"Brewer For A Day" At The Foxhole Brewhouse

I had a wonderful time this morning being a 'brewer for a day' at the Foxhole Brewhouse in Willmar, MN.   I learned so much!  Ryan was an excellent teacher and showed me exactly how the beer making process works.  There were a lot of similarities to soap and cosmetic making, which helped me understand the process better.

You can see pictures of my adventures here "Brewer For A Day"

Similarities between soap making a beer making: Getting the temperature just right, making sure everything is clean and sterilized,  making sure everything is properly mixed together, weighing and carefully measuring ingredients, creating a well balanced recipe, waiting for your product to "cure" or get ready to sell.

It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to try the Galaxy Pale Ale that I watched Ryan make this morning!

This afternoon I'm taking a batch of foaming beer soap to the brewery in Annandale, MN - Spilled Grain Brewhouse.  Two weeks ago I picked up some of their Barnwood Bitter when I was in Annandale for a craft show.  I made foaming beer soap using this beer and scented it with sweet orange.  It smells fabulous!

  

Pumpkin Waffles - Vote For Me!

This month's challenge, on The Leftover Queen's Royal Foodie Joust, is to use orange, black and sugar.

So, Orange: pumpkin or squash - Black: Dark ale or cola - Sugar

I have to be honest, before this recipe I'd never bought beer.

I know nothing about beer.

At first it was a struggle to think of a recipe that used pumpkin, beer and sugar.

But then I thought of pumpkin waffles.

After that, the only thing left to do was to buy the beer.

Whew! Who knew that there were soooo many types of beer?

I stood in front of the cooler for a long time.

Finally, the clerk asked me if I needed help.

"Yes! Do you have any dark beer? Besides Guinness?"

"Ummmm, noooo. Just Guinness."

Ok then. Out of a million types of beer I went home with the only dark beer - Guinness.

Now to the recipe!

Perfect Pumpkin Waffles

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup oatmeal flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 cups pumpkin (canned or cooked)
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
6 Tbs. butter, melted
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cup buttermilk (or milk with 1 Tbs lemon juice added)
1/2 cup dark beer

Mix together in a large bowl dry ingredients. Stir in Pumpkin, butter, brown sugar and eggs.
Add milk and beer, mix until thoroughly blended.
Scoop batter into a preheated waffle iron.
Bake until waffles are golden brown.
Serve with butter and warm maple syrup.

I made oat flour by grinding whole oats in my mini food processor.

All of the ingredients.
Look at those bright orange yolks!
Thanks for the eggs Ladies.




I made the buttermilk by adding 1 Tbs. bottle lime juice to 2% milk.
Then let it stand for a few mins. and add the beer.
Why do you even need to use buttermilk?
The acidic buttermilk reacts with the baking soda/baking powder and results in lighter waffles with a higher rise. Have you ever made a baking soda/vinegar volcano? Same idea - poof!



I threw a few chocolate chips into the batter.




Nice and golden.

What do they taste like?

Well, do you like pumpkin bread or cake?

They taste just like that.

However, because there isn't as much flour they don't taste starchy, the spicy pumpkin flavor can really shine through.
Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.

And they re-heat well too.

Just follow the same refrig or freezing directions

as I used for the In a Hurry Pancakes.

I served mine with home-made cinnamon butter.

Now, how can you vote for me?

Well, on Nov. 1st The Leftover Queen Forum will start voting on every one's recipes.

Please vote for me!