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Lonely Blondies -- can you guess the secret ingredient?
by Jes Mostek
serves: 48
  These chewy moist and chewy blondie bars are guaranteed to draw a crowd, so the ale may be lonely, but you certainly won't be!

This recipe yields about 4 dozen bars, which is perfect for a party (and if you can’t fit all the bars on your serving plate, then you’ll just have to make the massive sacrifice of leaving a couple at home for yourself later). I suppose you could just cut the recipe to make less, but I can’t imagine why you’d want to do something like that.
Ingredients:
  1.50 c.   butter
  3 c.   brown sugar, firmly packed
  3   eggs
  1 (12 oz.) bottle   American Blonde Ale, I recommend Fulton Lonely Blonde
  1 T.   salt
  4 c.   all-purpose flour
  1 c.   granola
  2 c.   mix-ins (dates, coconut, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips… use your imagination)
Directions:
  Preheat oven to 350°F Grease and set aside 3 square baking pans, or 2 9x13” pans, 3 9” cake plates, or 1 giant bar pan.

1.) Unwrap the 3 sticks of butter, place in a microwave-safe bowl, and heat on high for 1 minute to partially melt butter.
2.) Open the beer. Measure out and set aside 1 c. for baking. Drink the rest and give some serious thought to how great your life is at this moment, repeat with a second bottle if necessary.
3.) In an electric mixer, beat the partially melted butter on medium until smooth. Mix in the brown sugar and beat on high for 2-3 minutes to cream the butter and sugar (mixture should increase slightly in size, which means it’s captured some air).
4.) Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition to incorporate fully.
5.) Scrape the sides of the bowl, turn the mixer on low, and slowly pour in beer until fully incorporated. Beat on high another minute. Mixture should have grown again (plus, now it smells awesome!).
6.) Add flour, ˝ cup at a time, mixing carefully after each addition. Repeat until the mixture has taken in all of the flour (note—in low humidity or high altitude conditions, you may need to slightly reduce the amount of flour).
7.) Mix in the granola (quickly pat yourself on the back for making something so healthy!) and whatever other mix-ins strike your fancy. Dates pair ridiculously well with Fulton’s Lonely Blonde, and coconut gives a great, chewy texture to these bars. Butterscotch chips are mandatory in blondies, but I have religious-type feelings about the need for chocolate in everything, so I added both.
8.) Bake for 30-40 minutes. If you’re using dark pans, reduce oven temperature to 325°F. If you have the patience to allow the bars to cool completely in the pans, even overnight, you’ll reduce the color of your language as if you want them to look pretty on a serving plate. Then again, you and your friends could each just grab a fork.