Homemade Baileys Chocolates

Today's recipe it's all about boozy chocolates filled with a liquid Baileys milk chocolate ganache, coated with milk chocolate couverture, and finished with a layer of powdered sugar.

Along with eggnog, Baileys Irish Cream is one of my favorite liqueurs to bake and enjoy. I love its flavor, consistency, the many available versions, and all the beautiful things you can create with this delicious liqueur. 

These chocolates are on the very boozy side. The Baileys flavor trumps everything. For those who don't want it quite so alcoholic, I offer variations at the end of my recipe to be a little less boozy. 

Since this is an Irish liqueur, I felt the urge to put these chocolates on the intense, booze-heavy, party-inviting side. So these Baileys chocolates are indeed very suitable for St. Patrick's Day! 

So far, I've created Baileys Salted Caramel Cupcakes and bliss balls with Baileys.

🥘 Ingredients

• Milk chocolate hollow spheres
• Milk chocolate couverture
• Baileys Irish Cream
• Glucose
• Milk chocolate couverture for coating and sealing
• Powdered sugar for dusting

See the recipe card for quantities.

🔪 Instructions

Making the Ganache

Preparing the Baileys Milk Chocolate Ganache is accomplished in just a few steps. First, weigh the glucose into a small saucepan. This way, you can quickly get the sticky part over with. 

In the next step, pour the Baileys into the saucepan. Now slowly dissolve the glucose in the Baileys while stirring. Add the milk chocolate couverture and mix well once the glucose has dissolved in the Baileys Irish Cream. 

Once a homogeneous mass has formed, let the Baileys milk chocolate cream cool to 30 °C // 86 °F and fill it into a piping bag. 

Filling and Closing the Hollow Spheres

Now fill the hollow spheres, one by one, with the ganache until just below the rim. 

Place the filled hollow spheres in the fridge for the filling to set and get its ideal consistency (ideally for 24 h hours, but at least overnight (12 h )).

Before the cooling time is over, you can start preparing the milk chocolate couverture. 

Melt it in a water bath or with the tempering device and bring it to working temperature.  

For making the filling easy, it's best to use a squeeze bottle. Fill it with the tempered milk chocolate couverture and seal the chocolates with it. 

Place the sealed chocolates again for 15-30 minutes in the fridge so that the chocolate can solidify before you can coat them. 

Coating and Dusting

I have to admit, I was a little unsure what the best coating for these chocolates should be in the first step. Only chocolate coating, or additionally cocoa powder or powdered sugar? 

Since I liked the powdered sugar visually and in taste very well with the Matcha chocolates, I decided to use it for the Baileys Irish Cream chocolates as well. After tasting it, I am very pleased with my decision. 

What do you think? 

Now, prepare a shallow baking pan in which you sieve four teaspoons of powdered sugar. In this pan, you'll roll your chocolate-coated truffles.

The coating of the chocolates proceeds exactly as already mentioned in my other recipes:

Take two to four of the sealed pralines in your hand (it's best to wear gloves for this endeavor), dip the fingers of one hand into the tempered chocolate, and roll the pralines between your hands. 

This technique is the easiest way to coat pralines, and the chocolate coating will not be too thick.  

Place the coated truffles in the prepared pan with the powdered sugar and roll them in it.  

Once you've finished coating all the pralines, you still want to remove the excess powdered sugar from your pralines. To do this, place 2-3 chocolates in a sieve, and roll them back and forth.

The rolling will loosen the excess powder.

Finally, place the finished chocolates into small paper chocolate molds, and they are ready to be snacked on or given as gifts. 

📖 Variations

For those who find that these chocolates contain too much alcohol, I've got two variations which remain a marvelous baileys taste. Just replace parts of the Baileys with heavy cream to accomplish a less boozy Baileys ganache. 

Variant 1: Half Baileys Irish Cream and half heavy cream.

Variant 2: ⅔ Baileys Irish Cream and ⅓ heavy cream. 

🌡️ Storage

Store in a cool place and an airtight container.

Pralines like it cool, but not damp and cold. Therefore, the optimum storage temperature is 62.6 °F // 17 °C. The finished chocolates will last for up to three months at this temperature.

At room temperature, the shelf life is one week.

Optional, if you can't find a suitable place to store them, place the container in the refrigerator, even if it is not ideal.

💭 Top tip

If you fancy a thick coating for your pralines, I recommend using a chocolate fork (the spiral-shaped one). 

Place the praline on top and dip it into the chocolate with the chocolate fork. Lift it out, let it drip off, and put the praline down to dry.  

If you make this recipe, let me know how you liked it by ★★★★★ star rating it and leaving a comment below. This would be awesome! You can also sign up for our Newsletter or follow me on Pinterest or Instagram and share your creation with me. Just tag me @combinegoodflavors and hashtag #combinegoodflavors, so I don't miss it.

📖 Recipe

⛑️ Food Safety

• Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
• Wash hands after touching raw meat
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
• Never leave cooking food unattended
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
• Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove

For further information, check Safe Food Handling - FDA.