Irish Coffee Creme Brulee
Cool, creamy creme brulee gets a boozy kick from Irish whiskey, and rich flavor from toasty coffee. It’s like your favorite after-dinner drink, in dessert form! Make this easy recipe for St. Patrick’s Day, or any day! Naturally gluten-free.
Good morning my friends! It’s a brand new week and so far it’s shaping up beautifully. The kiddos are back in school (whew!), we’ve got an extra hour in the day, and the sun is shining. And I have creme brulee!
Not just any creme brulee either. This one is rich and creamy, with toasty warm coffee flavors and a boozy kick. If you like to drink Irish coffee then this dessert has your name all over it.
Creme brulee may sound fancy and French but I promise you it’s one of the quickest and easiest desserts you’ll ever make. I whipped this up in less than 10 minutes on Sunday afternoon, and then I was out the door. Mr. Allie babysat the oven for me and took them out as soon as they were set. A quick chill in the fridge and they were ready in plenty of time for dinner.
And the flavor payoff is HUGE! So silky and comforting, and that crackly burnt sugar topping is a perfect compliment to the deep, roasty flavors of coffee and Irish whiskey.
I have done some scientific experiments and come to the conclusion that when it comes to creme brulee, more sugar on top = better. I don’t want no thin, skimpy crust on my creme brulee. I want big, crunchy shards of caramel-y goodness. What you see in the pics here was a little lacking, for my tastes. I recommend topping with about a tablespoon of sugar. Just drop it on the surface, and shake your ramekin around to even out the layer. If you don’t have a brulee torch you can just pop ’em under the broiler for a few minutes. Just keep a close eye on them- sugar goes from caramelized to burnt in the blink of an eye.
These are a fun and delicious dessert for St. Patrick’s Day, or any day, really! Whip up a batch- they’re a perfect after-dinner treat!
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Irish Coffee Creme Brulee
Ingredients
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon (0.13 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 2/3 cup (158.67 ml) heavy cream
- 1/4 cup (7.5 ml) brewed espresso,, cooled
- 2 tablespoons Irish whiskey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste, (extract may be substituted, or the seeds scraped from one vanilla bean)
- Additionally: 2-4 tablespoons granulated sugar,, for bruleeing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and line a baking dish with a clean kitchen towel. Set ramekins on top.
- Place the yolks in a mixing bowl, along with the sugar and salt. Whisk together until combined.
- Heat the cream in a small pot until simmering.
- Slowly add the hot cream to the egg yolk mixture, while whisking.
- Stir in the coffee, whiskey, and vanilla.
- Transfer the mixture to the ramekins and carefully fill the larger baking dish with very hot water, about 1 inch up the sides of the ramekins.
- Bake for 40 minutes, or until just barely set in the middle.
- Cool completely, then top each ramekin with 1 tablespoon of sugar and brulee with a torch or under the broiler.
- Serve immediately.
In the recipe this says to be served immediately. Will it keep in the refrigerator for a short period? I would like to prepare to bring to a dinner party….
Also can you substitute espresso with regular brewed coffee?
The Recipe looks delicious!
Hi there, and my apologies for the late reply. It looks like you asked your question while I was away on vacation and I’m just finding it now. To answer your question, once the topping has been torched, it’s best to serve it right away. If you refrigerate it after bruleeing, the caramel will melt into a thin liquid. However, you can bake the custards ahead and keep them refrigerated until you’re ready to serve. Then just top them with sugar, torch, and serve. Hope this is helpful!
And I forgot to also mention that you can use regular coffee, but the coffee flavor won’t be as pronounced.
Hi Allie,
A humble thanks from me to you for this great recipe. Because by using this recipe I give a surprise gift to my parent’s marriage anniversary morning and got lots of accolade from my family members. here I’m using the espresso shot from my personal home espresso machine to making this Irish Coffee Creme Brulee.
Sounds fantastic Rayyan! Happy anniversary to your parents and thanks so much for the good feedback!
These are so perfect! Amazing!!!
Thank you so much Amanda! Hope you’re having a great weekend, love 🙂
Girl, these are insane! I’m not sure I could love them more! We finally just got a new kitchen torch and you’ve inspired me to get on making something with it.
Other than lighting my lacquered farmhouse table on fire like my husband did a few weeks ago. Men…
Oh no, you’re kidding?!? Ugh tell me about it. And I have two sons so I really feel ya. I hope you do make this recipe- I thought it was sooo good! Thanks so much for the sweet comment Rebecca and I’m sorry about your table 🙁
I just bought a brulee torch and now I know what I want to make with it. Your Irish coffee flavoured creme brulee looks amazing, Allie! You can’t go wrong with boozy coffee!
Right??? I had a feeling you would approve Nancy! 😀
So gorgeous! Love the flavours – the perfect dessert for St. Patrick’s Day! 😀 Just voted for you in the 2015 blogger awards! x
Aw- thank you so much Jess! xoxo
I recently bought a torch and simply must make this!!! OMG it is spectacular Allie.
Thank you so much sweetie! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did 😀
This looks so so delicious! Pass me a bowl please!
Thanks Manali! Hope you’re having a great night sweetie!
Creme brûlée is definitely my dessert of choice when going out to eat…..I have zero confidence in my brûlée making abilities! And my mom even gave me some cute bowls (hint hint wink wink from mom i guess) to make it in. I love Irish coffee and vanilla bean anything makes me weak in the knees. But I don’t think I can wait till St. Paddy’s Day to make….you know?!? I’m going to have to try again because I am missing out. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us =)
My pleasure Laura! Creme brulee is one of my favorite things to make and eat!
I’m digging the irish coffee! Cool and creamy sounds perfect right now – we even have warm weather to justify thirds on this! You are rocking the crème brulee Allie, and that’s not easy, they’re suckers to photograph. Absolutely stunning photography per usual. Pinned!
Ugh, girl you know it! They are sooo hard to photograph and I was almost kicking myself for choosing to do this- until I took a bite, haha! They are sooo stinkin’ good! Thank you so much for the sweet compliments Mary Frances!