Beer Cheese Soup Recipe by Alicia Gray

Ingredients:

14 oz Howard’s Creek Beer Cheese
½ medium onion, diced
1 – large carrot, diced
2 – green onions, sliced – green and white, reserve 2 T sliced green for garnish
3 – slices cooked Browning’s thick-sliced bacon cut into ½ pieces; reserve 2 T for garnish
1 –  large baked potato, skin removed *
2 c chicken broth
1 c milk
1 c heavy cream
Salt
2 T Cooking oil

Directions:

Pour cooking oil into a heavy 3 qt saucepan. Heat until shimmering, and add diced onion. Sprinkle with salt, cover, and cook on medium heat until onions are translucent and tender. Remove onions from the oil and place them in a blender.

Add diced carrot to the remaining oil and sprinkle with salt—cover and cook on medium heat for 2 minutes. Add ½ cup of water, cover the pan, and reduce heat to low. Cook until tender (about 5 minutes). Drain carrots and set them aside.

Add baked potato, chicken broth, and milk to the blender with cooked onions. Puree until the mixture is completely smooth. Pour into a saucepan and heat over low heat, stirring frequently. When the soup base begins to simmer, add beer cheese and stir or whisk until the cheese is melted and the soup is smooth. Add green onions, cooked diced carrots, bacon pieces, and heavy cream. Simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes, remove from heat, and serve.

Serve with Ritz or saltine crackers. Garnish with reserved sliced green onion tops and Browning’s Country Bacon.

*Alternate preparation – Dice ½ a medium potato into ½” cubes. After the onions and carrots are cooked, put potatoes, cooked onions, chicken broth, and milk in a saucepan and cook until the potatoes are tender. You can move on to the next step or blend until smooth with a hand blender. Add beer cheese and simmer on low, stirring until cheese is melted. Add carrots, green onions, bacon, and heavy cream and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and serve.

Serves 6