Magically Delicious: Lucky Charm Crispies + Authentic Irish Whiskey Glaze
Happy St. Patrick's day everyone -
and especially to all you honourary Irish folks who are very Irish today despite actual heritage.
I'm sure if you've ever seen a photo of me- especially an ancient photo that shows my natural hair colour- it will come as no surprise to you that I have a few great grandparents who hail from the isle of shamrocks. But I'll be real- I'm much more Irish today than a standard day. So! Today I decided to celebrate my heritage with Lucky Charms- because that's authentic AF.
Important things to know today
That being said, my redheaded bartender brother, Kimbal, takes a little more daily pride in the Irishness and guided me through the more important parts of this post- namely:
what exactly is irish whiskey.
What exactly you should be listening to right now.
Here's your playlist for today according to my brother:
Streams of Whiskey by the Pogues
More Pogues
Dropkick Murphys
Irish Rovers if you're looking for some Canadian content
Now that is on and blaring through the house you may want to pour yourself a glass of Irish Whiskey. (Actually you may want to reverse these 2 steps, pour the whiskey then turn on the Dropkick Murphys.)
GUYS THIS IS IMPORTANT + not to be taken lightly.
Irish Whiskey
According to my brother what you should be drinking right now is Jamesons or Bushmills, as they are the most readily available Irish Whiskeys. For Bushmills, go with Black or one that is aged longer. Jamesons is always fantastic and the more aged (i.e. the more expensive) the better, much like scotch.
Due to this older brother sage advice I am myself currently sipping a glass of the Bushmills Black like a real adult. Who cares that it's 3 pm - I needed to taste it for this blog post. And I only made a face once!
I was really happy I asked him because I also really wanted to know what makes these Irish Whiskeys but other things not, and I also just want to be able to sound cool and knowledgeable about fancy alcohol. Specifically I wanted to find out if I could get Kyle's favourite bourbon and pretend it was Irish whiskey. Short answer: no. No I could not. That would have been embarrassing.
Turns out most of what we call “whiskey” in North America is Rye whiskey. But whiskey, at its most basic, is merely a grain alcohol that has been distilled and aged in barrels. The aging process, where it is made, the water used, barrels used, and grains used determine the type (and flavour) of the whiskey. Scotch is whiskey made in Scotland and has been aged in used casks (often bourbon casks, sherry casks etc.) Canadian Whiskey is almost always a blended whiskey that is very mellow and made in Canada.
Bourbon is a form of whiskey that must be made with at least 51% corn alcohol in the mash. Then it must be aged in new charred American Oak barrels and must be made in America. If the bourbon has a sweeter flavour it has a higher percentage of corn, if it has a “spicier” taste or more bite, it has less corn and more rye (but again it has to have at least 51% corn).
Now aren't you also glad I asked? You are fully equipped to head out to the bar tonight and drop some mad knowledge + act way classier than your "Everyone Loves an Irish Girl T-shirt" suggests you are. Not that I have ever done that.
Now that the important lessons are out of the way, you're well set up with your tunes + your drinks you are ready to make a crazy quick and easy, wildly authentic Irish treat-
Lucky Charm Crispies with Irish Whisky Glaze
Ingredients
Crispies
- 6 cups of marshmallows
- a little more than a 1/4 cup of unsalted butter
- a standard sized box of Lucky Charms.
I bought my first box in a hundred years and was pretty excited, but OH MY GOD THEY ARE SO GROSS. However, one of my besties, Pablo, is obsessed with Lucky Charms. So these are a special gift for him! Pablo- I'm coming over later to drop these off. GET EXCITED.
Irish Whiskey Glaze
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 2 tablespoons authentic, as explained above, Irish Whiskey
- 3/4 cups icing sugar
Literally this is the easiest thing ever to make. So I don't think I really need to talk you through it - however,
Directions
Start by making the crispies, melt the butter over low heat, add the marshmallows and stir them so they don't burn to the bottom of the pot until melted, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the Lucky Charms a reasonable amount at a time so you can stir as it gets really stiff and is a crazy arm workout. Don't worry the "marshmallows" in the Charms don't melt.
Put them in a greased pan + they are crazzzzy sticky, so add butter to anything you don't want them to stick to. Like your hands or a spoon.
Let them sit for like 30 minutes to an hour, maybe stick them in the fridge. Then you are good to flip them out of the pan to make glazing them easy.
To make the glaze melt the butter, remove from heat and whisk in the whiskey. Then whisk in the sugar a bit at a time until thick but pourable, it may not take the whole amount of sugar. Splatter it all over your kitchen - no I mean over the crispies. Let it cool for an hour or so + then package them for your friend who likes Lucky Charms.
The thing is the glaze is about as good as the Lucky Charms are bad so here's why you read my blog- it's because I'm brilliant.
Irish Cream Ice cream Topped With Irish Glaze
I think you can see where I'm going with this.
Ingredients
- Your local ice cream shop's seasonal Irish flavoured ice cream, which in my case is "Irish Cream" from Earnest
- The whiskey glaze from above.
Directions
Go get a pint or more of ice cream + put a scoop or more in low ball glass. Cover it with the glaze. Eat it fast because it's already melting.
Top off with another glass of whiskey because it's Friday + St. Patrick's Day.
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
+ enjoy your authentic whiskey tonight!
Kyle + I decided that we owe the planet + the creatures that live here something. But we are also unwilling to give up eating meat. So we found a solution.