One Walnut Short of A Nutcase

I had to force myself to stop making cookie dough. After four batches, I had to stop making cookie dough, for no reason other than I'm out of containers to store it in. 

It was after 1AM but I was on a roll.

I only planned on starting a batch of ice cream, but after my late night run to the store for heavy cream (and back again for buttermilk), I worked myself into a little ball of anxiety thinking about how I would get everything done this week.

I spent all day obsessively planning my schedule for the next couple days; writing and rewriting, organizing and reorganizing my days, my recipes, my lists, my schoolwork, my thoughts. With each new edition I remembered something previously forgotten.

I'm going have a house full of out-of-town guests this weekend, a 5K to bake for/setup/clean up/race, 2 birthdays to bake for/celebrate, a post-race party at my house and of course that nagging 10 page term paper that must get done before I trot off to South Carolina for spring training. I was quickly running out of days and with Tuesday rapidly coming to a close; I sat on my kitchen floor, surrounded by groceries, overwhelmed. That’s when it hit me. The only way I was going to calm myself down was to knock some things off my list. After sitting in class all day that paper was not happening, instead, I set to baking.
3 hours, 3 pounds of butter, 3 pounds of sugar, 3 pounds of flour, a quart of heavy cream and some whiskey later, I emerged from my little kitchen covered in flour, with a small glass of homemade Irish cream on ice. 

Well, I was definitely less anxious. Although, that may have had more to do with the Irish cream then the cookies. Now, you all probably think I’m one walnut short of a nutcase, and I'm sure to receive a concerned phone call from my mother, so let's get to the recipe I wanted to share today shall we?

Last year a friend of mine gave me his family’s recipe for Irish cream. It’s cool and creamy with a bit of a kick. This year, it’s been so warm that I decided to make ice cream out of it. You could even take it one step further and make some big chewy snickerdoodle cookies to go with it like I did. 

K-Tripp’s Irish Cream

You can find cream of coconut in the supermarket wherever they keep their margarita mixes and other bar mixers. It’s full of all kinds of chemicals and I had to buy a whole can that I’ll never use for anything else, so next time I will probably try using coconut milk instead. If you decide to go that route let me know how it works out. Makes about 750ml. 

3 large eggs*
1 can condensed milk (I used fat-free)
1 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 Tablespoons chocolate syrup
1 1/2 Tablespoons cream of coconut
1/4 cup whole milk (I used 1%)
1 1/4 cup rye or Irish whiskey (I used the scotch pictured because it's what I had at home)
Put everything in a blender and send it for a spin. Store in the fridge for up to 3 months.

*I buy my eggs from a local farm and I'm not worried about salmonella. The salmonella bacteria is actually on the shell and not in the egg anyway. As long as you wash your hands after handling the shells and before touching anything else, you should be okay. Did you know that farm fresh eggs don't actually need to be refrigerated unless you keep them for longer than a few days? I do want to point out however, this is a topic of contention among some and I'm not recommending you leave your eggs on your kitchen counter and then slurp a raw one down for breakfast. I do also want to add, you should make your own informed decision on whether or not you will eat raw eggs. This is simply my opinion and I take no responsibility if you eat a bad egg. Just sayin' ;).

Irish Cream Ice Cream
I don't like my ice cream too sweet but you can easily adjust the sugar to taste. I also just wanted a hint of Irish cream flavor use up to a 1/2 cup for a real kick. I wouldn't suggest anymore than that or it might not freeze well. The way it is now it freezes alright but melts quite fast. Makes about 6 cups.

2 cups heavy cream
2 cups 1% milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar (I used a very generous 3/4 cup)
1/4 cup Irish cream

Heat the cream and sugar in a pot just to dissolve. Turn the heat off and add the milk, vanilla, and Irish cream. Pour in a bowl and chill comepletely (overnight works best). Freeze according to you ice cream maker's instructions.

Snickerdoodles

I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe with no alterations so you can just head on over there for the recipe.

I made them large with a 3T cookie scoop and flattened them before baking.