Come on and join me over on the dark side.  It’s been heaven over here lately.  I can’t get enough of dark chocolate.  I will let you in on a little secret..this is my first attempt ever at making fudge.  And you know what?  I nailed it!  I am really proud of this fudge.  It is moist, rich, and chocolaty smooth.  It has just the right essence of Guinness beer.  Even had my sister-in-law who doesn’t like beer, but loves dark chocolate, loved it.  It doesn’t taste like alcohol, just a really good dark chocolate.

After my post about Dark Chocolate Guinness Rice Krispie Treats, I went back to look at all my pictures from Ireland two years ago and found this picture.  Let me tell you, this was some good chocolate.  I wanted to bring those tastes together again.  That’s how the idea of the fudge came about.  Then I found an easy chocolate fudge recipe online and manipulated it to what I wanted. 

This recipe is so easy and doesn’t have that many ingredients.  I used the same method of boiling down the beer, that I used in the other recipe.  Except this time I wanted more of that Guinness flavor, so I used a whole can.  I know that leaves you with no left overs to drink as you make this, but you can always pop open another can.

I boiled the beer down to 1/4 cup, twice as much as I used in the Rice Krispie Treats.  And I used two different chocolates for an intense flavor.  The walnuts are optional.  I didn’t add that much, so they don’t interfere with the other flavors.

After the fudge was cooled off, I drizzled a generous amount of caramel over the whole thing and sprinkled it with sea salt.  I only had fine grain sea salt, but it worked just as well.  It melted into the caramel after awhile, but the flavor was still there.  It just tastes like a salted caramel.  The salt cuts down a little on the richness of the chocolate.  

A box of these makes a perfect gift for those Irish loved ones in your life or those dreaming about going to Ireland.  Or even those who just love chocolate and beer.  Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Guinness Fudge

by The Sweet Chick

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 25-30 minutes

Keywords: stove top snack dessert dark chocolate semi sweet chocolate caramel Guinness beer fudge American

Ingredients (64 pieces)

For the fudge

• 1 3/4 cups Guinness beer (14.9 oz. can)
• 1 1/2 cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate baking chips
• 1 1/2 cups Hershey’s semi-sweet baking melts
• 1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

For the toppings

• 1/4 cup caramel or caramel topping
• 1 teaspoon sea salt (fine or coarse grain)

Instructions

For the fudge

In a medium saucepan, bring the beer to a boil on medium/high heat. Boil for 20-25 minutes or until the liquid is reduced to 1/4 cup.

Remove from heat and set aside.

In another medium saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate chips and milk.

Remove from heat, stir in the vanilla, beer, and walnuts.

Then spread the mixture evenly onto a parchment paper lined 8″ x 8″ pan or glass dish.

Place the container in the fridge and chill until set (about 2 hours).

Remove from fridge and gently lift the parchment paper to remove the fudge from the pan.

For the toppings

Place the caramel in a Ziplock back with the tip cut off and drizzle it over the fudge in any pattern you like.

Then sprinkle with salt.

Cut the fudge into even squares. To get clean cuts, I recommend that you clean your knife in between cuts.

Then go ahead and pop one in your mouth.