Irish Cream Liqueur Brownies- A Delicious Experiment and Two Recipes

All Costco’s Kirkland brand drinks seem to be great- the wines, the liquors, and now… how about this Irish Cream Liqueur? Into the cart it went since I couldn’t pass up the possibility of a good drink.

We have since tried it, and the Kirkland Irish Cream Liqueur is a winner! On ice and in coffee, The Husband and I have loved it. The Bunco Club has indulged and gave their approval, but the level in the bottle has still barely dropped.What am I supposed to do with an enormous bottle? It’s time to experiment because this is a seriously ridiculous amount of booze…

How about brownies? Yum.

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The Ingredients

Irish Cream Liqueur Brownies

Oven at 350. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking pan.

Into a large bowl put:

  • The brownie mix

Mix together in a small bowl or measuring cup:

  • 1/4 cup Irish Cream Liqueur instead of water (or amount of liquid as directed by recipe)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 Tablespoon instant coffee crystals

Beat together in a medium bowl:

  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (or as directed)
  • 2 eggs (ditto)

Stir together the liqueur and egg mixes, then slowly add all the liquid mix into the large bowl with the instant brownie mix. Add in chocolate chips now, if you are using them in your recipe. Stir until combined, but don’t over mix. 

IMG_9748Pour batter into prepared pan. Follow your usual baking directions, and in about 25 minutes you should be in Brownie Bliss!

I need about a half gallon of milk right now, or maybe a big mug of black coffee… or two. I just tasted my brownie concoction and WOW. Very sweet, but Very good. I think that the brownie mix could have stood another tablespoon or two of liqueur, as the batter was not only more stiff than when usually made with water, but also- the Irish Cream Liqueur flavor is pretty mild.

Irish Cream Liqueur Icing (makes about 1 1/2 cups icing)

  • In bowl of stand mixer, slowly beat together one cube of butter, two ounces cream cheese(1/4 of an 8 oz. block) and two cups powdered sugar. Beat on high speed for three to four minutes until light and fluffy.
  • Stop the mixer and add one teaspoon vanilla and 1/4 cup Irish Cream Liqueur. Mix again, on low speed until combined, then high again for one to two minutes.

 

My Baking Notes:

-I used my family’s favorite boxed mix as a base and added my not-so-secret ingredients (instant coffee, vanilla, and chocolate chips). Remember, if you are going to use instant coffee crystals to punch up the chocolate flavor, you must add the dry coffee to the water/vanilla/liqueur and NOT directly into the batter, or they won’t dissolve.
-If you mix together all your liquids before stirring them into the brownie mix, you are much less likely to over mix the batter.

Bonus Tip!!

Ever hear that if you slice your brownies with a plastic knife, that they will slice more evenly and not get all ragged? Well, it is true.

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Metal knife vs. …

 

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…plastic knife (see the difference?

Yep. It works, slice up your brownies with a plastic knife from now on, everyone!

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Will It Really Work? Fast Garlic Peeling by Shaking the Begeezers out of It

I thought I would try this trick for peeling garlic that I have seen demonstrated online a lot lately:

The Jar...
The Jar…
...the garlic.
…the garlic.
Into the jar with the cloves.
Into the jar with the cloves.
...after 30 seconds...
…after 30 seconds…
...one minute later, and...
…one minute later, and…
...oh my gosh, it worked!
…oh my gosh, it worked!
All but two little cloves, perfectly peeled!
All but two little cloves, perfectly peeled!

Scroll down to see the results!

The only problem is that the garlic juice and some peels are now stuck inside the jar…

I find it more efficient with no more dirty dishes to just whack the clove with the flat of my kitchen knife- the peels slide right off the cloves, and your garlic is also on it’s way to being chopped up.

Chocolate Wafer Cookie Recipe- Yes, You CAN Make These Yourself, and THE BEST Ice Cream Sandwich, too!

