Let me tell you about Moe, one of my mother’s BFFs from col­lege.  My mom went to col­lege when I was in junior high and I remem­ber many a day vis­it­ing the cam­pus, watch­ing the big screen tv while my mom was in class (which was for­ever tuned to MTV dur­ing the days of Madonna, Lover­boy, Michael Jackson’s Thriller, etc.), wan­der­ing through the school book­store and hav­ing “lunch with the girls” which almost always included her friend Mau­reen aka Moe.

Moe was always the epit­ome of chic. She looked like she walked off the pages of Vogue, was so knowl­edge­able about fash­ion and enter­tain­ing and, every time I see a Gucci or a Louis Vuit­ton, I auto­mat­i­cally think of her and her keen eye for telling a real from a knock-off. In addi­tion to the razor sharp fash­ion­ista instinct, Moe chan­neled her inner Julia Child like no other. Par­ties at her house were leg­endary and I often joke that it was through one of her par­ties that I first got “drunk” off of a cream puff. Yes, you heard me cor­rectly – a cream puff – specif­i­cally her Bailey’s Irish Cream Puffs.  I’m sure mix­ing that with her liquor-laced tri­fle didn’t help but you know – that taste mem­ory of those per­fect cream puffs has always stayed with me. How­ever, how to make them baf­fled this gal – I was, after all, only in junior high and didn’t really get my “culi­nary wings” until I was in my 30s.

Thanks to Face­book, Moe and I recently recon­nected and Moe was so sweet to share her recipe not only with me, but also gave the bless­ing to share it with you. So, guess what I’m mak­ing for St. Patrick’s Day – you guessed it – Moe’s Bailey’s Irish Cream Puffs. So, the next soiree you have and you want to look like a culi­nary rock star, make these. Oh – and make sure that no lit­tle lep­rechauns are try­ing to sneak off with a few more than they should. There is an age limit.

Thank you Moe!

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Moe’s Bailey’s Irish Cream Puffs

Recipe cour­tesy of Mau­reen Kerkovich

For the Cream Puffs:

Ingre­di­ents:

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 tea­spoon salt
• 4 eggs

Direc­tions:

1. In a medium saucepan heat water to boil­ing point.
2. Melt but­ter in hot water.
3. Add flour and salt all at once stir until mix­ture leaves sides of pan.
4. Remove from heat.
5. Add eggs one at a time beat­ing thor­oughly after each addition.
6. Drop by spoon­fuls on a greased cookie sheet or you can use a pas­try bag with a large star tip this will make smaller puffs).
7. Bake in pre­heated 400 degree oven 40–45 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.  Makes 12 medium cream puffs.
9. Fill cooled puffs with Bailey’s Cream Filling.
10. Driz­zle with Bailey’s Choco­late Sauce (see recipe) and Carmel Sauce (optional)

Bailey’s Cream Filling

Ingre­di­ents:

• 2 pack­ages (3 ½ – 3 ¾) Instant Vanilla Pudding
• 3 cups (1 pint) heavy cream
• 1 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream
• 1 cup milk

Direc­tions:

1. In medium bowl, com­bine all ingredients.
2. Beat 3–4 min­utes or until mix­ture thickens.
3. Chill.
4. Fill Cream Puffs.
5. Serve with Bailey’s Choco­late Sauce.

Bailey’s Choco­late Sauce

Ingre­di­ents:

• ½ bag of Nes­tles Semi Sweet Choco­late Morsels.
• 1/2 cup of Bailey’s Irish Cream

Direc­tions:

Cover morsels with Bailey’s Cream and heat on stove till melted, driz­zle over puffs.

Caramel Sauce (optional)

1 can Sweet­ened Con­densed Milk

Put can of Sweet­ened Con­densed Milk in saucepan cover with water and cook at a gen­tle sim­mer for 2 ½ hours. (Make sure that can is ALWAYS cov­ered with water.) Turn heat off after 2.5 hours, let can cool in water.

When can is cooled to the point where you can han­dle it, open and driz­zle Caramel Sauce over Bailey’s Cream Puffs.

Slainte‘