St Patrick’s Day is fast approaching.  Do you have plans to celebrate?  I’m admittedly well past the years of bar hopping downtown to drink some mediocre green beer in an overcrowded bar…. I tend to opt for a more homebound celebration that involves some good food, maybe a cocktail or 2, and allows me to be in my jammies by 8pm 6pm 😊

This year, we are going to make the following recipes for our St Patrick’s Day dinner:

 

The Pot of Gold Mimosa is an elevated mimosa to be St Patrick’s Day themed.  This is a cocktail I like to enjoy while making dinner as well as during dinner.  It’s very light and refreshing.

The recipe can be found here.

Start by adding 3 oz of orange juice to a champagne glass.  Next, add ½ oz of vodka (you can always skip the vodka if preferred).

Top with champagne until the glass is almost full.

Add the ½ oz of blue curacao.  It should all settle to the bottom giving the glass an ombre look with yellow on top and green on bottom.  Enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

You don’t have to follow the exact measurements if you don’t want.  Just eyeball it…some people like more orange juice and less champagne and some people like more champagne and less orange juice.  Make what you like!  Again, you can skip the vodka if you prefer.  You can also make this a double and use a wine glass.  It’s super festive and super tasty!

Irish Soda Muffins are delicious and incredibly easy to make.  They are essentially a quick bread (or muffin in this case) because they don’t require any yeast.  The leavening comes from the baking soda and buttermilk reacting to one another.  They have a crusty exterior and dense yet soft interior.  Don’t be fooled though – they do not taste anything like soda!  They are pretty mild in flavor and have a similar taste to a biscuit, making them the perfect side dish for your meal.

The recipe can be found here.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a muffin tin with nonstick spray – make sure to get inside each well.  I recommend NOT using paper muffin cups.  I think the muffins stick to the paper and are too hard to remove.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

Add the cubed butter and use a pastry cutter or your hands to blend the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.  I personally like to use my hands.  I think I get a more consistent mixture and it takes less time (for me).  It is OK to have some small chunks of butter in the mixture.  You don’t have to get every last piece.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and buttermilk.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while stirring.  Stir until just combine.  The batter might be a little lumpy.

Scoop the batter into the muffin cups.  It’s OK if the batter is sticking above the rim of the muffin cup.  It just adds some texture.  This recipe will make 12 muffins.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Do not overbake!

Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack or serving platter.  I personally like to eat them right out of the oven when they are still hot but it’s fine to let them cool and serve later.  Any leftovers should be stored in an airtight container once completely cooled.  So, if you are saving for later, make sure to cool completely!

The recipe can be found here.

Serve yours with butter or jam, or even bake some raisins or currants right into the muffins for added flavor and texture.

Guinness Glazed Meatballs are tender bite-sized morsels of ground turkey (or ground chicken) that are tossed in a lovely Guinness glaze.  The meatballs have great flavor and are spiked with Guinness beer.  The glaze is also spiked (I mean, why not?) and creates this kind of sweet yet kind of tangy sauce for the meatballs to absorb.  They make the perfect appetizer or main course for your celebration.

The recipe can be found here.

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F and lining a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Prepare the meatballs by adding the ground turkey, breadcrumbs, ¼ cup Guinness beer, onion, egg, salt, and pepper.  Mix well.  I like to use ground turkey, but ground chicken also works well.  I also prefer to use my hands to mix because I feel like the ingredients are better blended and evenly distributed.  Just make sure to thoroughly wash your hands after!

Form into 1 ½-inch balls, either by hand or with a cookie scoop, and place on the baking sheet.  You should be able to get 24 meatballs out of the mixture.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

Prepare the glaze while the meatballs bake.  Add the 2 bottles of Guinness beer, ketchup, honey, molasses, mustard, dried onion, and garlic powder to a large saucepan.  Whisk to combine.

Bring to a boil then reduce the heat to simmer for about 15 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch and water.  Slowly pour this into the saucepan while whisking.  The sauce should start to thicken.  Make sure you whisk while you pour or the mixture might start to clump up and curdle, and you’ll have little balls of cornstarch in your glaze.

Once the meatballs are cooked through, remove from the oven, and add to the saucepan.  Toss to coat.

Serve immediately with the Irish Soda Muffins on the side.  Enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

Finally, my favorite meal of the day…dessert!  What’s for dessert you ask?  Irish Cream Brownies with Irish Cream Frosting.  You might be sensing a theme again but with Irish Cream instead of Guinness…and you would be right.  Irish Cream infuses both the brownies and frosting in this recipe.  The brownies are dense and rich, and the frosting is light but incredibly flavorful.  You will be licking the bowl for sure!

The recipe can be found here.

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a 9×9 or 8×8 baking dish with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, combine the cocoa, flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

In a separate mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to combine the sugar and melted butter.  Add the eggs and Irish cream and mix well.

 

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while mixing.  You can keep using the hand mixer for this or mix by hand.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread to the sides.  Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Set the brownies on a cooling rack to cool completely.  You can speed up this process by placing the brownies in the fridge to cool faster, if needed.  Once cooled, make the frosting.

In a mixing bowl, combine the softened butter and powdered sugar.  Use a hand mixer to beat until light and fluffy.

Add the Irish cream and cocoa powder.  Continue to beat until well combined.

Spread in an even layer over the top of the brownies.

Lift up on the aluminum foil to remove the brownies from the baking dish.  Gently peel away the foil.  You can lift one side of the brownies and slide the aluminum foil all the way out as well.  Slice the brownies into squares and enjoy!

The recipe can be found here.

A little slice of heaven!  These are a great way to end your St Patrick’s Day.  Pretty sure I ate more than one in each sitting 🙂

Happy Cooking and Happy St Patrick’s Day!

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