Saint Paddy’s day is almost here, and I wanted to make something that utilized the flavors of an Irish Car Bomb.
In case you don’t know what it is, picture this.
A pint of Guinness Irish Stout mixed with a shot of Irish whiskey. Intense? Yeah, probably, especially if you’re like me and you know that two drinks means you’re finished for the night. But, wait, there’s more. It’s not just beer and whiskey! Lets drop a shot of Bailey’s Irish Creme in there and chug it like our life depends on it. We wouldn’t want the milk to curdle now! Woohoo…
No.
I tried to drink one once, and let’s just say I got through about four sips before it resembled something miss muffet ate on her tuffet (what is a tuffet, anyway?). I can’t chug beer, let alone beer that is swimming with whiskey and creme.
So, basically, I’m not the biggest fan of a true, traditional Irish Car Bomb as a cocktail.
However, those flavors seem to go really really well with sugar, fat and carbs. My favorite cupcakes of all time are these Guinness, Whiskey, and Irish Creme Cupcakes from Brown Eyed Baker. I thought about making them for the blog, but there are so many versions of them out there, and I can’t pretend that I have much if anything to improve on with any of them.
I thought, what hasn’t been done with Irish Car Bomb flavors before? At least, not as often. Then I started thinking about how much I love making marshmallows (and eating marshmallows…)
I thought about how addicted to coffee I am and this little plan started forming to combine Irish creme, stout, whiskey, coffee, and marshmallows.
I’m not going to lie, it took three attempts to get this right. There were a couple batches of marshmallows that didn’t make it to fluffy happy rolled in powdered sugar stage. Alcohol is trickier to deal with than water when making syrups and reacting with gelatin. George, our Basset Hound and resident clown, complicated this process even more by getting into the trash after batch one failed and rolling in sticky marshmallow cream. I came home from work to find it spread all over the kitchen and living room floor.
Needless to say, the experimentation was worth it!
I’m really happy with this last batch. It’s sweet. Whiskey that’s drowned in 5 times it’s volume in sugar is about the only way I can stomach it!
After you roll the marshmallows with powdered sugar, you can get some of it off with a pastry brush to reveal the swirls of yellow whiskey and white stout marshmallow. It’s amazing to me that the whiskey dyes the marshmallows yellow, but the super brown stout can’t hold it’s color under all the air that gets whipped into the creme.
There are lots of other things you could do with these marshmallows. Dip them in chocolate? Make some boozey s’mores? Boozey rice crispy treats, dipped in chocolate? I love marshmallows.
Whatever you do, be sure to pile the marshmallows unreasonably high when you add them to your latte! It’s the only way to do it!
- Irish Creme Latte:
- 24 oz milk of your choice
- 8 oz Irish Creme (I used Bailey's)
- 9-12 oz of espresso (or 12 oz strong brewed coffee)
- Guinness Marshmallow Creme:
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup stout (I used Guinness), flat
- 1½ tsp gelatin powder (1/2 knox envelope)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup light corn syrup
- ¼ tsp salt
- Whiskey Marshmallow Creme:
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup Irish whiskey (I used Jameson)
- 1½ tsp gelatin powder (1/2 knox envelope)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup corn syrup
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup powdered sugar for rolling marshmallows
- You're going to use a pan big enough for both batches of marshmallow, and then swirl them together.
- Prepare a 9x9 baking dish by spraying it with nonstick spray and coating the inside with powdered sugar. Be generous with the sugar. Trust me when I tell you this stuff is as sticky as it is delicious!
- Stout marshmallow Creme:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, add ¼ cup water and all the gelatin.
- Add stout, syrup, sugar, and salt to a medium sauce pan over medium heat.
- Stir occasionally until mixture comes to a rolling boil. Swirl the pan for about 5 -10 minutes, or until the mixture reaches about 230 degrees.
- Turn mixer on low to combine gelatin and water.
- Keep mixer on low speed and slowly drizzle hot syrup until it is all combined.
- Turn mixer to high speed for about 4-6 minutes or until mixture about triples in size.
- Pour marshmallow creme into prepared pan and cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. This will keep it moist while you make the whiskey marshmallow creme.
- Whiskey Marshmallow Creme:
- Do the exact same process above, only adding whiskey to the sugar, syrup, and salt instead of stout.
- Remove plastic wrap from stout marshmallow creme and pour whiskey marshmallow creme on top.
- Working quickly before creme starts to stiffen, swirl the two together with a large spoon.
- Cover with plastic wrap again, this time you don't have to grease it. When you lift it off, the marshmallows will be set, and it shouldn't stick.
- Let marshmallows set overnight at room temperature, then slice to desired size and roll in powdered sugar.
- Steam the milk and Irish cream (It can simply be heated if you don't have a milk frother, but there won't be any foam.)
- Portion milk into four glasses.
- Pour approximately 3 oz espresso into each glass.
- Top with marshmallows.
- Enjoy your Irish Car Bomb Latte!
- Let cool for at least 3 hours.
Boo says
I just finished prepping the marshmallows so that we can enjoy these drinks on Tuesday! I’ve never tried my hand at marshmallows so I’m excited to see how they turn out. Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Lindsey Boubel says
Thanks so much for trying it! I know the marshmallows are involved, but they’re so worth it! Let me know how you and your friends like it 🙂