Best of 2012: Spent Grain Chef

After you've made your beer, you are left with a pile of spent grain that still has a great deal of nutritional value. Breweries will often donate their grain as animal feed, but since we live in the city and not on a farm, we found delicious ways to turn spent grain into people food!

So the next time you make some beer, save your spent grain, dry it out and turn some of it into spent grain flour. Then use it in some of our favorite recipes from the Spent Grain Chef this year.

1. Spent Grain Waffles

   Use your leftover spent grain from the day before to make these delightful waffles for breakfast. Light and fluffy but hearty at the same time thanks to the nutty spent grain, these waffles taste even better topped with maple syrup, powdered sugar or fresh fruit.

2. Spent Grain Coconut Pecan Cookies

   Leave out some of these deliciously nutty and wholesome cookies for Santa this year. These sweet treats taste great alongside a nice tall glass of Coffee & Donut Stout - and let's face it, we all know Santa would rather have a glass of beer over that traditional glass of milk any day.

3. Spent Grain Pasta

   You only need three ingredients to make good pasta, but you'll need four ingredients to make GREAT pasta. We add half a cup of Spent Grain Flour to give it a great rich and nutty flavor. Once you make your own spent grain pasta, you'll never go back to the boxed stuff again.

4. Spent Grain Pretzel Rolls

   Beer and pretzels make a great pair and we've further enhanced the partnership by adding some spent grain to our dough. These rolls are delicious on their own, but are made even better when used to make a sandwich, especially our Jalapeño Saison-infused Pulled Pork Sliders.

5. Spent Grain Peach Cobbler

   Made with equal parts Dried Spent Grain and regular flour, the cobbler has a fantastic crunch and a pinch of pepper in the crust adds a fun little kick. This dessert tastes great fresh out of the oven or cooled and topped with a scoop (or two, or three) of ice cream.