Homemade Irish Cream is the easiest thing in the world to make, and if you package it up into cute little bottles, they make perfect gifts! 

If you love Baileys Irish Cream, I promise you...you will be hard pressed to pick the difference with this copycat version. This quick, and incredibly easy recipe combines cream, whiskey, vanilla, chocolate, and coffee with sweetened condensed milk for a rich and creamy alternative to store-bought Irish cream.

Far cheaper that buying a bottle from the store, and I challenge you to notice the difference. 

Enjoy your homemade tipple over ice, use it in cakes, muffins, icings, brownies or pour it over ice cream. 

To make it, all you have to do is combine all the ingredients except the whiskey, give it a good mix then gradually add the Irish whiskey and bam...thankyou mam! You have a pretty decent copycats Baileys Irish cream.

In this recipe, I combine the ingredients using a whisk, but you can totally use your blender, but go easy and do little bursts because you could easily whip the cream and we want to keep it nice and smooth...just like the real McCoy.

Watch the video below to see how easy it is to make. 

How to make Homemade Irish Cream 

Makes approximately 1 litre

Ingredients

• 300ml heavy cream 
• 395g can of sweetened condensed milk 
• 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder 
• 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 330ml Irish whiskey (I used Tullamore Dew)

Method

1. Combine the coffee and cocoa in a small bowl then add 2 tablespoons of cream to this and stir until the dry ingredients are dissolved. 
2. Pour the mixture into the cream, stir then all of the remaining ingredients EXCEPT THE WHISKEY. 
3. Using a whisk, stir the ingredients vigorously so that everything is really well combined. (Don't worry if there are a few undissolved coffee granules floating on top, they can be sieved out before bottling).
4. Add around a 1/4 of a cup of the whiskey, and whisk until combined. Then continue to add the remaining whiskey a little at a time to prevent the cream from splitting.
5. Once all the whiskey is in the bowl, continue to whisk for around 2 minutes. 
6. If needed, pour the mixture through a sieve to remove any coffee granules, then pour into sterilised bottles. 
7. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 month. 

To serve

My favourite way to serve this is over ice, but it can be used in iced coffee's, to flavour fudge, poured over ice-cream, added to your coffee, cakes or muffins, and really, anywhere you think the flavour of this liqueur would work!

Adapting the recipe

You can easily tailor your Irish cream to suit your taste. 

• If you find it's too strong, add extra cream (then next time reduce the whiskey)
• If you would like it to have a stronger chocolate flavour, add another 1/2 teaspoon of cocoa.
• The same goes if you would like the flavour from the coffee to be more pronounced. Add more to your taste. 
• Substitute the Irish Whiskey for whatever type of whiskey you enjoy. Jim Beam Bourbon or Johnnie Walker Red Label would both work equally as well. 

I hope you enjoy the recipe, and as always, I would love to know if you make this, or if you have any questions over at @little.river.kitchen 

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