Even though I don't drink very much or very often, there's one adult beverage that I happen to love, and that's Bailey's Irish Cream. (well, let's be honest, I love ANY Irish Cream, but Bailey's is my fave). So I like to find different things to bake with it. I've done Irish Cream Cake, Irish Cream Cupcakes with Irish Cream Frosting, I think I even did a cheesecake, once upon a time. So I figured why not do a pie this time?
I found a few different recipes, but not every recipe was what I had in mind. There were lots of CHOCOLATE recipes, which are great and all, but then you can't really taste the Irish Cream. So I purposely decided to stick to a more vanilla version, which would let the Irish Cream flavor shine. Actually, as I was making this one, I wondered if the white chocolate would also overpower the flavor, but it absolutely doesn't. It's the perfect thing to enhance the Irish Creaminess of it all. (As you can see, I take these things very seriously. lol) It's super easy to make and it's a total do-ahead too. All things considered, this was exactly the pie I wanted to make. It's a slightly tweaked version of a recipe I found on a website called Saving Room For Dessert. It's so light and fluffy, it's like eating a cloud. It's the perfect thing to serve after your Corned Beef and Cabbage! Enjoy!
1 1/4 cups graham cracker or cookie crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
5 tbs unsalted butter, melted
1 1/3 cups white chocolate, chopped
1/3 cup Baileys Irish Cream
4 large egg whites
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 or 3 tbs Bailey's Irish Cream
white chocolate chips or curls for garnish, optional
For the crust:
Heat oven to 350ºF.
Mix ingredients together and press mixture firmly on the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool completely.
For the filling:
Melt chocolate and Irish Cream in a metal bowl over hot water, stirring constantly until creamy. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks hold their shape. Set aside. Using a mixer, whip 1 cup heavy cream until stiff. Gently fold the egg whites and whipped cream together. Gently fold the white chocolate mixture into egg white mixture, just until blended. Fill the cooled pie crust and chill while preparing the whipped cream topping.
For the topping:
Whip 1 cup heavy whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and whip until stiff. Fold in the Irish Cream. Spoon into pastry bag fitted with large star tip and pipe onto pie using a swirling motion. Decorate with white chocolate curls. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. For mousse instead of pie – spoon mixture into parfait glasses, top with whipped cream and decorate with white chocolate chips or curls.
Tips:
I used shortbread cookies for the crust, but you can use anything you like. Vanilla Wafers would be great. You could also use Golden Oreos, in which case you'd omit the sugar and butter. Just throw the Oreos into a food processor and pulse until they're crumbs, then pat into the pie plate as directed.
For a non-alcoholic version, you can use Irish Cream flavored nondairy coffee creamer instead of the liqueur. For a flavor variation, you could do this entire recipe with Kahlua instead of Bailey's Irish Cream.
