Irish Beer Bread

Don't be like me - wait until the bread cools to slice it!

For St. Patty's day I considered doing something more fancy, perhaps those chocolate Guinness cupcakes that everyone is so fond of. I decided there are probably enough of those on the internet already, and also enough chocolate in my house from No-Bake Monday's fudge that I could do without cupcakes. Instead I turned to a classic recipe from the Irish side of my family, straight out of Grandma Robinson's cook book (although it's in my Mom's handwriting so it may be more fairly attributed to her). I make this bread all the time because it is so good and the boyfriend loves it. He's even willing to give up a beer for it. Also, because the beer and baking powder provide the leavening action (not yeast) you don't have to wait for this bread to rise, which makes the whole baking process much shorter.


Ingredients:
- 3 c flour
- 3 3/5 t baking powder
- 1 1/2 t salt
- 1/3 c sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 can (12oz) beer (I used Pabst Blue Ribbon)

My dry ingredients - the brown stuff is raw sugar in case you were wondering

Directions:
- Combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt, sugar) in a large mixing bowl and blend together.
- Combine 1 slightly beaten egg and 12 oz of beer, pour into dry ingredients and mix well. The batter may be a little lumpy.
- Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan and bake at 350°F for about an hour.

I tried to cut it when it was still hot because I wanted to eat it so bad...



Wow, that was really easy, right?
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