Irish Cream Chocolate Dumplings

I’m not one for dying everything green during this time of year, least of all dying desserts green just because of St. Patrick’s Day. That’s totally unnecessary, and because of that I tend to avoid many a St. Patrick’s Day recipe. Every now and then though—usually something savory—a great recipe idea will come to me or I’ll stumble upon a St. Patrick’s Day recipe online that really catches my eye. This year, it’s these Irish Cream Chocolate Dumplings. They’re adapted from a Taste.com recipe and they’re unbelievably delicious. The sauce is just the right amount of boozy and the dumplings are soft and tender and it’s all so great served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It’s the perfect recipe to make this year and there’s no green food coloring in sight.

To make the chocolate sauce, whisk together the brown sugar, cocoa powder, cornstarch and salt in a 12-inch skillet with high sides (at least 3 inches high). Whisk in the Irish cream, butter and 1 1/2 cups water.

**Tip: The Irish cream is what really makes this dish, and it’s worth noting that the alcohol does cook off, but if you’re opposed to using it or just don’t have any on hand, you can use heavy cream or milk instead.**

Cook, stirring often, over medium-high heat for 3 minutes or until sauce comes to a boil and thickens slightly. Remove pan from heat and set aside.

To make the dumplings, add the self-rising flour to a large bowl. Cut in the butter with your fingers until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the cocoa, and sugar until evenly incorporated.

**Tip: If you don’t have self-rising flour at home, you can make your own! Simply mix together (for every 1 cup of all-purpose flour) 1 cup flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.**

Add the buttermilk and vanilla and stir only until just combined but comes together. You don’t want to over-work the dough at this stage or else you’ll end up with dry, dense dumplings that sink to the bottom and don’t rise properly.

Transfer to a lightly floured work surface and knead gently once or twice to smooth it out somewhat. Pat into a 1 1/2-inch thick circle. Use a floured 2-inch round biscuit cutter to cut out the dumplings. Place in the sauce in a single layer. 

**Note: You want about 12 dumplings (I got lucky 13 but I made them slightly thinner than I should’ve. You’ll most likely need to rework the scraps to get the full amount of dumplings, but that’s okay.**

Cover tightly with a lid or two layers of aluminum foil. You want them to be really sealed so the two sheets of aluminum is necessary or just a really tight fitting lid if you have a pan like that. Bake in a preheated 400°F oven until the dumplings have puffed up and are fully cooked, about 20 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and carefully uncover. Dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving warm with a vanilla ice cream.

This would also be delicious with a drizzle of sweetened cream or whipped cream. But honestly the cold ice cream with the warm chocolate sauce is the way to go. It’s really good!

This can be made ahead of time, wrapped and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Just rewarm (uncovered) in a 350°F oven for 5 to 8 minutes or until warmed through.

I feel like this is one of the few times when the pictures don’t do the dish justice. This is a really great recipe that’s simple enough to whip up quickly but delicious enough to really wow company. It’s hard to photography a dark pot of chocolate but take my word, it’s so worth it. Let me know what you think below. Thank you for reading and following along!