…and they taste WAY better than store bought wafer cookies, or Oreos, and this only leaves me to wonder. What kind of dessert Nirvana would I arrive at by crumbling these cookies into a high quality vanilla ice cream?

I had a goal to hunt down a chocolate cookie recipe because I thought I could make a better one than those that make up the basic ice cream sandwich. No problem. One internet query and voilà. 3,000 recipes to choose from. Overwhelmed, I retreated to my Pinterest board, “Sweets,” where I knew I had a few promising candidates.

Simple Ingredients
Simple Ingredients

I don’t know if I will try any others, this one was great- SeededAtTheTable.com has a simple, super-chocolaty wafer recipe with butter, vanilla, sugars, flour, baking soda, cocoa, and milk. That’s it.

Sugar and Butter, ready to cream; dry ingredients, ready to whisk together
Sugar and Butter, ready to cream; dry ingredients, ready to whisk together

Butter goes into the mixing bowl with the sugars, cream these ingredients, then add the vanilla (I added two, an extra one just for my mom). Into another bowl goes flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt to whisk together. Two Good Tips: I usually use regular butter, not unsalted, then add less salt than a recipe calls for; and if you want to be smart, always strain your baking soda or powders through a fine sieve… no one likes biting into a cookie to get a lump of baking powder… yuck.

Butter and sugars, creamed, with dry ingredients and milk ready to add
Butter and sugars, creamed, with dry ingredients and milk ready to add

Cream the heck out of the butter and sugars to get a nice, fluffy texture- you know, this takes at least a couple of minutes, don’t give up if it takes even five minutes to get that lighter, fluffy consistency- add the vanilla and cream a little more, then add the dry ingredients. I alternated the dry with the milk, mixing only until just combined as everything came together.

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Dough all done, ready for fridge time…

All that remained was to roll the dough into a couple of logs about 1 1/2 inches wide and wait as it chilled in the refrigerator for an hour.

Sliced into coins about 1/4 inches thick… baked for 10

Almost 4 Dozen Cookies ready to become ice cream sandwiches!!!
Almost 4 Dozen Cookies ready to become ice cream sandwiches!!!

minutes at 350 and HO BOY ARE THESE GREAT!!!

Today, they are being dunked in my milk. Tomorrow these will become ice cream sandwiches. Or… maybe tonight after everyone else has gone to bed…

Broken Dishwasher and Delayed Genius Moment

This may be the only new thing I get around to today, but I had a stroke of genius about dealing with the family’s glassware issues. Wooden clothes pins clipped to the glasses sitting on the counter. I can just hear Wile E. Coyote’s voice in my head whispering “Genius, sheer genius!” Then I think that it is pretty sad how it took me TWO WEEKS to come up with this idea, and Wile E. quiets down. The dishwasher has been out of commission for more than two weeks. I don’t recommend a Samsung. Now, I’m thankful for the family; I’m grateful for the dirty dishes indicating our ability to feed the family; I’m blessed to have both my parents and both in-laws as part of our life… I just wish we could keep track of whose glass belongs to whom! Last weekend saw my parents here, next weekend we have them and the mom-in-law, the following weekend will be the in-laws. Let’s just say we are thirsty people around here (checks the tequila supply and wonders if we need more Cabernets, too)

I think I’m gonna break out the red solo cups…

But, I digress. It is Teacher Appreciation Day tomorrow and I have a couple dozen Cinnabon Knock-Offs to bake- here’s last year’s photo of my table:

Teacher Appreciation Day- The Aftermath...
Teacher Appreciation Day-
The Aftermath…

Want the recipe? I bought the book “Top Secret Recipes” by Todd Wilbur, it is in there, and all over the intertoobz:

http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/Cinnabon-Cinnamon-Rolls-Copycat-Recipe.html

I think you have to purchase this recipe; it will set you back a whopping 79 cents…

Wile E. says “Now go do something smart!”

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