Not Bailey’s Irish Cream, But Close
Bailey’s Irish Cream is a whiskey-based cream liqueur. At our house we enjoy a little glass as dessert, or sometimes we have it over vanilla ice cream. The real deal is divine, but rather pricey. So I decided to find a recipe based on ingredients we normally have on hand. In this case, that would be eggs from our chickens and milk from our Nubian dairy goats.
Every recipe I could find calls for cream, which makes sense given the name of this liqueur. But goat milk is naturally homogenized. That makes separating the cream difficult without an expensive cream separator. So for my recipe, I upped the eggs to compensate for using milk instead of cream.
Of course most recipes call for Irish whiskey. But not being a food snob, I use what we have, which is Jim Beam from Kentucky. Instead of buying something especially for this recipe, I suggest using your own favorite whiskey.
I also make my own chocolate syrup using, you guessed it — goat milk. That recipe appears below. It makes way more than you need for one batch of liqueur. But it refrigerates nicely, and is delicious over (goat milk) ice cream. Both recipes make lovely hostess gifts.
Recipe for Not Bailey’s Irish Cream
Combine in a blender
1½ cup whiskey
14 ounce condensed milk
1 cup goat milk
6 eggs
1/8 cup (2 tablespoons) chocolate syrup
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
Blend at high speed for 30 seconds. Store in refrigerator. The longer you keep it, the smoother it tastes. This recipe makes 5 cups.
Okay, I’ll address any concern you might have about using raw eggs. First, illness from eating raw eggs is extremely rare, and especially so from a home chicken flock. Second, the alcohol in this recipe inhibits the growth of any bacteria that might be present, and acts as a preservative. So enjoy!
Recipe for Not Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
In a saucepan on medium-low, whisk together
½ cup cocoa powder
2 cup sugar
Whisk in until cocoa dissolves
1 cup milk
Bring to a boil. Stirring, boil 3 minutes.
Remove from heat and add
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Cool completely before pouring into a clean wide-mouth pint jar. This syrup keeps in the fridge for several months, if it lasts that long. Makes 2 cups.
Weird Bonus
As a completely weird bonus, Not Bailey’s Irish Cream is a terrific trap for fruit flies. I made this discovery one summer when I left two used glasses on the kitchn counter overnight without rinsing them. In the morning the bottoms of both were black with fruit flies that died happy.
Cream liqueur is a bit expensive to deliberately use as a fly trap. But then so is any other fruit fly trap, and this one at least works.
Wow that sounds like a good recipe to me. I like baileys in my coffee of the morning.