Chocolate Chili and Beer Bread

With the crazy weather in El Paso lately, we’ll been sticking to soups and chili for a while. We have El Paso days with 60 degrees and above weather and we have unseemly cold days with snow, sleet and rain – not El Paso weather at all. With the chill in the air once the sun goes down, all you want to do is warm up. Now’s not really the time for anything served cold.


This recipe, Weeknight Chili with Chocolate, will be included in the new (print) Mi Chita’s Chocolate Recipes book that will come out this year, courtesy of of Copper Canyon Cookbooks (Gloria Chadwick). I’ve made it before but for some reason never got around to posting about it.

As time goes by, I will inform you more about the publishing of the new cookbook. For now, you can still purchase the Mi Chita’s ebook version  via the link on this blog.

Weeknight Chili (with Chocolate)


2 pounds ground beef
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can (8 ounce) tomato paste
2 cups water
1 small can diced tomatoes
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 disk Mexican chocolate, chopped
1 12 ounce can of beer
1 to 2 tablespoons masa flour for thickening (optional)
2 cups cooked pinto beans (optional)
Grated Cheddar cheese, minced onions and sour cream as garnish, if desred

Brown ground beef and drain. Add onion and garlic and cook until translucent. Add remaining ingredients except for masa and beans. Cook mixture for at least 30 minutes on medium-low heat. Add beans and masa for thickening if desired. Serve hot.

What better way to serve this body-warming chili than with Beer Bread. I won’t lie to you. The bread pictured here actually came from one of those giant “Beer Bread” bottles they sell at gourmet stores. I bought one and stuck it in Bob’s Christmas stocking. It was actually quite tasty. You pour the mix from the bottle into a bowl and add a 12 ounce bottle of beer. Bake it for 45 minutes and it’s done. But I couldn’t give you a picture of the bottle and let it go at that so I found a recipe that might be just as good.

Beer Bread Recipe

http://www.recipezaar.com/Beer-Bread-73440

There are a few recipes for Beer Bread out there, but none as simple (and tasty!) as this one. You can even mix it in the baking pan for easy clean up. This is sensational when served with soups or just as a snack, but don't expect it to be around very long when your family gets a taste of it!
by Gerald Norman

3 cups flour (sifted)
3 teaspoons baking powder (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1 teaspoon salt (omit if using Self-Rising Flour)
1/4 cup sugar
1 (12 ounce) can beer
1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 cup will do just fine)
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mix dry ingredients and beer.
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
Pour melted butter over mixture.
Bake 1 hour, remove from pan and cool for at least 15 minutes.

I hope you all are staying warm.  Weather patters are a jumble right now and it's only the middle of winter.