Dream (Irish) Cream

Today I'm giving myself the beautiful therapy of a freshly scrubbed house.  Now with only one child around during the day, it doesn't feel so hopeless to do a deep clean.  While I clean, I'm enjoying listening to the audio version of the book Close Your Eyes by Iris Johansen.

It's a fascinating story about a woman who used to be blind, and now works for the FBI, using her enhanced senses.  I love it!

Entirely unrelated: I don't remember what inspired this, but I was looking up YouTube tutorials on Kim Kardashian inspired makeup.  It's my new favorite look, but it's very dramatic, so I don't feel like it's an appropriate "everyday" look for me.  More of an Evening Out sort of thing.  Of course, in the practicing and playing around along to these tutorials, I've occasionally looked rather "accidental glam" while cleaning my house, going out to run errands, and teaching piano to small children.  Yeah.  I'm weird, whatevs.

Here's my two favorites:

Continuing to talk about things unrelated to anything else so far in this blog post.... Last week, my friend Jenny texted me and said "We're making Irish cream tomorrow!  Your blender!  My house!", and, well, who was I to say no?  I like Bailey's Irish Cream, but I've never drank it much because it is just a bit too sweet for me.  Of course I could throw a shot into a glass of milk, but I never thought of that.  Until just now.  Right.  Anyway.  We smashed a few recipes together, refigured it to my preferences (cut the sweet by half, etc.), and it was PERFECT.  Exactly what I've always wanted Irish Cream to be.

Here's what we did:

One recipe makes two full 750 ml bottles, so bear that in mind.  We were making this to share with friends as well as for our own households, so it seemed to be a reasonable amount to us.  One other thought -- I can't seem to find a perfectly suitable time to drink this.  If I drink it with my morning coffee, all that I want to do is get right back into bed.  Same story in the afternoon.  (Not that I tested out either scenario.  Of course not.  Haha.)  However, if I drink it in the evening like a responsible adult, the teeny tiny bit of espresso in this recipe keeps me buzzed enough that it's hard to fall asleep, and I end up having crazy dreams all night.  Good times.  Maybe I'll skip the espresso the next time I make a batch.  But for now, OHMYGOSH this is so delicious!!  So with that in mind: want the recipe?  I thought you might.  Here you go:

Irish Cream

Please note that the quality of your ingredients will affect the overall outcome -- however....it's whiskey!  And cream!  And yay, it's really potent!  So have fun with it and don't get too serious.  If you want to use all of the cheapest ingredients you can find, it's still going to taste FANTASTIC.  Especially after 2 or three shots over ice.  So hooray!  Make some!!

1 - 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk)

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup instant espresso (I prefer Bustello)

1/4 cup chocolate syrup (I had some of my own homemade syrup on hand, made with a good quality cocoa powder)

4 teaspoons vanliia extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

750 ml bottle of Irish Whiskey (I used Feckin.  Hey, don't look at me like that.  YES, I choose my liquore by the fun-factor of the label.  And how fun it feels to say it.  Stop your judging.)

Add all of the ingredients except for the whiskey to your blender and process well (but not for TOO long -- we don't want to accidentally make the cream go all clumpy).  Pour in the entire bottle of whiskey.  Your blender will now be WAY TOO FULL to safely run it, so just stir it well with a long-handled wooden spoon.  Decant with a funnel into two 750 ml sized empty whiskey bottles.  Drink the leftovers. (*wink wink*)  Chill the full bottles -- this should keep for about two months.