Homemade Liquers.

  I adore Bailey's Irish Cream but not in my coffee.  I love it in my hot chocolate drunk on a cold winter day after walking home during a blizzard.

Unfortunately, it has alcohol in it and I cannot have it in my house.  In Alaska, villages can be wet, damp, or dry.  Wet means it is sold in the village, damp means you can bring it in or personal consumption or dry means you cannot have it in anyway.

My village is dry.  If you bring it in and are caught, you will be arrested and end up in jail.  It has happened before.  Although the village is dry, alcohol is sold here and people make their own.  The last time I heard, a fifth of alcohol ran around $250.

So I want to make my own without the alcohol so I can enjoy the flavor in my chocolate to give it that little bit extra flavor.  Unfortunately, I could not find a recipe for Irish Cream without alcohol.  It is frustrating because I do not want to be arrested.

I will share the alcoholic DIY version of Irish Cream because its all I could find.  There are several recipes I found but most of them are as follows:

Recipe 1.
1 1/4 cups Irish whiskey
1 tablespoon espresso powder
14 ounces condensed sweetened milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
1 teaspoon real almond extract
2 tablespoons honey

Mix in a blender, put in a jar, refrigerate 2 hours, shake and serve.

Another couple of recipes recommended you make concentrated cold brew coffee and use 1/4 cup of it.  It also recommended using one ounce of 60% cacao chocolate chips melted in 1 pint of heavy cream over a double boiler.  Stir in 1/3rd cup of sugar to the cream mixture.  When fully mixed with the sugar melted, take off of the heat, add 2 tbsp of chocolate extract to the chocolate mixture, before adding 1 1/2 cup Irish Whiskey, cold brew coffee, and 1 tsp vanilla to it.  Mix with an immersion blender, pour into a bottle, refrigerate till ready to use.

On the other hand it was easy to find an alcohol free version of Kahlua by 3 cups of sugar, 2 cups of water, and a 2 inch piece of vanilla into a pan.  Bring to a boil, and simmer till the volume has been reduced by half around a half hour. When done, add 8 tbsp of instant coffee mixing well before cooling. In a jar, mix the sugar syrup with a fifth of either rum or vodka.  Shake and store in a dark place for approx. 10 days. After 10 days, strain the mixture, bottle it, and enjoy.

I doubt, I would every make the Kahlua because I do not like coffee flavor.  I'm going to keep looking for a nonalcoholic version of Irish Creme but I do not think I'll find one since the Irish is supplied by Irish whiskey.

Have a great day and let me know what you think.