A Gastronomical Match made under campfire stars

One of my favorite food pairings is dark chocolate and beer. I discovered this quite by accident on a camping trip five years ago. A friend was working in the food importing industry at the time and she had brought a huge bar of dark Toblerone to our camping trip. Sitting round the campfire sipping beer, we passed the bar around, breaking off pieces. The bitterness of the beer with the bitter-sweetness of the chocolate enhanced eachother, sending shivers down my spine.

I've been searching for a recipe that used this combination, when I came across this recipe for brownies, using my favorite beer: Mill Street Coffee Porter. I got this recipe on a Canadian news site (and I think they got it from the Mill Street Brewery). I do omit the white chocolate chips when I make this. These are spectacular with vanilla ice-cream - or better yet - more beer!

MILL ST. COFFEE PORTER BROWNIES
1 cup (250 mL) all purpose flour
¾ cup (175 mL) unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ tsp salt (1 mL)
6 tbsp (90 mL) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into cubes
8 ounces (250 grams) dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped
¾ (175 mL) white chocolate chips
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 ¼ cups (300 mL) Mill St. Coffee Porter
1 cup (250 mL) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F (160C). Line a 13 x 9-inch (3 L) metal cake pan with parchment paper.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and salt until evenly combined. Set aside. Melt butter, bittersweet chocolate and white chocolate chips in a double-boiler over very low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add melted chocolate mixture, beating until combined. Beat reserved flour mixture into melted chocolate mixture. Whisk in coffee porter beer. The batter will seem a bit thin. Drop semi-sweet chocolate chips evenly on top of batter. Stir in gently.

Pour into prepared baking pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes on centre rack in the oven, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out almost clean. Let brownies cool, uncovered, to room temperature.