Guinness and Bailey's Cake

St. Patrick's Day only comes once a year, so why not make as many Irish-themed foods as possible? We took care of the green, now let's recognize the thick, foamy alcoholic drinks.

***WARNING: If you don't drink either Guinness or Bailey's, beware of the strong smell your kitchen will hold while cooking this cake****

First, let me post this photo. This will quite possibly be the only time you see Guinness in a measuring cup.

Okay, for the cake...

Combine 1 cup of melter butter, 1 cup of Guinness, 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

In separate bowl, mix 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon of salt

In another seperate bowl (yes, this recipe is going to require lots of scrubbing in the end) mix together 2 large eggs, 2/3 cup of sour cream

Combine all three bowls of mixtures to create the final cake mix

Pour mixture into greased cake pan and bake in pre-heated oven at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until cooked all the way through. While baking, make the frosting.

Mix together 4 ounces of cream cheese, 1 cup of confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons of Bailey's Irish Cream

Put frosting mixture in refridgerator while the cake mixture bakes, and as it cools. Once cake is cooked, let cool for at least 30 minutes. Keeping the Guinness spirit, listen to a song by one of my favorite bands.

Remove the Bailey's frosting from the 'fridge and spread onto cake. It's best if you refrigerate it overnight, probably because alcohol taste best cold.

Wake up, go for a run to burn off the calories you consumed finishing off the pint of Guinness you finished last night, and bring the cake into work. Your co-workers will be stoked.

Mint-a-licous Ice Cream Sandwich

It's St. Patrick's Day and that means combining a few of my favorite things in the kitchen to create a lip smacking dessert everyone will love. Even if you're not an Irish Catholic from South Boston.

Combine 3/4 cup of sugar, 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 cup melter butter, 2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. Stir until completely mixed.

Stir in 2 1/2 cup of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking soda

Fold in 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and stir in 3 drops of green food coloring

Place drops of batter on greased cooking sheet. Sprinkle with green sugar topping and a few white chocolate chips. Bake in pre-heated oven at 375 degrees for 5-8 minutes

Remove from oven, and let cool for 3 minutes. Place on cooling racks until firm

You'll need to hang out in the kitchen for about a half hour making batch after batch of these cookies, so grab one of the best romance novels ever written. In 2008, the folks who live down under voted the book as the best novel EVER WRITTEN. 

I read this while dreaming of the most handsome Irish man I've ever met. Three days, and 3,000 miles later he received the green treats in the mail, thanks to our wonderful postal service.

Once the cookies are cooled, place them in the freezer overnight. Okay, maybe test-taste one while they're still warm and gooey!

Buy some of your favorite mint chocolate ice cream, and create one of the following:

Mint-a-licous Ice Cream Sandwich

Spread a generous amount of ice cream on the bottom of one cookie. Place the bottom of another cookie onto the top of the ice cream. Lightly press together to create the sandwich.

Mint-a-licous Bowl

Scoop a generous amount of ice cream into a bowl with one cookie. Drizzle chocolate syrup on top of both ice cream and cookie.