Do you know what Freud said about the Irish?

I have a love-hate relationship with Saint Patrick's day. On one hand, it's the wonderful Amy Walton's birthday. It also affords a multitude of fun cooking adventures. Plus, I love meat, potatoes, the Dropkick Murphys, and Bailey's. On the other hand, though, I don't care for beer or whiskey. At all. So there's that.
When we decided to have a St. Patty's soiree, I kind of figured that I wouldn't end up wanting to eat any of my Guinness/Jameson-ized cooking, so you and I will just have to take my friends' word that it was all edible.

Mini No-Bake Bailey's Cheesecakes

This was easily my favorite thing that I made for St. Patty's. Thank you, Pinterest, for bringing me this recipe. Added bonus: I got to make it the day before the party, which decreased my stress levels exponentially. I was super nervous about making cheesecake this way, but it certainly paid off. 


1 3/4 cups chocolate chip cookie crumbs
1 1/2 Tbsp. melted butter 
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 envelope unflavored gelatin
1 8oz package cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup Bailey's Irish Cream
1 tsp instant coffee powder

Prep your cupcake pan with liners in each cup. I used my mini-cupcake pan for these adorable bite-sized cheesecakes. Mix the cookie crumbs with the melted butter. Start with 1 tablespoon of butter and only use more if it's needed to densify the crumbs. (Yes, I know that's not a word, but it concisely articulates what should be happening with the crumbs.) Once the crumbs are suitably dense, press them into the bottoms and sides of the cups. Set the pan aside, and get ready to make the cheesecake filing. Whisk 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and the envelope of gelatin in a heat-safe bowl. While the gelatin is absorbing the cream (blooming) for 5 minutes, beat the cream cheese, sugar, and salt in a medium-sized bowl until smooth. Add the rest of the cream and the Bailey's to the mixture and beat until the mixture is thick and creamy. By this point, you should be ready to work on the gelatin/cream mixture. If you are one of the blessed microwave-having multitude, this step will be way easier for you (just microwave it for 25 seconds). We don't have a microwave because hubby is opposed to them. I am not. I think they're swell. Anyway, I somehow managed to jury-rig a sort of double boiler thing to melt my gelatin. Once it's melted, whisk in the coffee powder. Go ahead and gently pour the gelatin into the cream cheese mixture as you beat them together. You want to be sure that everything is mixed thoroughly so that your finished cheesecake has a nice, mousse-like texture. Scoop the mixture into the cupcake cups and allow the cheesecakes to set in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours.
 
Guinness Pulled Pork

My plan for dinner was to make Gimme Some Oven's Guinness Pulled Pork in my slow cooker. Unfortunately, the concept of how big my slow cooker is in real life didn't quite translate to what I had in my head when I was at the grocery store, so I ended up with a huge chunk of pork that was about double the size of my cute little crockpot. Oops. My poor hubby woke up to see me desperately trying to cut the meat into smaller chunks and squeeze as much as I could into the pot. It was not happening. I knew I still had to slow-cook the pork to get it nice and pull-able, so I could either cook it in the oven or on the stove top. The oven was a definite no-go, considering I had a bunch of other dishes that needed to be baked, so stove it was! 

1 Tbsp. paprika
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
4-5 lbs pork (I used a sirloin roast)
1 large onion
2 bottles of Guinness

Slice the onion, and arrange the slices along the bottom of the pot. Mix the spices well in a small bowl, then rub the pork on all sides with the mixture. Go ahead and toss that hunk of pig in the pot, then pour the Guinness all over it. Cook the pork covered on one of the lowest settings on your stove for 8-10 hours. Keep an eye on it as it cooks, making sure to rotate it every so often. Apparently, for those who like beer, it will start to smell amazing. Once the pork is thoroughly cooked, shred that business with a fork, then put it back in the sauce to absorb all the flavor and juices. Seth suggested making it a day in advance so that the juices can really sink in. Apparently, it was even better on Day 2. (Sorry, I forgot to take pictures of this!)

Guinness Bread

The plan for dinner was to have pulled pork sandwiches, so when I found Short Stop's Beer Bread recipe, I knew it had to play a part in this meal.

 3 cups flour (I used All-Purpose)

1/3 cup sugar

1 Tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt (I used Kosher)

just over a bottle of Guinness (any other beer would work)

3 Tbsp. melted butter

Preheat your oven to 350, and lightly grease a loaf pan. Sift your dry ingredients in a large bowl. When they are well-combined, mix in the beer. I chose to do my mixing by hand, mainly because I wanted to minimize the number of times I had to wash my beaters. Also, I like making bread with my hands. I mixed in a whole bottle, but felt that the mixture was too dry, so I poured another splash into the bowl (just enough to hold the dough together and get it super sticky). Put the dough in the loaf pan, and pour the melted butter all over it. Bake the loaf for about 50 minutes. It should smell fabulous, and have a nice golden crust on top.

English Muffin Rolls

Almost as soon as the Guinness loaf was out of the oven, dear hubby appeared over my shoulder, wondering if there was going to be enough bread for sandwiches. It was clear that one loaf wasn't going to cut it, so I decided to try out Jillee's English Muffin Bread. The recipe makes enough for 4 loaves, but I only have one loaf pan, so it ended up being one loaf and a tray of rolls. No booze in this recipe, but English is close enough to Irish, right? Yes, it is. Shut up.

This bread EXPLODED in the oven!

5 1/2 cups warm water

3 packages Quick Rise Yeast

2 Tbsp. salt

3 Tbsp. sugar

11 cups bread flour (but apparently, all-purpose works just as well)

3 Tbsp. melted butter

 

You're going to want a very large bowl for this one, folks. My biggest mixing bowl was almost overflowing.

Preheat your oven to 350, and grease whatever pans you'll be using.

Mix all of the ingredients together. (Now you're thankful that I told you to make sure you had a big bowl). Again, I mixed by hand. There's just something about making bread by hand that feels like you're bridging the gaps through all the generations of people who ever made bread. Plus, it smells SO GOOD! Once the ingredients are combined and the dough is super sticky, put the dough in the pans. You don't want to fill any of the pans more than halfway. Trust me. Look at the loaves in the oven. Those were only half full when they started to rise. Let them rise until the dough reaches the top of the pan. Then, toss them in the oven for 35 minutes. Remove them, brush them with butter (it's going to start smelling like YUM at this point), and put them back in the oven for 10 minutes. Once more, you're going to be looking for a nice golden-brown crust. Honestly, I didn't quite get 'English muffin' from this bread, but it was DELICIOUS. The rolls got polished off at dinner, and hubby and I demolished the other loaf in 2 days.  It made some pretty exceptional PB&J sandwiches. Yes, we're adults with full-time jobs. Don't hate. Admit it. You kind of want some PB&J now.

Last but not least, IRISH CAR BOMB CUPCAKES

These cupcakes are slowly becoming legendary amongst our friends. This was my third time making them, and this time, I managed to not completely destroy my kitchen! I really didn't change anything from the original recipe, other than adding a little extra whiskey to the ganache for the boys. I think they appreciated it.