I recently had a revelation: what if I used beer syrup to make brown sugar? Brown sugar is basically 1 tablespoon molasses and 1 cup of sugar mixed together. Simple, right? Well, I took a chance and it turned out beertastic.

You can use any high ABV beer (8% or higher) that has similar notes to molasses. A beer with some chocolate or smoke or spice is perfect to use and in my case I used the collaboration beer from Beachwood Brewing  and The Bruery called Mrs. Stoutfire. This beer is a 9.5%ABV imperial smoke stout which was smoked with three different kinds of wood. It’s smokey but not overly, sweet, salty, and has a wonderful smooth texture. It’s not overly sweet or spicy which made this beer perfect to convert into cookies.

To make the beer syrup:

1 cup beer

1/2 cup granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Heat the beer and sugar in a non-stick skillet on low to med. heat until the mixture will have almost reduced by half. You can also tell by running your finger on the back of your spoon or spatula and if the syrup doesn’t run back into the finger mark then it’s ready.

2. Set the syrup aside to cool.

To make the beer brown sugar:

1 cup white granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of the cooled beer syrup

Directions:

1. Mix the sugar and beer syrup together in a mixing bowl with a fork or electric hand mixer until combined. Set aside to use or you can place in a plastic bag for future use. The brown sugar stays good for about a month on the shelf.

To make the beer crinkle cookies:

1 stick of unsalted butter

2 cups AP Flour

1 cup of beer brown sugar

1/2 cup of granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup of beer syrup

2 tablespoons of vegetable oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Beat the butter, brown sugar and white sugar in an electric mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix on low to medium until smooth. Mix in eggs, one at a time until combined. Then mix in the beer syrup and vegetable oil. In a separate bowl; whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and salt.

2. Reduce the speed of the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture. Once the cookie dough is just combined, remove from the mixture and transfer to a separate bowl and cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight.

3. Heat your oven to 325 degrees F. Take a cookie scoop and scoop out about a quarter sized ball of dough and roll in granulated sugar and bake at least 3 inches apart. These cookies will spread. You can opt to make them a little smaller to yield more cookies.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes, rotating once during the baking process. If you make smaller balls than you would want to reduce your baking time. I recommend baking for 15 minutes, then checking on them. Let cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack.

These cookies are super crunchy and have a fantastic snap to them. This cookies remind me of the holidays. All I need is a cocktail and some twinkle lights and I am all set! Also, these cookies would make fantastic ice cream sandwiches. Salted caramel ice cream in between these cookies….oh my!

Yield: between 1-2 dozen

Lasts: 5 days

Level: beginner-ish

Season: Fall and Winter, but I don’t care. It’s July. I am not tied down to these rules.