Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Truffles

This recipe is created in partnership with Guinness. All text and opinions expressed in this post are entirely mine.

It’s that time of year again, when all things point to tradition. In my home that means the tree goes up Nov 1 and comes down February-ish. Four months of holiday is insane by most people’s standard, but 2020 is writing new normals for us all. Insane might be the new genius, so I may be setting a new trend with all my extended holiday merry making.

At least that’s what I told Matt. He flat out disagrees. This coming from a guy who starts wearing ELF socks in October, Christmas panics in June about holiday shopping and pouts worse than our 6-year-old when his siblings raise the idea of replacing the white elephant gift exchange for another activity. 

Yeah, I’m thinking his disbelief definitely does not cancel out my genius.

With that, let’s discuss one this year’s best merry-making gift ideas! Hello, Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout Aged in Kentucky Bourbon Barrels. You can definitely gift this straight, as is – wait, maybe slap a bow on it for added festiveness. It’s a limited release and brewed at their Guinness Open Gate Brewery in Baltimore.

The new Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout is brewed with allspice, ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg, and then aged in bourbon barrels. Its rich notes of gingerbread and warm notes of bourbon make it a delicious winter sip.

Beyond the sip—you guessed it—I created these gold dusted truffles with some. It’s rich, decadent and most of all – SO EASY TO MAKE! These truffles are made for gifting. What more can I say? Make some, gift some and spread the holiday joy!

A few notes before you get started on the Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Truffle recipe:

• To start, open Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout while you prepare this so that it flattens a bit.
• Truffles are minimal in ingredients, so make sure to start with a high quality chocolate and one that is preferably at least 60% cacao. The quality of the chocolate will heavily impact the flavor.
• You can shape truffles in any shape, but if you cut them into squares like you see here, make sure to: (1) Use a warm knife to easily cut through the truffle. This can be done by simply running the knife under hot water. (2) Wipe down your knife between cuts for clean edges.

Guinness Chocolate Truffles

Yield: Makes 20 one-inch truffles

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes

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Ingredients

• 300 g dark chocolate (at least 65% cacao), chopped
• 80ml heavy cream
• 60 ml Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout
• cocoa powder for dusting and
• gold leaf to accent

Instructions

1. Preparation: Spray a small 6x3-inch loaf pan with non-stick
   spray and line with parchment paper. The non-stick spray will prevent the
   parchment paper from shifting in the pan
2. Place chopped chocolate in a bowl. In a small sauce pan,
   over medium heat, bring cream to a boil. Pour cream over chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes, before stirring to combine. Rinse out sauce pan and fill 1/3 of the way up with water, bring to a simmer. Place the chocolate bowl over the pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Stir the chocolate mixture continuously, until mixture is smooth and homogenous. Remove from heat and stir in the Guinness Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout.
3. Scrape mixture into prepared pan and then smooth the top to
   an even finish. Refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours or until firm. (Mixture will keep
   in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to 1 week at this point.
   Bring to room temperature before cutting or shaping).
4. Using the parchment sides, lift the truffle out of the pan.
   With a warm knife slice truffle into 1-inch pieces. Dust with cocoa powder. Optional: accent tops with gold leaf.