Stove top, Maple & Guinness Baked Beans…

Happy St-Patrick’s day!!  … a bit late 😛 ahah

I had some left over Guinness beers in my fridge from my mini celebration and I thought… why not creating something delicious with them!  After all, I had been craving baked beans for some time after hearing some of my friend rambling about the beans they ate at the sugar shack they went to last week end.  Since the end of the winter is near (hopefully), all the sugar shacks are starting to open.  But I haven’t made any reservations anywhere this year and I’m not sure if I’ll even be able to because of the world schedule I gave myself so instead, I’m gonna bring the sugar shack to me and indulge in these sweet, filling and delicious Guinness, Maple & Rosemary baked beans.

There is obviously a ton of different ways to make baked beans.  I like to do mine on the stove top because my sauce pans don’t go well in the oven.  Feel free to try this recipe and let me know what you think!   I sometime like to eat a full bowl of those in front of the tv (I know it’s really bad but I cant help myself) but it’s mostly served as a side for a classic egg/bacon/potatoes breakfast.  Either way it’s delicious and you just have to try them 😛

If you like Guinness beer, maple syrup and bakes beans… this is a MUST!

Bon Appetit!

– INGREDIENTS –

2 small/medium garlic clove, minced

1 cup of finely chopped yellow onions (small cubes)

1 cup of navy beans, soaked overnight and then gently boiled for 1h (makes 2 1/2 cup of soaked beans)

3 teaspoons of sunflower oil *

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon of ground cloves

1 cup of Guinness Beer

1 cup of maple syrup

1 1/2 cup of water

2 branches of fresh rosemary

Pinch of grounded black pepper

Pinch of salt

* Replace the sunflower oil with raw bacon pieces (about 2-3 slices, cut in smaller pieces) for a delicious and more meaty/manly alternative.

1- In a medium sauce pan, on the stove top, at medium heat.  Add the oil (or bacon pieces), garlic, onions, cinnamon, ground cloves and grill the whole thing for 2-3 minutes before adding the beans.  Grill for an extra 2 minutes.

2- Deglaze with the beer, stir, add the other ingredients.

3- Cover, bring your mixture to a gentle simmer, lower the heat on LOW ** and leave it simmering gently for about 3:15h.  Leave the cover of the pot crooked on the side to make sure there enough air escaping but also not enough to be almost fully covered.  Stir once in a while and verify the tenderness of your beans during the process.  Depending on your taste, you might want to leave it simmer longer or not.  If you see that you are missing a bit of liquid, add a bit of hot water.

It’s very important that your heat stays on LOW because the last thing you want is to burn your sugar and end up with a burn taste.  The mixture should simmer but not too much.  We want to see small bubbles but nothing too intense.  This is also why you need to verify your liquid situation and taste during the whole process.  The last 10 minutes will be crucial and you might need to stir more often to make sure nothing stick or burn.  I know it’s a bit more of a hassle compare to some other of my recipes but it will be sooooo worth it, you wont be disappointed 😛

Enjoy!

** My stove top heating chart goes from 1 to 10.  I start on medium (5) and reduce it to low on (2).  Since all the stoves works a bit different, I thought this information would be useful.