Beer Baked Beans

This was the final dish for our Memorial Day cookout. Again, I have never made baked beans before and I will have to work on this recipe in the future.

While the flavor was nice, the sauce was way to thin. I am used to - gasp - baked beans from a can and this sauce was nothing like the sauce that comes from the can. I will have to play around with this to get it the right consistency. The beans also remained white, something that canned beans do not do.

But it wasn't bad for my first attempt.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups dried white beans or navy beans, rinsed
1/2 cup beer
1/4 cup onion, chopped
3 tablespoons molasses (I used honey instead)
3 tablespoons catsup
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon dry mustard
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
6 slices of bacon, 3 slices chopped

Directions:
~Place dried beans in the bottom of a large pan. Cover with 6-8 cups of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes to one hour. Remove from heat and drain, reserving liquid.

~Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

~In a large bowl combine the beans with the remaining ingredients, reserving 3 slices of bacon for the top. Pour into a buttered baking dish and bake, covered, for 4 to 4 1/2 hours, uncovering for the last hour of baking.

~Add reserved cooking liquid if beans become dry.

recipe modified from: The Joy of Cooking