Category Archives: Alcoholic drinks

Easy Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur

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Easy Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur


I’m not a big drinker when it comes to alcohol. A beer or a glass or two of wine every few weeks and the occasional vodka and lime-aid when I’m feeling nostalgic (my stepmother loved them back in the day), but straight hard liquor and I don’t get along. Except in my younger days, when we were all stupid about booze, I’ve never understood the drinking to get drunk idea. I mean really… who LIKES a pounding headache and hanging over the toilet for hours? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?

One thing I do love however, is sweet creamy drinks. Kahlua and cream? I’ll take one! Baileys Irish Cream, straight up? Yep. It’s a weird “I love this in the middle of Winter” thing for me. The problem is affording the bottle. So, years back, I looked for and found about 900000 recipes for it. While it’s not exactly like Baileys, it’s a nice substitute when you either can’t afford the real thing or want something fresher and giftable. This can be poured into small flasks or bottles to make great stocking stuffers for the adults on your list. I’ve worked on this for years and now have it the way i like it. Feel free to change up some of the basics to appeal to you; less alcohol, more if you like a stiff drink, less or more chocolate of coffee, etc, etc, etc.

You also can’t get much easier than this recipe. Technically, you use a blender to mix it all up. but if you don’t have a blender, you could conceivably do this using a whisk. Just make sure you gets the eggs fully incorporated by adding liquids slowly and mixing well. Not matter how it’s done though, this takes five minutes. Tops. And the reward for that time is a really delicious creamy drink!

You know the drill… 🙂

Easy Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur

  • 1 cup middle of the line whiskey (preferably Irish Whiskey if you want to be authentic. I have also used brandy at times to change it up. You could even use run if you’re feeling froggy)
  • 1 14ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
  • 1 tablespoon chocolate syrup (something like Hersheys; the kind you would use in milk)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon coconut flavoring
  1. Pour all ingredients into a blender.
  2. Cover and blend. See how easy that was?
  3. Keep stored, covered, in the refrigerator. Best served cold.

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Easy Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur 2

Semi Homemade Sweet & Fruity Wine

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Semi Homemade Sweet & Fruity Blackberry Wine

Semi Homemade Sweet & Fruity Blackberry Wine

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a big drinker. I like wine sometimes, Baileys in the Winter as well as hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps in it. And I admit to a liking for any of the vodkas made by Pinnacle Vodka. I have simple tastes there too though- toss some of the whipped cream flavor into Orange Crush and I’m happy hehe. Problem is, even with booze, though I don’t drink it, I get caught up in ideas surrounding it, especially nowadays with so many cool sounding things out on the market. I have a bunch of stuff gathering dust because it sounded interesting but if I drink hard liquor, I’m likely to be snoring within ten minutes.

So, since I like to play with my booze :-P, a few years ago I decided to see what I could do to make inexpensive wine a bit better.

I’m so far from a wine snob it’s kind of laughable. I have been known to happily drink Mogen David. I draw the line at Boones Farm though… had enough of that back when I was too young to know any better. Point being, I like sweet wines. Dry wines are too..well… dry for me. I love to use them in cooking and love the flavor they impart there but other than an occasional glass of Cabernet, I prefer my wines sweet. Not being able to afford a wine making kit complete with five gallon jug, locks, etc etc, I make my own with bottled wine. And EVERYONE who has ever tried it has loved it. it’s sweet, fruity, full flavored, NOT DRY, inexpensive for what you end up with and has a bit more of a kick than “normal” wines because of the brandy I add to fortify it.

This is more of a technique than a recipe but I will post it in recipe format. make this this week and by the time Labor Day hits, you can strain it out and have a nice sweet glass of wine over ice while you grill out.

You know the drill. Erhmmm, get to bottling??

Semi Homemade Sweet & Fruity Wine

  • 1 gallon jug (just writing jug for wine tells you how NOT seriously I take wine since jug wine is so maligned lol) of decent but inexpensive red wine (I use either Gallo Burgundy or “Sweet Red Wine” which isn’t really sweet, so I’m not sure from where the name comes. Burgundy makes a heavier wine, the sweet red a lighter one)
  • An empty 750 liter bottle  (because once you add the additional ingredients, you have too much for the gallon bottle and need another bottle. You could of course just drink about 3 glasses then you’d have enough room 😀 )
  • 1 1/2 lbs frozen blackberries or raspberries (I have done both; the blackberry is what is in this photo)- make sure they are frozen, not thawed
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 ounces brandy (an airline bottle is the right size)
  1. Pour about 1/4 of the gallon of wine into another container. Or drink it. I won’t judge… though it could make continuing this process rather interesting hehe
  2. Use a funnel and pour the sugar into the gallon wine bottle. Now take your frozen berries and shove them down into the bottle. This is boring and makes your hands purple but short of pureeing the berries which makes it difficult to strain later (trust me; I tried), it’s the only way to get them in there. but this is why you leave them frozen. Can you imagine shoving mushy thawed ones in there? Lol.
  3. Now pour the brandy in there.
  4. Cap the bottle back up tightly, shake it well and store it in a cool dark place.
  5. Go back once a day for the first week to shake it to keep the sugar mixed.
  6. Let this sit for about 3 to 4 weeks. Strain through a coffee filter set into a fine mesh strainer over a bowl (this takes a while so be patient) then taste it. if it’s not sweet enough for you, add about another half a cup of sugar then cap it and set it back in a cool place for another week. After that, pour some over ice and enjoy.
  7. This makes a great spritzer also. Just mix 1:1 with some club soda or 7-up.
  8. This can also be made with white wine and something like peaches, nectarines or pears. But I personally didn’t care for it as much. You may however.

