One of the reasons that I love St. Patrick’s Day so much, is that it’s a great excuse for alllll of the Baileys recipes! Now you guys know that I love Baileys year-round (who doesn’t!), but St. Patty’s day is a perfect time to add it to brownies, cakes – and now truffles! If you’re looking for an easy and delicious St. Patrick’s Day dessert, these are it! Especially easy for a crowd, since all the prep is done way ahead of time!
There are many “steps” to making homemade chocolate truffles, but they’re actually incredibly easy! People always seem to be impressed when I make them, and it’s my little secret (that I’m now sharing with you), because they take less time than cupcakes! Plus I love playing with all the different flavor possibilities! Check out my Merlot Chocolate Truffles and Earl Grey Chocolate Truffles for inspiration!
Ingredients
1/2 cup Baileys
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips
Directions
Heat Baileys in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring continuously until it reaches a low boil.
Pour the hot Baileys over the semi-sweet chocolate chips, in a heat safe bowl. Wait a few minutes, and then stir together. If the chocolate chips haven’t completely melted, heat in the microwave in 10 second increments until the chocolate is smooth. Stir in salt.
Chill the chocolate mixture in the fridge for 1.5-2 hours.
Note: It’s ready when you can easily roll the chocolate into balls, but it hasn’t hardened so much that the chocolate can’t be formed. I find that the chocolate near the edges of the bowl hardens faster, so sometimes I’ll form that section into balls first, and then put the rest of the chocolate back into the fridge for another half hour.
Roll 1/2 Tbs balls of the chocolate ganache – I usually get about 30. Put the rolled truffles into the freezer for half an hour. I like to do this so they’re easier to dip!
Melt the bittersweet chocolate chips in the microwave (again, in increments) until smooth.
Dip the ganache balls in the melted bittersweet chocolate. Chocolate dipping tools are super handy for this step, but you can also use a spoon or long skewer.
After dipping the truffles, put them back into the fridge until the chocolate has hardened, usually about an hour. Enjoy!
It’s no secret at this point that I love British pub recipes, and I love St. Patrick’s Day! This Guinness beef stew recipe is so good – rich, hearty, and (my favorite) easy! I call this a stew, but you’ll notice that this dish is a lot thicker than a soup – almost more like a casserole! Make this delicious St. Patrick’s Day recipe this weekend to celebrate, and serve with my Traditional Soda Bread! Dinner plans made!
I don’t know about you, but on chilly days there’s just nothing better than a warming stew! This one-pot meal bakes in a dutch oven, which means very little hands on time and very little clean up! If you don’t own a dutch oven yet, GET ONE! They’re a total game changer, and we use ours all the time. This is the one we use and love!
And if you want some St. Patrick’s Day dessert ideas, how about one of these?
- Triple Chocolate Guinness Brownies with Baileys Ganache
- Espresso Cake with Baileys Frosting
- Lucky Charms Cake
Stew Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 large onions, roughly diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
6 carrots, sliced into bite sized pieces
2 stalks celery, sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 lb beef chuck, cut into 1-2″ cubes
1 3/4 cups Guinness (or other stout beer)
2 teaspoons Worcestershire
(1 tsp brown sugar)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
Rosemary Biscuits Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks), grated cold butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 cup cold water
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 325 F. Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, celery and carrots and cook until the onions are softened and translucent, stirring occasionally.
While the vegetables cook, prepare the beef. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, salt and pepper. Add the beef, and use your hands to coat each piece with the flour mixture.
Remove the vegetables to a plate. Add the beef to the dutch oven and cook, stirring frequently until the beef is browned. Return the vegetables to the dutch oven along with any leftover flour. Add the Guinness, Worcestershire, brown sugar and rosemary. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Once the mixture boils, cover the dutch oven and cook in the preheated oven for about 1 hour and 45 minutes.
For the biscuits:
Stir together the flour, salt and rosemary in a bowl. Lightly stir in the butter. Add the water, and shape into a soft dough using your hands. Separate the dough into 6-8 pieces, and using your hands shape each piece into a small ball. Add the biscuits to the dutch oven, and return the stew to the oven to cook for an additional 30 minutes. Sprinkle with parsley for garnish and serve with a Guinness!
This cake is seriously what my childhood St. Patrick’s Day dreams were made of. Ombre green vanilla cake. Rich vanilla frosting. Covered with ganache drip and garnished with lucky charms marshmallows. I mean…come on! Every kid needs this St. Patrick’s Day dessert – even if they’re just kids at heart!
Cake Ingredients:
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened (2 sticks)
1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup full-fat vanilla yogurt (greek or regular is fine)
1/2 cup buttermilk
Vanilla Buttercream Ingredients:
(Note: I use a lot of frosting – see the photos below! You can cut down as needed!)
