Homemade Bailey's Irish Cream!

Yes, I did it!  I made a recipe for Homemade Bailey's Irish Cream and it is quite possibly better than the store-bought version.  I never considered that one could make this from scratch but it came up on a search I did for St. Patty's Day Desserts.  This is significantly cheaper than the store-bought version and might just become a staple in the Lingle Fridge.

There are a bazillion versions of this online, all slightly different.  So I'd recommend doing what I did:  Use the recipe below as a starting point and then tweak to your heart's content!

1 1/2 cups Irish Whiskey or Rum (or do 1/2 and 1/2)
1 cup Half & Half
1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 Tbsp Chocolate Syrup (ie: Hershey's)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp instant espresso powder

Place all ingredients in a blender and puree on high speed for about 30 seconds.  Taste and then adjust to your preferences.

I thought the recipe above was really good, but mostly like sweet milk.  So...  I added another 1/2 cup of Rum, another Tbsp of Chocolate Syrup and then another Tbsp beyond that of Cocoa Powder.  And then about 2-3 more Tbsp of the instant espresso.  For me, this was about perfect!!

This made about 3 1/2 cups total and various website say it will last in the fridge for up to 3 months.  I doubt it will last that long at the Lingle Casa.

Happy Early St. Patrick's Day!

With Love,
Jenny

Fresh Blueberry Pie with Whipped Lemon Cream

I really think one of my favorite things about cooking is being able to experiment and try new things.  It was important to my Mom that my sister and I were comfortable in the kitchen and knew how to cook.  I remember that she was really laid back about letting me try things and experiment (as long as I cleaned up after myself when I was done!).  Some of my earliest memories in the kitchen with her were making Jiffy Muffin Mixes.

Anybody else grow up on these?  We usually had a couple of boxes in the pantry and my standard job was to make the muffins to go with dinner.  The instructions consisted of combining the mix, eggs and milk (I think it was milk...) and I would play around with mixing the milk and eggs and then adding in the mix.  And the next time I would mix the milk and the dry mix and then the eggs.  I may have tried mixing with a spoon and then later a mixer and later my hands.  I don't know how many ways I found to change up the way I combined 3 ingredients but I remember that my family would play along and chime in on which muffins they thought turned out the best.  That memory makes me smile.

Basically, I still like to play with my food.  And I get sort of bored with things that have to be made the same way every time.  But with lots of baking, there isn't always a lot of room to shift things up.  My Mom, my Sister, and I have a Fresh Blueberry Pie recipe that our 3 family groups really love.  The last time I made it, I tried adding Lemon Zest and Vanilla to the glaze and I didn't really like how it turned out.  When I decided to to make this pie for a Dinner Group that Jeff and I went to last week with our church, I figured it was probably best to just stick with the recipe.

But that's not very fun.  I really wanted to change something.  So I started thinking about homemade whipped cream to go with the pie.  And then I started thinking that Lemon would be good with Blueberries.  And then I started thinking that Almond Flavoring and Lemon are completely wonderful together.  And then I wondered if Lemon Juice would curdle the cream.   After a few little tweaks, this was born:

Whipped Lemon Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 Tbsp Lemon Zest
1 Tbsp Fresh Lemon Juice (No, it doesn't curdle the cream)
1 1/2 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 tsp Almond Extract

Combine ingredients in a bowl and whip with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.

Serve on top of Fresh Blueberry Pie (Click link to see post & recipe from 2010)

Oh man, I LOVED this!  I loved the Fresh Blueberries with the really light, fluffy, not-to-sweet Lemon Whipped Cream.  This is a nice, light-weight Spring and Summertime dessert that is pretty quick to pull together.

P.S. This pie dish that I used is really deep, so I made 1 1/2 of the pie recipe and it turned out perfect.