Irish Cream

if you are still looking for a thoughtful, delicious, easy, homemade gift i have just the thing for you.

homemade irish cream is a perfect gift for the holidays. even if you aren't looking for a gift idea, this is worth giving yourself. this is pure liquid euphoria in a bottle. it warms you from the inside my friends.

i suggest making a double batch if giving it to friends. i doubled the recipe and it made five, 550 ml bottles of irish cream. i got this recipe from AJ, who got it from someone else. but, you can claim it for yourselves. i highly recommend you use jameson irish whiskey for this irish cream. not only do i happen to think jameson is one of the best, it's good to stick with an irish whiskey when making irish cream. i have a feeling cheap whiskey would ruin the whole batch and that would be a serious travesty.

i also recommend making some homemade chocolate syrup instead of using the store bough that is full of high fructose corn syrup. below is my great grandmothers recipe that i used for my irish cream. it's worth the extra bit of time, i promise. i have also used wegmans triple chocolate sauce with great success. the key is a nice, thick, rich dark chocolate sauce made with real ingredients. (i.e. dark chocolate, cream, sugar, and vanilla)

add a holiday label and some ribbon and it doesn't even need wrapping. be sure to make extra so you have some leftover. between this and the spiked eggnog, it's going to be one merry christmas!

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Irish Cream
(makes roughly 6 cups)

1 pint jameson irish whiskey

1 pint whipping creme

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

2 tsp chocolate syrup

1 double shot espresso or 1 tbs instant espresso

mix all ingredients together and whisk, whisk, whisk. you want to be sure all of the chocolate, condensed milk, and espresso has mixed in. when in doubt, whisk it some more.

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Chocolate Sauce


3 squares of baker chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbs salted butter


melt chocolate over low heat. stir in sugar and add milk slowly. cook until thick. add vanilla and butter and stir until butter has melted. store in airtight container in fridge. can be used hot (over ice cream - yum!) or cold.