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Sunday, March 17, 2024

Cartoon of the Day: St Patrick's Day Beer




Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Cheesecake: St Patrick's Day!

Here's one of my favorite recipes for St. Patrick's Day: Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Cheesecake It's easy to make and decidedly Irish. Be sure and check out the Bailey's Irish Cream Whipped Cream recipe at the end. It's great on this cheesecake or in your coffee on St Patrick's Day!

Bailey's Irish Cream Chocolate Cheesecake
(recipe adapted from AllRecipes)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs (whirl them in a food processor)
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsalted butter (I used Kerrygold, an Irish butter)
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened Cocoa powder
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
3 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

Directions
Crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, mix together cookie crumbs, confectioners' sugar, and 1/3 cup cocoa. Add melted butter and stir until well mixed. Pat into bottom of a 9 inch springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes; set aside. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F.

Cheesecake:
In large bowl, combine cream cheese, white sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa, and flour. Beat at medium speed until well blended and smooth. Add eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and Bailey's; mixing on low speed. Pour filling over baked crust.
Bake at 450 for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250 degrees F, and continue baking for 60 minutes.
With knife, loosen cake from rim of pan. Let cool, then remove rim of pan. Chill before serving.

Tip: If your cake cracks, dampen spatula and smooth top, then sprinkle with some chocolate wafer crumbs.

You can also top this Cheesecake with Bailey's Whipped Cream (or make some and add to your coffee!)

Bailey's Whipped Cream

Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp Baileys Irish Cream

Directions
Whip heavy cream to soft peaks.
Add Baileys Irish Cream and whisk until combined.

Saturday, March 16, 2024

Bailey's Irish Scones with Chocolate Chips: St Patrick's Day


Planning to celebrate St Patrick's Day at home with ta and a lovely platter of Irish Scones? I do. So make a pot of Barry's Irish breakfast tea  and whip up this recipe for Bailey's Irish Scones with Chocolate Chips. Perfect for St. Patrick's Day. As always when making scones, remember to freeze the butter. It will make a huge difference in your results.


Bailey's Irish Scones with Chocolate Chips

Ingredients

4 cups all purpose flour  (sifted)
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp baking powder 
1 tsp salt 
1/2 cup sugar 
1/2 cup brown sugar 
1 tsp ground cinnamon 
3/4 lbs cold, unsalted Irish butter, cubed and or grated (leave it in the freezer until you absolutely need it)
4 large eggs 
2 tsp pure vanilla 
1/2 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream 
1 cup dark chocolate chips 
Light brown sugar for sprinkling

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment. 
Place first 5 dry ingredients in food processor and pulse until combined. Add butter and continue to pulse until you have a moist crumb mixture.   (But Really, you should use a pastry cutter for this..but it's your choice. I use a pastry cutter. It's more time consuming, but makes for a perfect scone). 

In another bowl, whisk eggs. Whisk in vanilla and Baileys until well blended. Whisk wet mixture into dry ingredients, fold in chocolate chips, and stir with a wooden spoon until no flour is visible. Dough will be heavy and sticky. 

Drop by 1/2 cup scoopfuls onto lined baking sheet spacing 2” apart. Sprinkle light brown sugar over top (optional). 

 Bake 20-25 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

Transfer pans to wire rack to allow scones to cool for a few minutes. Then transfer scones from baking sheet directly to wire rack.

Serve with clotted cream and jam or Irish unsalted butter and jam.  Honey is great, too, in a pinch!

Friday, March 15, 2024

GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CHERRY BREAD & OTHER BROWN BREADS: St. Patrick's Day

Happy St. Patrick's Day. Today's post is about bread

The first recipe, Stout Chocolate Cherry Bread, is a yeast bread, so because it has several rises, you'll want to get started early. 

Then I move on to classic Irish Brown Breads. You can use a Guinness Bread Mix or make your own from scratch. With the Brown Bread Guinness Mix, you usually would add raisins, but I think it works well with chopped dark chocolate (or dark chocolate chips). You add treacle (yes, you can substitute molasses, but you can find treacle online or at specialty food stores).

The Guinness Brown Bread from scratch recipe doesn't use chocolate chips, so I would spread Nutella on the bread to keep with the theme of this chocolate blog. Your choice. It's a lovely brown bread.


GUINNESS CHOCOLATE CHERRY BREAD

This recipe first appeared in CookingLight in January 2003. Thanks to the Internet, it's still available to all. I've made it once, and it's really delicious. The Guinness adds a special flavor. Chocolate and dried cherries are staples here at my house!

Ingredients
4 1/4 cups bread flour, divided
1 (12-ounce) bottle Guinness Stout
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried tart cherries
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (or dark chocolate chips)
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon water
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Preparation
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour, beer, and yeast in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.
Remove mixture from refrigerator; let stand 1 hour.
Add 2 cups flour, 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, and salt; stir until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky). Knead in cherries and chocolate.
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press 2 fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.)
Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes. Shape dough into a 9-inch round; place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Lightly coat dough with cooking spray. Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Uncover the dough. Combine water and egg white, stirring with a whisk, and brush over dough.  Make a 1/4-inch-deep cut down the center of dough using a sharp knife.
Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until bread is browned on bottom and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan; cool on a wire rack.

GUINNESS BROWN BREAD MIX 

Thanks to The Nibble, I was alerted to Guinness Bread Mix. You have to add a few delicious ingredients, but it's worth it. As I mentioned above, I add chopped chocolate instead of raisins, but that's up to you. Since I add chocolate chunks to the bread, I suggest serving it with mascapone or goat cheese or plain. This mix is available in specialty food stores and online. There are 3 packets in each Bag which is a good value. The ingredients in the mix include Whole Meal Flour, Plain Flour, Oatmeal, Baking Soda, Brown Sugar and Salt. You need to add Butter, Black Treacle (dark molasses), Chopped Dark Chocolate (instead of raisins), milk, and a 1/2 cup of Guinness.

No time to get the mix, try this recipe from Jump into Ireland (Discover Ireland) for Guinness Brown Bread. It's not as sweet as the recipe above, so instead of adding chocolate chips or chunks, serve it with a Hazelnut (Nutella) spread.. just to keep it in the chocolate family! I've changed a few thingss in the recipe, but I know you'll like it.

GUINNESS BROWN BREAD from Scratch

Ingredients
4.5 cups Bread Flour
1.1 cups Steel Cut Oats
A pinch of salt
A pinch of sugar
3.5 ounces unsalted butter
34 ounces buttermilk
12.3 ounces treacle (molasses)
5 ounces Guinness Stout
1 level teaspoon of baking soda

Directions
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix together well and set aside.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan, add the buttermilk and heat until tepid.
Now add the treacle to the saucepan and stir slowly until well combined through the buttermilk.
Remove the pot from the heat.
Add Guinness and stir.
Make a well in the middle of  dry ingredients, add the liquid and stir gently to make a moist paste.
Preheat your oven to 350°F and prepare baking pan by brushing inside with butter and dusting with flour.
Pour mixture into pan and place in preheated oven for ten minutes, then reduce heat to 275°F and bake for 40 more minutes.
After removing bread from oven, allow to cool on a bread rack for 10 minutes.
Serve with Nutella.
  
Happy St. Patrick's Day!