Archive for: st patricks day
Two of the most observed traditions of St Patrick’s day are probably pinching someone who isn’t wearing a bit of green and knocking back a couple of green beers. Ok – those probably aren’t the most popular St Paddy’s Day traditions, but they certainly seem to be ones that people enjoy! I personally like to celebrate with a little bit of Irish Food, like corned beef, braised cabbage and some homemade baked goods.
I’ll always do an Irish Soda Bread. These loaves are easy to make, since they’re leavened with baking soda and not with yeast. there are many variations on the traditional loaf, and I like mine slathered with Irish Butter. Soda Bread Farls are another great variation on this type of bread, baked directly in a skillet instead of in an oven.
Irish cream makes an appearance in many of my desserts for St Patrick’s Day. Irish Cream Brownies and Bailey’s Cheesecake Bars aren’t exactly traditional desserts, but they’re delicious none the less. Irish Coffee is a good pairing with an dessert.
I would do more green desserts, but green is one of those colors that doesn’t always flatter foods that aren’t naturally green. That said, there are some green dessert ideas out there. Homemade by Holman made some absolutely amazing Shamrock Sandwich Cookies. These dark green cookies are soft and cake-like, so these sandwiches are really a variation on whoopie pies. The secret to making them is piping out the cake batter into clean shamrock shapes before baking them. Nutmeg Nanny whipped up some Green Velvet Cupcakes for the holiday, too. Like the whoopie pies, these also use green food coloring with great effect. Keep in mind that it is a good idea to go with a lot of food coloring; the brighter the color the better your green sweets will look.
When liquours are included in baked goods, the flavor doesn’t always make it through to the finished product. This definitely isn’t the case for these boozy Irish Cream Brownies. There is quite a bit of Irish Cream mixed right into the brownie batter, infusing it with flavor. There is also some in the glaze that finishes these off, adding yet another little kick to these grown up brownies.
The brownies themselves have a nice chocolate flavor to them, as well. They are moist and tender, with a texture that falls somewhere between cakey and chewy on the brownie spectrum. There is only a small amount of leavening in the recipe to keep the brownies on the dense side and make sure that they taste more like brownies than cake (which they definitely do!). This recipe was inspired by one I saw that used some artificial Irish Cream flavoring. The real thing is a much better option, taste-wise. It also made more sense for me to use the real thing because, as much as I like Irish Cream, it is so rich that it takes a very long time to finish off a bottle and so I don’t mind using a very generous portion in baking from time to time.
These brownies keep well when they are stored in an airtight container. The glaze is a little on the softer side, so while it does set up, it may soften when the brownies are stored. Cut these into small pieces and serve them with coffee. Coffee will really enhance both the chocolate and the Irish Cream flavors.
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It’s become an unofficial tradition for me to make tiramisu for New Year’s Eve. I’m not sure how it came about, but it’s definitely not a bad thing. Tiramisu has always struck me as a kind of elegant dessert, with its layers of ladyfingers and mascarpone cream. That said, it is also very easy to put together and can be made well in advance – huge plusses for just about every dessert. It also uses a bit of alcohol, which makes it fit in nicely with the usual festivities of a New Year’s Eve gathering (or even just a nice dinner), and a bit of coffee, which might give you an edge in staying up until midnight.
It’s pretty easy to vary the flavors of a tiramisu by using different liquors. Rum and marsala wine are often featured in it. For this version, I used Baileys Irish Cream with coffee to dip the ladyfingers and I infused a vanilla bean into the cream I used to make the mascarpone cream layers. Because it is easier, I included instructions for using both vanilla extract and vanilla-infused cream with this recipe. It is also worth noting the the size of ladyfingers varies by brand, so don’t be concerned if you need more or less than I’ve called for here, as long as your dish is fully covered as you construct the dessert.
The finished dish is delicious. It is ultra creamy and very light. I really liked the hint of Baileys in with the coffee, too. It’s easy to eat a big piece, but since it is rich it is best served in slightly smaller portions.
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Soda bread farls are flat breads that are made from the same dough as Irish soda bread, but are cooked in a skillet or on a griddle. They’re triangular and made by shaping the bread dough into a disc and cutting it into quarters before cooking, then cooking each piece individually. The idea is that it is easier to whip up a bread at a moment’s notice if you don’t need to use the oven.
These breads, cooked in this style, are also known as skillet scones, since they tend to look (and taste) like scones. Like scones, they should be served with butter, jam, cream or any other topping you can think of. The name might not ring a bell to some, but it’s actually a pretty common food to encounter if you ever spend some time camping and swapping campfire recipes with other travelers. Just about all camp cooking is done in a skillet, so skillet scone recipes can be quite popular.
The dough is very easy to make, with just a few ingredients: flour, buttermilk, salt and sugar. The sugar can even be omitted if you want a very plain bread, even though there is only a small amount included. While it’s traditional to cut up the scones and the farl dough before cooking, I find that it is much easier to cook the dough whole and cut it up once it is done. This makes it much more tender and moist inside, while the smaller pieces can sometimes dry out as they cook. It is also a little easier to tell when the big bread is done, as you can easily press the sides to see if the bread springs back into place before taking it from the heat. It takes about 8-10 minutes on a side, and the only thing you need to look out for is over-browning should your pan get too hot. Medium-high heat generally works the best.
The finished bread has a good buttermilk flavor and there is just the right amount of salt and sugar to make it interesting. It is a little on the dense side, like all soda breads, but has a nice tight crumb and a relatively tender crumb. The top and bottom crusts turn out to be crisp when the bread is fresh and make a nice contrast to the moister, softer interior. I think the bread is best on the first day, but if you store it in an airtight container, it’s still good the second. Usually if I have leftovers, I end up slicing the bread in half crosswise and toasting it before eating.
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I probably should have posted this back for St. Patrick’s Day, but I really don’t think that Irish coffee should only be a once-a-year treat. The drink is so tasty that, while it might be best for special occasions, it is certainly worthy of more than just a single holiday.
Irish coffee is the label applied to hot coffee that is enhanced with a shot of Irish whiskey and a bit of sugar to sweeten everything up. Since it usually gets served as an after dinner drink, often in lieu of dessert, lightly sweetened whipped cream is almost always used to finish off the drink’s presentation.
I do my Irish coffee a little bit differently than tradition dictates. I prefer to drink my coffee black, so I don’t particularly care for sugar in my coffee even though I don’t mind a bit of sweetness. So, I use a shot of Baileys Irish Cream to sweeten up the drink, take the edge off both the coffee and the whisky and add another layer of flavor to everything. I use equal parts whisky and Baileys (I have a preference for Baileys with a Hint of Caramel, if you can find it in your area) and alter the amounts to suit (a) the time of day and (b) the size of the glass I’m working with. And I never forget the whipped cream.
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