It’s a week before St Patrick’s Day – the Irish-American holiday that has finally become a celebration in Ireland. Time to break out the Guinness and Red Breast.

I’m Irish – or, at least, 65% Irish and British from my 23 and Me analysis. The rest is a fun mixture of French, German, Iberian, Scandinavian, and even a bit of Ashkenazi Jewish and sub-Saharan African. I’m a pale-cancer-prone-skinned 99% European. With 295 Neanderthal variants. Most folks who know me will be surprised that it’s not higher…

I’m also a lover of cookies. Genetically, that’s probably from my father. My mother was more of an ooey-gooey dessert person. However, I also share that trait.

I had to do a quick run to the grocery store to pick up Nonna’s Apple Strudel Bites and a strange obsession came over me and I grabbed a 6-pack of Guinness in anticipation of things I probably wanted to make later in the week. I’ve made a Barmbrack for years that calls for the dried fruits to be soaked in strong tea. I’ve almost always used Irish whiskey for soaking, but I’m not using 2 cups of $60/bottle Irish whiskey to soak fruit for a damned loaf of bread. I figured this year I’d try Guinness. I’ll make that later in the week for Saturday.

In the meantime, we needed dessert tonight, and then I thought of a Guinness Stew for dinner… and you can’t have stew without a loaf of bread… The rest, as they say, is history.

Irish Whiskey Oatmeal Cookies

This is a riff on a cookie from Dessert for Two.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 2 tbsp Irish whiskey
  • 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup rolled oats

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Add the egg yolks and Irish whiskey and mix well.

Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.

Stir in the oats.

Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets and bake about 12 minutes. I used a 1/4 cup scoop and got 14 large cookies.

This will be dessert after the Guinness Stew and the Guinness Rye Bread.

65% Irish Eyes are definitely Smiling!