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Berry Peachy Sangria

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Berry Peachy Sangria

Berry Peachy Sangria

Someday we will actually get Summer weather here. Is it just here that has had extremely strange weather? I know I brought this up before but man, it’s freaky! Kentucky in June should NOT have rain and temps in the low 70’s. We should be sweltering even with the A/C on and lying buck naked in swimming pools while drinking fun drinks…. ummm, not public pools, people. And no, not me. I don’t want to scar psyches for life.

BUT…! I’m preparing for Summer. I’ve mentioned before that I’m not a huge alcohol person. Been there, done that in my younger wilder days. But I do like some softer hard drinks. Honest, that really does make sense. That means I’ll drink a wine cooler type thing or regular wine. Sometimes I even have the hard stuff but not often because I end up a giggling fool within two sips. With the softer stuff, it takes at least 4 sips.

One thing I love is Sangria. I remember drinking the bottled cheap stuff in my younger days and it was even pretty good. But I decided I wanted to play with something homemade and made with white wine rather than red. This took about 90 seconds to throw together and I’m kind of proud of it since it DID take 90 seconds and it was all done on a whim. The Peach Schnapps adds a bit of bite but you can’t taste it as alcohol per se just a peachy flavor so be careful. Then the sweet sparkling wine and the Sprite and the fruit… well, suffice it to say that this comes together nicely. It can pack a punch though if you’re not a drinker so like I said, be ready. This has a full bottle of wine plus a cup of schnapps but all you taste is a wonderful peach taste.

You know the drill. Get to cookin’…erhmmm, pouring.

Berry Peach Sangria

  • 1 750 ml bottle of Moscato wine (you could use a white zin if you prefer- just don’t use a dry wine or this will be too tart)
  • 1 cup peach schnapps
  • 1 can peach nectar (can be found in the grocery store in the ethnic aisle usually)
  • 3 cups Sprite or 7-up
  • 1 cup frozen peaches
  • 1 cup frozen mixed berries
  1. Drop your frozen fruit down into the bottom of your pitcher. Pour the peach nectar over, then the schnapps, Then slowly pour in the wine and follow up with the soda. Give it all a gentle stir. You can serve immediately or refrigerate it to let the flavors blend. I suggest letting it sit. It was good right after being made but it was outstanding an hour later when it blended.
  2. See how easy that was? I just added this direction because I felt stupid only having one direction up.

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Drunk Fruits (*Hicccc…cuppppp*)

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I was playing with the editing setting and liked the glowing look here. It fits for drunk fruit 😀

I like drunk fruits. I like the way they giggle and the way they look at their hands like they have just discovered the most amazing thing since sliced bread (especially since it would be hard to slice said bread w/out the hands). I like the way their cheeks get all red and glowy looking when they have become drunk fruit. I like the way they lose all inhibitions and start talking a mile a minute and are no longer timid and shy.

Wait. Fruits don’t have hands do they? And they can’t slice bread. Nor do they giggle and I’m pretty sure that they have no inhibitions to lose. Sigh. I think…maybe…possibly that what I was describing is what happens when I get a hold of fruits that have been made drunk, i.e., shoved into a bottle of alcohol and left to get pickled… sloshed, tipsy…. totally and completely wasted.

But wouldn’t it be awesome  if fruit could do all of those things?! It would probably be far more entertaining to watch a giggling talkative Apricot than it is when I am the one talking a mile a minute with red cheeks and looking at my hands like they are doing things that a disco ball can only dream of.

So in honor of drunk fruits…or a tipsy me; pick whichever makes you giggle more, I am sharing a recipe for a drunken Apricot. Many many of them as a matter of fact. And these little boogers appreciate it because they start out all dried and shriveled and end up looking like Meg Ryan after more collagen injections (can anyone please explain to me why she did that btw? ICK! She was cute before but now my apricots look better!).

I originally got this recipe off of food.com but have changed it quite a bit over the years. The bottle I have right now (it’s not the first I’ve made) is now over 2 years old and as smooth as a babies bottom. Ok, maybe equating the booze I’m trying to get you to drink with a baby tush isn’t the greatest analogy but you know what I mean 😀 Give this a try. the longer it sits, the smoother it gets. Just don’t be fooled; this packs a punch. The sweet mild taste can be deceiving. Believe me… I know. 😛

Apricot Liqueur

  • 4 cups decent quality vodka
  • 1 cup sugar
  • rind from one small lemon
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 16 ounces dried apricots
  1. Mix the sugar with 1/4 cup hot water to dissolve it somewhat.
  2. In a large scrupulously clean bottle (I have used bottles I have found at yard sales, a large glass crock and what actually worked best was an empty gallon wine glass wine jug.), mix together all of your ingredients. Shake well and then cap or put lid on if using a crock.
  3. Store in a dark cool place for at least one week. Remember, the flavor will get more intense and the alcohol bite smoother the longer it sits so if you’d like to make this as say, gifts for Christmas, I’d say to start now to give it time to pick up flavors.
  4. You can strain this through cheesecloth if the little tiny bits of fruit in it annoy you aesthetically but to be honest, I’ve never bothered. There isn’t actual fruit in it and there is not even to notice. You can only see it in bright light like what these photos were taken in.
  5. Serve in SMALL glasses (lol) or use in baking. It goes wonderfully in an apricot pound cake.