Bailey’s Irish Cream and Pistachio Fudge

Thanks to my naturally addictive personality and my newly found passion for food blogging, I’ve been wasting a lot of time making constructive use of my time looking at food on the internet. I never knew how many “food porn” sites there actually were. In addition to the big ones, Foodgawker and Tastespotting, there’s also Dishfolio, Healthy Aperture, Dessertstalking, and Finding Vegan.

And those are just the sites I know about.

So I stay up late, wine in hand, absolutely drooling over all of the amazing photography.

In fact, this is exactly what I look like while browsing. Every night.

The recurring theme has been Irish food as of late in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. And by Irish food, I mean green confections, chocolate and mint desserts, and anything featuring Bailey’s Irish Cream. I saw a photo of Bailey’s and pistachio fudge that looked to die for. Since I always hear the complaint “we don’t have anything sweet to eat” and because I happen to have some airplane size bottles of Bailey’s, I figured I should probably make it soon.

Soon meaning today. So instead of going to yoga I ran (not literally) to the store for white chocolate chips and pistachios. It should be noted that I’m going to Florida in three weeks where I will undoubtedly be seen in a bathing suit. Yet I’ve chosen to forsake exercise for fudge.

Priorities have never been my strong suit.

This recipe is so easy, you can prepare it in the microwave. I started out by trying to cook the fudge on the stove but my arm got tired from all that stirring. This is probably directly related to the lack of exercise.

Ingredients:

• 24 ounces white chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• Bailey’s Irish Cream (2 airplane bottles, 100 ml, or slightly less than 1/2 cup. I think. Grrr, metric!)
• 1/4 cup unsalted roasted pistachios, chopped

Butter the sides and bottom of an 8×8 baking dish. Combine the first three ingredients in a microwave safe bowl. You’ll find that 3/4 cup of condensed milk is slightly less than the standard 14 ounce can. For that reason, it takes all the willpower that I can muster not to drink the rest of the can.

Microwave on medium power, stirring every minute or so until the mixture is entirely melted. Fold in the pistachios and pour into the prepared pan. Wait an ungodly amount of time for the fudge to chill before cutting. I put mine in the freezer to speed up the process. I’m not good with priorities or patience, apparently.

The Bailey’s flavor here is just right. Definitely not subtle, but not overwhelming either. When it comes to nuts in desserts, for me, less is more. Try doubling the pistachios if you’re in the “nuttier” camp.

Adapted from Eat Good 4 Life.