Alternative to cream bases.

[mozr]

All credit goes to billmcc for putting me onto this (I think he got the recipe from elsewhere).

I have now used it on all the still spirits cream liqueur flavourings and it works perfectly for all. I think it deserves its own thread, as it will save people a lot of money, and increase their booze yield.

500g of coffee whitener in Tesco is 99p. 250g of sugar is say 20p.

That works out at 70p a cream base, instead of £3.65 that wineworks charge, plus you are getting 1.4-1.5 litres instead of 1.125.

The result is slightly thinner, a bit more alcoholic, and great!

The recipe is copied below.

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SS cream liqueur essence
200grams sugar
250 grams coffee whitener(half a tub)
750 mls of 40% spirit
hot water to dessolve ingredients top up to 700mls

Dissolve the coffee whitener and sugar in the hot water to make 700mls
Zap with a blender if you get lumps (which sometimes happens)
Add the Irish cream essence and mix again let it cool then add 375mls
to each empty bottle then add 375ml of 40% spirit to each wich will leave you with
two bottles at about 20% abv lid them up give them a good shake then chill and enjoy.
the still spirits flavour is meant to make 1.125ltr but this way you get 1.5 ltr.

[stout]

cream liqeurs just make me think of irish cream liqeurs like baileys and all those also ran brands called irish fluffy meadow and toura loura mist

as a purveyor of fine spirits- i appear to have found myself as the prime source of these things for herself and her extended selfs

i'm sure my ancestors up the side of a mountain in donegal bringing whiskey to those around them - little realised that their invention would convolute into these sorta yokes

but thanks mozr cos as you said you'll save me a bloody fortune

a bloody fortune

[Admiral Toad]

Just tried this recipe not bad at all
If we could just thicken it a bit it would be var nye perfect . Any ideas ?

[YHB]

Or if you want to do away with the essence, a baileys knock off, knocked off from the Aussie Site

400ml whiskey (or other)
1 can condensed milk
250ml cream
2 eggs
generous squirt chocolate topping
6 drops vanilla essence

Put in blender and blend for about 90 seconds.

Pour over Ice

[Capt-Cudellez]

I've made that one Brian - with vanilla bean and high coco chocolate it is a great drink. I used wheat germ whisky as the base (the WG taste is a bit sweet for my tastes - someone likened it to liquid glazed doughnut) but works really well in this recipe.

Was a really nice drink - but I ended up having to put waaaay more booze in as it was far too sweet for me - so I suggest cutting back on the quantities and taste as you go.

Was really nice after a hot curry -one for taking somewhere as a gift for special occasions, as you'd end up a right fatty if you drank it on a regular occasion - I worked out about 1100 calories per litre (before you count the booze) the way I made it up.
A tin of condensed milk alone is about 1300 cals.

[optic]

Just tried this recipe not bad at all
If we could just thicken it a bit it would be var nye perfect . Any ideas ?

Wondering if you used boiling water to mix the ingredients and added some cornflour,might be worth a try without adding the essence and if it dont work only a bit of coffee whitener has been wasted.

Optic.

[Almanac]

Do not use cornflour for this purpose. Liquid thickened with cornflour will get progressively thicker as it cools. Also, cornflour thickened liquid will eventually break down and you'll get jelly-like lumps in your liqueur.

Ground Arrowroot, available from any supermarket, should work perfectly if added at the sugar dissolving stage, a little at a time until the desired thickness is achieved. You use it the same way as cornflour - i.e. mix with a little cold water and stir in to the hot liquid.

You'd need to make it very thick as the neutral alcohol will thin it quite a lot.

Definitely Arrowroot NOT Cornflour.

AM

[Admiral Toad]

AM

Will give that a try worth a gO !

AT

[Capt-Cudellez]

Do not use cornflour for this purpose. Liquid thickened with cornflour will get progressively thicker as it cools. Also, cornflour thickened liquid will eventually break down and you'll get jelly-like lumps in your liqueur.

Yeah +1 on that, also if you don;t cook cornflour it tastes....well, like flour, yuck

[biopro]

That's great everyone - personally I am not a fan of the cream bases - they don't dissolve well and its so easy to discolour them if you heat them.

Would glycerine help instead of part of the sugar to give the thickening. It works to some extent with the whisky profile kit.

The other alternative is as described on the SS bottle - use 200 ml sugar and 500 ml cream. I has a shelf life of about 2 weeks in the fridge, but trust me, it is very unlikely to survive that long anyway.

Its the closest I have come to Brandy Alexanders apart from making the real thing.

[mozr]

I like the slightly thinner consistency, but those who do not, why not increase the coffee whitener in direct proportion to a decrease in hot water?

Do it by 10% at a time until you work out your own recipe.

Then post here!

[bobnot]

Well I just tried The essenica Cream base and essenica irish cream and the results were quite suprising and very comparable to drinking wallpaper paste with coffee in
I really wasnt expecting it to be so thick i followed the instructions to the tee as far as i can see and ended up with 2.25 litres of coffee flavoured glue.

Im probably being too harsh on the flavour its pretty good but the consistency is awful i can blow bubbles with it!
I put a bit of milk into a glass of it and that helped but that wil screw up the shelflife considerably i would have thought.

LOL im not impressed with my first effort/impressions but i will have a play with it see if i can do something with it but i dont expect to be trying it again i will try the alt recipe next time.

[optic]

Well I just tried The essenica Cream base and essenica irish cream and the results were quite suprising and very comparable to drinking wallpaper paste with coffee in
I really wasnt expecting it to be so thick i followed the instructions to the tee as far as i can see and ended up with 2.25 litres of coffee flavoured glue.

Im probably being too harsh on the flavour its pretty good but the consistency is awful i can blow bubbles with it!
I put a bit of milk into a glass of it and that helped but that wil screw up the shelflife considerably i would have thought.

LOL im not impressed with my first effort/impressions but i will have a play with it see if i can do something with it but i dont expect to be trying it again i will try the alt recipe next time.

Exactly my verdict when I tried some a while back,only used half the bottle mixed with a Prestige Irish cream essence rest of the bottle went in the bin.It does make me wonder if they actually try most of the Essences/bases before they put them on the market

[mozr]

I just have to reiterate how good I think the recipe is.

It's cheaper, produces more yield, and is in my opinion a better product.

It is thinner, but I prefer that. Those that want it thick could increase the coffee whitener to alcohol ratio, or even just go down the cream and sugar route (although you have to keep it chilled and polish it off sharpish before it turns). But I think that is all about trying to make a market copy of something.

Forget Baileys! Caranilla cream is where it's at!

[Phantom]

Well given that the cream base pack I got yesterday was £4.49, I was thinking of trying the alternative that's mentioned on the back of the SS irish cream flavouring, it says 500mls of cream and 200mls of sugar.

Now I suspect that I can just measure the sugar up to the 200mls mark in my measuring jug, but which cream to try ? Whipping cream, Single cream or Double cream ?

Any of them would be cheaper to use than the "cream base pack".......