This is by far the best chocolate cake I’ve ever made/tasted.

Who knew that a can of Guinness Beer could produce the richest and most decadent chocolate cake?!

I made these in lieu of St. Patricks day/my brother-in-law’s going away party.

You see, my brother in law, Timmy has been living with Mikey and me for the past 2 months while he goes to beer-brewing school.

Yup, that’s a thing.

He is in school to become a brewmaster or master brewer of beer or something like that.

He does (did) 2 months here in Chicago at a school called Siebel, and on Saturday leaves for Germany where he’ll be for the remaining 4 months of the program.

Not bad, eh?

So…we had a going away party for him and paired all of the food with beer, obviously.

Being a baker I decided I had to make a beer inspired dessert…which is where these little babies were born.

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Scotch-A-Roos are not blog worthy.

I realize this and I apologize for the fact that you made these in 3rd grade.

But I will not apologize for the fact that they are 1. Super easy/don’t require turning on an oven in these record breaking and scorching Chicago temps and 2. Still delicious after all these years.

 

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It’s crazy how much my taste buds have changed over time.

I used to cry if something had coconut in it.

Anything that involved bananas, coconuts, nuts, mustard, blue cheese or onions always resulted in complete chaos.

Crying, screaming, tantrums…

Time-outs, spankings and starvation

Most of the time, those things went hand in hand.

 

 

Thankfully I like all of those things now.

(Weeeellllll most mustardy-things…I still think yellow mustard is the worst thing ever).

I heard once that your taste buds change every 7 years.

Not sure if that’s true…but I’m fine with it if it means I get to discover new foods, like coconut, that I can obsess over.

 

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These bars may look familiar to some of you…

Starbucks.

Sigh…

Lets not get all winey and liberal and argumentative about corporate coffee, please.

I worked at a small town coffee shop that would die if a Starbucks opened their doors close by so I understand.

Seriously, I get it.

I will love and support local coffee brewers forever and for always.

Especially because I live in a city where the most amazing coffee is being made all within a 1 mile radius of my house…

Ipsento, Julius Meinl, Intelligentsia, The Wormhole…just to name a few.

So please don’t hate.

I like Starbucks. It’s quick and they put drugs in my toffee nut latte so I can’t stop.

They consequently sell these “bliss bars” there too.

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This weekend was one of the best.

I was trapped in our apartment by a snow storm, forcing me to bake and cook for hours.

These absolutely amazing salty and sweet bars are one of the things I made this weekend.

They are soooo easy to make and so NOT easy to stop eating…

If you remember back to my post about butterscotch banana bread, you will remember my thoughts on how butterscotch is an underrated flavor.

I still feel this way.

And I still love butterscotch, especially in these bars.

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