Life has been a swirl of craziness and I have not been cooking as much as I like to. So on Sunday evening I went to thinking about what sounded good. We had some beer in the fridge and decided it had been too long since I had made Beer Bread. I wanted to change it up a bit and so I made Brown Butter-Ranch Beer Bread.

Browning the butter adds a nuttiness to the bread and the dry Ranch dressing mix adds a ton of flavor. I added some almonds, sesame seeds and a little Parmesan to the top. The crunch was great and everyone was snacking on it before I could get supper on the table.

Supper on the table is a figure of speech here lately. It is more like supper where ever you take your plate. I like it when we eat at the table, but lately the table has been my office and it is A MESS! I ran out of file folders and so I have some really organized piles. Yeah. Yay me!

So anyway, enough about my messes. Get in the kitchen and make this bread. It’s simple, its DE-licious and it’s easy. Perfect, right? Just look at all of that crunchy goodness.

Browned Butter-Ranch Beer Bread

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons (or two packets) Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing Mix (dry)
12 oz beer (whatever brand you have on hand, I used Coors Light)
1/4 cup browned butter*

for topping:

1/4 heaping cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup sliced and coarsely chopped almonds
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large mixing bowl, add flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and Ranch dressing mix. Stir together until well combined.
Add beer and browned butter and stir together.
Pour into a greased loaf pan.
In a small bowl combine Parmesan cheese, almonds, sesame seeds and pepper. Sprinkle over bread batter and press down very lightly.
Bake for 55 minutes to one hour.
Remove from pan onto a wire rack to cool.
Slice spread with butter to serve.
* To brown butter: place in a small pan or skillet and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until browned bits are formed. Remove from heat.