Irish Cream Liqueur is one of my mom’s favorites and let’s face it, one of everyone’s favorite cordials. We’ve all had Baileys on the rocks, straight up, in coffee, and in desserts! It is delicious. This is my version. You can read more about how I started making this cordial in Homemade Liqueurs & Cordials are the Perfect Gift. This recipe has been revised over the years adding a little more chocolate here, and different kinds of extracts there, but this is my most recent version and the one I’m loving this holiday season. It’s timeless and hopefully, you’ll love it too!
I love to bottle these up in cute little gift bottles and give them as gifts around the holidays. People just go nuts when they find out you’ve made it yourself…and it is so easy! There are a lot of ingredients but most you’ll use or have in your kitchen anyway.
A couple of important notes on this cordial:
. This recipe uses fresh eggs so be sure they are super fresh and let your recipients know you’ve used raw eggs in case they have any allergies. This recipe will hold for about two weeks in the refrigerator. It must be refrigerated so be sure if you are gifting it, you give it cold and advise that it needs to be refrigerated immediately. FYI: this has really never been a problem because it doesn’t last long!!! LOL
. I do add a bit of potassium sorbate. This is a trick I learned about a long time ago. It stabilizes the liqueur and keeps it from separating. I buy a small pouch on Amazon and it lasts forever. If you don’t want to use it, you don’t have to.
. Using the best extracts you can find are key for the best taste. There is no better pure vanilla extract than Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Pure Vanilla Bean Paste or extract. Either the extract or paste work. Nielsen-Massey Pure Almond Extract is one of the best almond extracts I’ve used. What you don’t want to do is use artificially flavored extracts…yes, you can tell.
. And while I’m sure you know this, using a good quality Irish Whiskey brings out the “Irish” in this cordial so by a good one. I’ve used Jameson, but there are several good brands. If you make this, be sure to send photos. I love to see how you use it, serve it and bottle it.
To get started, make the cream base for the Irish cream. To make your simple syrup for the cream base, mix 5 oz. sugar and 5 oz. water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let it cool completely before mixing with the other items in the cream base. Mix the condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, and cooled simple syrup in a large measuring cup or bowl. Refrigerate until ready to continue. (at least 30 minutes to an hour to get cold)
Make your brown sugar simple syrup for this liqueur. Put the 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolved. Stir several times until the liquid is clear. Stir the potassium sorbate into the warm simple syrup to dissolve. NOTE: the potassium sorbate stabilizes the mix and keeps the cream and alcohol well blended when this liqueur is finished.
Add the instant coffee to the warm syrup and stir until that dissolves into the mix.
Add the Hershey’s syrup and all the extracts.
In a separate chilled bowl, whip the eggs until light and frothy. Gently stir this into the now chilled cream base.
6You can now fold the cream base and the syrup mixture together. Once combined, add the whiskey and whisk until everything is well blended.
You can now put in a glass jar or into gift bottles and refrigerate. For the best taste, let this chill at least an hour. Serve and enjoy!
Of course, this is a must for St. Patty’s Day. If you are serving it then, be sure to check out my other St. Patty’s Day recipes like Bailey’s Irish Parfait (yes, you could substitute your homemade liqueur in this recipe) and my Irish Coffee recipe. (It is the original recipe from Buena Vista in San Francisco.)
During the holidays, I’ll serve this in little cordial glasses on a silver serving tray. I will serve this upon their arrival, or before the dessert course. It is just a little taste and boy, is it a good one. If you want to try your hand at making your own cordials, be sure to check out these recipes too:
Irish Cream Liqueur
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Jameson Irish Whiskey
- 1/4 Cup Light brown sugar
- 1/4 Cup Water
- 2 1/2 Tbsp. Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup
- 1 Tsp. Coconut extract
- 1 Tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract
- 1/2 Tsp. Almond Extract
- 3/4 Tsp. Instant Espresso Coffee
- 2 Fresh Eggs
CREAM BASE
- 1 Cup Sweetened condensed milk
- 7 Oz. Evaporated milk
- 5 Oz. Heavy Cream
- 5 Oz. Simple Syrup equal parts sugar and water*
- 1/8 Tsp. Potassium sorbate
Instructions
- Make the cream base for the Irish Cream. To make your simple syrup for the cream base, mix 5 oz. sugar and 5 oz. water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let it cool completely before mixing with the other items in the cream base. Mix the condensed milk, evaporated milk, heavy cream, and cooled simple syrup in a large measuring cup or bowl. Refrigerate until ready to continue. (at least 30 minutes to an hour to get cold)
- Make your brown sugar simple syrup for this liqueur. Put the 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan and heat until the sugar dissolved. Stir several times until the liquid is clear. Stir the potassium sorbate into the warm simple syrup to dissolve. NOTE: the potassium sorbate stabilizes the mix and keeps the cream and alcohol well blended when this liqueur is finished.
- Add the instant coffee to the warm syrup and stir until that dissolves into the mix.
- Add the Hersheys syrup and all the extracts.
- In a separate chilled bowl, whip the eggs until light and frothy. Gently stir this into the now chilled cream base.
- You can now fold the cream base and the syrup mixture together. Once combined, add the whiskey and whisk until everything is well blended.
- You can now put in a glass jar or into gift bottles and refrigerate. For the best taste, let this chill at least an hour. Serve and enjoy!
