'd put this idea to work and it turned out frickin awesome!

Dark Horse Brewing is one of my top 10 breweries. They're frickin fantastic. "Tres Blueberry Stout" just seemed to be a breakfast beer to me. It's roasty, malty, chocolatey, and has an excellent blueberry note to it. Unique and wonderful. To actually incorporate it into breakfast just made it even more badass.

Ingredients for french toast:
1 loaf crusty italian bread (sliced into 1in thick pieces)
1 cup stout
1/2 cup milk
A good splash of heavy cream
1/4 cup of sugar
4 eggs
2-3 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Good pinch of nutmeg
2-3 tbsp butter (more as needed)
Whipped cream cheese
Powdered sugar
Maple syrup

Ingredients for blueberry stout compote:
2 cups frozen blueberries
1/4 cup stout
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of cinnamon
Juice from 1 lemon

To start, break out a small saucepan and put on medium heat. Add 1 cup of blueberries, stout, sugar, and lemon juice. Cook for 10min stirring several times. Then add in the 2nd cup of blueberries and cook another 10minutes. Turn heat down to low and keep warm.

Heat oven to 200 and set a casserole dish inside. Set a large skillet on medium-high on stove. In a shallow dish whisk together the stout, milk, cream, sugar, eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

Place bread in the dish and let soak up the custard. Flip and coat other side of bread. Add butter to hot pan. Place bread pieces in skillet. Cook in batches. Cook 2-3 minutes per side. When done, place in casserole dish in oven to keep warm. Finish cooking rest of french toast.

When ready to eat, place one piece of toast on plate. Spread cream cheese on top. Place another piece of toast on top and cover with the blueberry stout compote. Dust with a little powdered sugar and maple syrup if wanted.

Voila! Pair with a breakfast stout or a good witbier.

Framboise Poached Pears With Mascarpone

I've made this a few times and each time my guests moan. Weird? Nah. It's just that delicious. Poaching these pears in the raspberry beer makes them soft and adds a new layer of flavor. Make the poaching liquid into a syrup and serve with a little mascarpone cheese and it's out of this world. It's a good idea to make this dessert in advance too because you want to serve cold.

Pair this awesome dessert with an imperial stout. The rich, chocolately, roasty, and sweet stout would work wonders with the pear and raspberry.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 Bosc pears, firm with a little give
1 355ml bottle of Lindemans Framboise lambic ale (raspberry)
2 tbsp of sugar
1/2 cup of orange juice
1 cinnamon stick
6 whole cloves
3 allspice berries
1 tsp of coriander seeds, cracked
pinch of nutmeg
A couple tablespoons of mascarpone cheese for plating

With a small 1/4 sized teaspoon, scoop out the seeds of the pear through the bottom. Then peel the pear.

Put the pears and spices in a pan or sauce pan. Then pour the lambic ale and OJ slowly over the pears. Add in the sugar and stir.

Turn the heat to high and bring to an almost boil. Once it gets there, turn back down to medium, and simmer for 15-18min, leaving the pears at rest. When that time is up, turn the pears over and simmer another 15-18min.

When pears are done, take out and place in a bowl, and set in fridge to cool. While the pears are cooling, bring the liquid in the pan to a slow boil, and reduce to an almost syrup consistency. Liquid should coat back of a spoon. When to desired consistency, pour liquid through a strainer into a bowl and let cool in the fridge. 

When dinner is over, pull out two plates. Place some mascarpone cheese in middle of the bowl. Place a pear on top of the cheese and pour the "syrup" over it all. Truly awesome!