2 cups butter, softened (4 sticks)
6-8 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon heavy cream, if needed
White Ganache Drip Ingredients:
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup white chocolate or white candy melts
Cake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line the bottoms of three 6″ cake pans with parchment paper.
Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt.
In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Mix in the sugar until combined. Add in the eggs, vanilla, yogurt and buttermilk and mix on low until all ingredients are incorporated. Then add the flour mixture, mixing on low until just combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
If you want a green ombre cake: Distribute the cake batter evenly into three large mixing bowls. I used a 1/2 cup measure to ensure my cake layers would be exactly even. Add green food dye in varying degrees to each bowl. Remember that the dye will lighten slightly when the cake bakes.
Spoon the batter into the prepared cake pans. Bake 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs. Allow to cool about 10 minutes in the cake pans, and then invert the cakes onto a cooling rack with the “top” of the cake down. This will help flatten the cakes. Once the cakes come to room temperature, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at least 1 hour before frosting.
Buttercream Directions:
Whip the butter until light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated. Add vanilla extract. Increase the speed to high, and mix about 2-3 minutes.
Ganache Directions:
Put your frosted cake into the freezer for at least 10 minutes. Melt the chocolate or candy melts in a small bowl with the heavy cream. Drizzle the ganache down the sides of the cake, and spread across the top! You can use a spoon for this step, but I prefer to use a squeeze bottle. Garnish with lucky charms marshmallows.
I love celebrating St. Patrick’s Day! Maybe it’s all the green, all the good food, all the beer…who knows! It’s just such a fun holiday, and I love that there are so many totally different ways you can celebrate it! I have really fond memories of my mom making traditional Irish dishes and my aunt and uncle throwing fun parties. It’s just all around good!
This year I decides on a really neutral, simple and rustic St. Patrick’s Day dinner inspiration. I wanted it to feel like the kind of dinner you might enjoy in an Irish countryside pub. Delicious, homey and simple.
For the table itself I chose to use really neutral colors, sticking with my everyday tablecloth and a burlap table runner. Then I added little pops of sage green with the napkins and these adorable faux boxwood planters!
Keeping with the neutral theme, I used plain white plates on top of larger glass dinner plates, so the glass plates kind of look like chargers.
And of course, what’s a St. Patrick’s Day party without Guinness! I’ve shared my Guinness Cupcakes and Triple Chocolate Stout Brownies with you already (and Guinness beef stew coming next week!), but had to include it in the tablescape too. I love these Guinness pint glasses, which I actually borrowed from my parents! The shape of them is supposed to be “ideal” for Guinness consumption, which I really know nothing about, but I just think they’re cute!
I almost skipped anything gold on the table, but then I saw these Frans Chocolates Coconut Gold Bars and changed my mind! They look so cute on each place setting, and still keep with the neutral feel of the whole table. And I spy a little Leprechaun stealing the gold! Charlotte was so obsessed with these chocolates and kept stealing them off each place setting. It was so funny!
However you plan to celebrate the holiday, I hope you have a great time! Slainte!
I love Baileys in my coffee. It’s one of my favorite weekend morning treats! So the flavor combination of espresso and Baileys was really a no-brainer for me! This cake is perfect for St. Patrick’s Day, but honestly it’s really amazing all year round! I can’t wait to make this for my birthday next year!
For the cake, I wanted a rich and delicious espresso flavor. Think sitting in a Parisian cafe drinking a cappuccino. If you’re a Baileys in your coffee kind of gal, you definitely need to try this cake! Cover with festive sprinkles for St. Patrick’s Day, or serve on its own – either way you really can’t go wrong! Want to make it even fancier? Consider drizzling dark chocolate ganache down the sides! Yummm!
Cake Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2/3 cups sour cream
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons espresso powder
Frosting Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup Baileys
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups powdered sugar
Cake Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350, and grease three 6″ cake pans. Line the bottom of each cake pan with parchment paper.
Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour through salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy, then beat in the sugar. Mix the espresso powder into the buttermilk. Add the eggs, vanilla, sour cream and buttermilk mixture into the butter mixture, and mix until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined.
Bake 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Allow the cakes to cool 10 minutes in the pans, and then let the cool the rest of the way, upside down on a cooling rack. Once completely cooled, wrap each cake layer in plastic wrap, and put in the freezer.
Frosting Directions:
Whip the butter until light and fluffy, and add the Baileys and vanilla extract. Add the powdered sugar a cup at a time, until you’ve reached the desired consistency. Once all the powdered sugar is incorporated, increase the speed to high for about 3-5 minutes.
Frost the cakes, and top with festive sprinkles! I used these ones.
