Chocolate Irish Cream Pie gets it super creamy flavor from Irish Cream Liqueur, velvety mascarpone cheese, and whipped cream folded in for the finish. But no need to wait until St. Paddy’s Day to serve this lusciousness.
Think of Irish Cream Liqueur as a very strong extract. Pure vanilla extract is made with vodka or rum, so I have no problem spiking the pie. However, if you are against infusing booze, then don’t. That said, I highly recommend you use mascarpone cheese and not substitute cream cheese, for the non-liqueur pie. Irish Cream Liqueur has a smooth creamy taste, some of which was lost with using 100% cream cheese. Regardless, it was still a very scrumptious pie.
Why Make & Use Homemade Mascarpone?
Homemade Mascarpone Cheese is much more cost effective than store bought. The cost of store bought is a little prohibitive. It is very easy to make and massively delish! You do need to make it a day in advance, however. It’s 6 minutes on the stovetop and overnight straining in the fridge. The next morning you will have creamy mascarpone ready for pies, bagels, dips, you name it! Plus, you know what’s in it. (Food recalls lately are scary!)
My favorite Irish Cream is Five Farms, but it’s a little spendy, but if you like sipping leftovers, go for Five Farms. I used St. Brendan’s Irish Cream. It has the same chocolatey cream notes as other Irish Cream Liqueurs, and of course, nothing wrong with Bailey’s!
For the crust I went with a chocolate sandwich cookie crust, which is also available gluten-free (yahoo). Prepping the crust and making the homemade mascarpone the day before is a huge time saver!
Above: Mascarpone cheese beaten with powder sugar, unsweetened cocoa powder, and Irish Cream Liqueur with the melted chocolate ready to be whipped in.
Below: The melted chocolate is whipped in and the whipped cream is added.
I tried folding in the whipped cream, but it wasn’t going easy. I whipped out the electric hand mixer and whipped it in and spread it in the prepared chocolate cookie crust.
Now I decided to add homemade chocolate shavings instead of Chocolate Irish Cream Whipped Cream, as I didn’t see the need for competition with the pie. Trust your taste bud instincts with whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, or chocolate shavings, etc.
Decadent deliciousness awaits you and yours.
Products I Recommend:
KitchenAid Standup Mixer (artisan series) and/or KitchenAid Hand Mixer. Both fabulous!
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Chocolate Irish Cream Pie
Course: DessertCuisine: IrishDifficulty: Medium to Easy12
servings40
minutes4
hoursChocolate Irish Cream Pie gets it super creamy flavor from Irish Cream Liqueur, velvety mascarpone cheese, and whipped cream folded in for the finish. But no need to wait until St. Paddy’s Day to serve this lusciousness.
Ingredients
1 cup (8 ounces) heavy whipping cream
16 ounces mascarpone cheese (may substitute cream cheese), room temp**
1 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened dutch cocoa powder
1/2 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons Irish Cream Liqueur
One 9-inch chocolate sandwich cookie crust (like Oreo)
Chocolate shavings or chocolate sprinkles or sweet whipped cream for garnish
Directions
- In a medium to large bowl, add the heavy cream and beat with electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Place aside in fridge until ready to use.
- Place the mascarpone cheese in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until creamy, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar and dutch cocoa, beat on low so powder won’t “puff” out of bowl to combine. Once incorporated beat on high for an additional 1 to 2 minutes until creamy again.
- Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring at each interval, until just melted. This should take less than 2 minutes total.
- Add the melted chocolate to the mascarpone mixture and beat with electric mixture for about 1 to 2 minutes, scrape down sides to be sure everything is mixed thoroughly. Add in the Irish Cream Liqueur and beat another minute.
- Spoon the whipped cream into the chocolate mascarpone mixture and fold in using a spatula. If if feels too stiff you can use mixer on low to combine it all together.
- Spread the mixture into the prepared chocolate pie crust. Top with garnish of choice and refrigerate for about 4 hours to firm up.
Notes
- **If you substitute cream cheese, try half and half. Full cream cheese substitution is fine, but it tends to “hide” a little of the Irish Creaminess taste.
