Homemade Bailey's Irish Cream

Is there anyone on your Christmas list that just isn't easy to shop for? Well, this homemade drink might be just the thing.  Turns out that Irish Cream is really easy to make.  it took me 5 minutes to pour all the ingredients into a blender and mix it up.  Just buy a fancy glass bottle and wrap it up beautifully and you're done!

I don't usually slug down Irish Cream by itself so I'm not sure how great this information is, but they look very close to each other.  They smell very much like one another.  I think this version is thicker if you use heavy cream (which I did) and it might be a little stronger than the original (feel free to use a little less whiskey).  I drank some tonight in my coffee and it was really good, its also good over ice, just sayin.

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

Homemade Bailey's Irish Cream
Recipe from Running From The Law

Ingredients

• 1 cup light or heavy cream
• 14 oz sweetened condensed milk
• 1 2/3 cup Irish Whiskey (or less, this amount makes a strong drink)
• 1 tsp instant coffee granules
• 2 Tbsp chocolate syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

Cooking Directions

1. Pour all the ingredients into a blender and mix until well combined. That's it.
2. Store in your refrigerator for up to two months.
3. **You can also skip the booze and add some skim milk instead, if you're looking for a non-alcoholic version. 

Vanilla Extract

You are going to kick yourself when you find out how easy it is to make vanilla extract.  I gave some to my family and friends as Christmas gifts and they all loved it. 

I order my vanilla beans off of Amazon in bulk so I always have some on hand. I use them all the time and they last for a while so I'm not desperately trying to use them up. 

You can find these cute little jars at places like Michaels or AC Moore crafts stores, Marshall's or TJMaxx, or I found these at World Market.  They are perfect for gift giving because the are not huge so they will easily fit in someone's spice cabinet but they are just big enough that they will have plenty of vanilla for much of the year. 

Take a sharp knife and cut a vanilla bean from top to bottom.

There are lots of seeds inside, leave them in there.

Clean your bottles. Depending on the size of your bottles you might need to cut the beans in half.

Insert 6 cut pieces (3 whole beans) into the bottle.

Fill the jar to the top with vodka. Leave a little bit of space at the top, about 1/4 of an inch is fine but I don't really think it matters.

Now wrap it up and give it as a gift.  They need to sit for about 3 months before using. Shake every so often, about once a month.

I hope you can make your own vanilla extract soon, it smells SO good!

Vanilla Beans
Vodka
Bottles

Apple Cider Caramels

My husbands birthday was this past Thursday and some of our neighbors came over to help us celebrate it.  We have so much fun with them, I love living in a neighborhood where we all can do things together.  The best part is that we can all just walk home at the end of the night.  Yes, that is how lazy I have become. His birthday has nothing to do with these caramels.  I just thought I'd share.  

Well these caramels would make a lovely homemade Christmas gift, and his birthday does fall just five days before Christmas so I guess these two things are related after all. Sort of. 

Here is the line up of things you will need.  The only item missing from the picture above is the apple cider and that's because it's bubbling away on the stove at this point.

See? There it is, bubbling. Reducing nicely.

Now I've added the sugars, butter and heavy cream.

Perfect temp, it's ready.

After the cinnamon and salt is added you can pour into the prepared pan. You have really hot caramel at this point.  Now leave it alone for two hours, it will be hard but you must try.

See? Wasn't it worth it? Now you get the glorious task of cutting and wrapping each piece.

Here's what I love about these caramels.  Everything. You can definitely taste the apple flavor and the cinnamon but it's blended perfectly with a smooth caramel flavor.  The texture is perfect, nice and soft yet it will hold it's shape.  Great homemade gift idea here. Aren't you glad I posted this like two days before Christmas? Plenty of time!

Apple Cider Caramels
Recipe by Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients

• 4 cups apple cider (not apple juice and not hard apple cider)
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp flaky sea salt - I used Fleur de Sel
• 8 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• Neutral oil for the knife

Directions

1. Boil the cider over high heat until it has reduced to a thick dark syrup.  This takes about 35-40 minutes or so.  It should be about 1/3 to 1/2 cup in volume. Stir occasionally.
2. Get all of your other ingredients ready to go because you won't have much time when the cider has reduced.  
3. Line an 8x8 inch square medal pan with parchment paper that crosses in each direction (like the picture above) and spray the parchment paper with non stick spray. 
4. When your apple cider is ready, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, sugars and heavy cream. Return the pot to a medium high heat until a candy thermometer reads 252 degrees. Watch it carefully, it doesn't take long. 
5. Immediately remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the cinnamon and salt.  Stir to distribute evenly and then pour into the prepared pan. Let sit until cool, about 2 hours. 
6. When the caramel is cool, pick up the parchment paper ends and lift it out of the pan.  Move it to a cutting board.  With a well oiled knife begin cutting 1x1 inch squares, oiling the knife in between each cut. Wrap each caramel in a 4 inch square piece of wax paper. 
7. Caramels keep in an airtight container at room temperature for two weeks.