Homemade Irish Cream

 All righty - I couldn't let another St. Patrick's Day come my way without dabbling a bit with Irish Whisky. And while I'm perfectly happy with it neat, I've been dabbling a good bit with desserts lately - so making my own Irish Cream was a natural.

I wish I'd done this years ago.

I love using this stuff in baking - an Irish Cream Cake is a little piece of heaven, as is a Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Cream Frosting. But honestly - this little concoction is so unbelievably Bombshell that the very best way to have it is on the rocks. Ok - you may add it to your coffee if you want the best Irish Coffee ever. I will say that you need to be a bit careful with it - depending on how strong you make it, it can deliver quite a kick. So go easy on the whisky at first, especially if you're going to drink it neat or on the rocks. If you are going to mix it further for other applications, knock yourself out with the whisky.

I think I need to make a cake. Oh shoot. I need to make another batch of Irish Cream...

You'll Need:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 2 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk
• 2 cups Irish whiskey (more to taste if you wish!)
• 2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
• ¼ cup chocolate syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract

1. In an electric blender, combine cream, condensed milk, whisky, instant coffee, chocolate syrup, vanilla extract and almond extract.
2. Blend on high for about 30 seconds. Taste - feel free to add more whisky if you like it stronger. Be careful adding it to your morning coffee though - you may not get much done.
3. Store in the refrigerator in a tightly sealed container, and shake well before serving.

A couple of notes on customizing this luscious stuff:

Go easy on the whisky and almond extract when you first make this. You can always add more of either but you can't take it out once it's in there. The almond is necessary, but can very quickly overwhelm the other flavors.

If you wish, you can melt baking or milk chocolate with the cream in a small saucepan over low heat instead of using chocolate syrup. There are subtle differences in flavor, but it's all delicious. To go really decadent, use a premium brand of chocolate.

If you like a thinner Irish Cream, the use half and half or whole milk instead of the heavy cream. Cream gives a thick result, more like a milkshake in consistency. My own preference is for using half half and half, and half whole milk. The creaminess is still there but the texture is much lighter. If you wish to sip it on the rocks I like this version. If you wish to mix it with coffee, I like the heavier version with cream.

The flavors come together as the Irish Cream sits in the fridge. By the day after you make it, it will be even better.

If you wish to use this as gifts you'll quickly be every body's favorite person.