I get weird, random, ‘squint your eyebrows, cock your head to the side and stare in confusion’ kinda of cravings. Caramelized Onion Beer Bread I as product of a craving. I’ve made Beer Bread before, but this time I wanted onion, and garlic and extra salt. I’m drooling just reminiscing over it…

I used to HATE beer. Yuck, don’t even let a bottle in the same cooler as my non-beer beverages (ah hem, wine coolers are always an acceptable beverage). But for whatever reason during pregnancy I wanted a beer like no other. And since then, I’ve liked beer. I’m not just talking a light beer with a twist of lime, I mean a thick, dark, almost syrupy Guinness. I know, bizarre. I go from hating the stuff, to loving a Guinness.

If you hate beer, you may hate this bread. But, you may not. It doesn’t taste tooooo much like beer. And if you add enough onions, garlic, and spread some cheese on it, I think you can convince a beer hater even they will like this, I THINK. Since I now love beer, I am not a good judge of this…

This bread is so moist, and dense, flavorful and just plain delicious.

Eat it plain.
Serve it with dinner.
Eat it as a snack spread with butter, or cheese, or butter AND cheese.

But the ultimate way to eat this bread? Use it as the bread for a grilled cheese with gorgonzola sandwiched in between the bread. Oh my goodness. It’s an amazingly salty, cheesy, bready little piece of heaven.

Caramelized Onion Beer Bread
Makes 1 9×5 inch loaf
time: 60 minutes

Ingredients
3 cups flour
1/2 white onion (about 1 cup)
1 bottle (12 ounce) Guinness (Guinness is not vegan, sub a different beer to keep it vegan))
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp minced garlic
olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small saute pan, add the olive oil (just about 1 tbsp). Saute the onions until they are caramelized, slightly brown. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little bit.

While the onions and garlic are cooling, mix all of the bread ingredients in a bowl, add in the onions and garlic. Pour into a greased loaf pan. Drizzle the top of the batter with about 1 tbsp olive oil and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a fork inserted comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes, then cool on a wire rack.

Serve warm with butter.

*You can also freeze your baked loaf for later. Just allow it to cool completely, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze. Allow to thaw at room temperature, then slice and serve.