Save some whiskey for dessert this holiday
Irish eyes will be smiling this St. Patrick’s Day when you add some Irish whisky into these dessert recipes.
“The Original Cake Boss” — that’s what Deborah Streeter-Davitt calls her great-grandfather, a champion baker who brought his famous butter pound cake here from Northern Ireland.
“It’s really moist and just all-around delicious,” said the Head Caketress at MacDougall’s Irish Victory Cakes in West Chester. “When my great-granddad came over, it was his lifelong dream and victory to bring the whole clan over.”
Today, she recreates his cherished recipe with one wee update — a nip o’ Irish whiskey.
“He was a teetotaler, so the whiskey’s something I added,” Streeter-Davitt explained. “We call it the ‘Irish kiss.’ It’s baked in like vanilla, but it adds a little something special.”
This St. Patrick’s Day, follow her lead with wow-worthy, whiskey’d-up desserts.
“Irish whiskey on St. Patrick’s Day is just one of those classics,” agreed Dan Bethard, regional chef for Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, where the holiday menu stars Irish bread pudding in whiskey sauce.
“If that wasn’t enough, we top it with caramel sauce and ice cream,” he said. “It’s just a great way to finish the Irish meal.”
Another lucky charmer: Irish coffee brownies, featuring dark cocoa powder, whiskey and Baileys Irish Cream.
“These, to me, are like a grown-up brownie,” described Christina Verrelli, a Pillsbury Bake-Off winner, food blogger, Kitchen Aid onair guest for QVC and soonto-be author. Her cookbook, “Homemade Made Easy,” debuts this spring.
“Everyone likes brownies,” she said. “This is a fun way to be a little Irish on St. Patrick’s Day even if you’re not.”
And that’s no blarney!