Camp Irish Cream
Powdered milk, cocoa, and whiskey shaken cold in a bottle. Dessert that pours.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 2.5 oz
- cal / oz
- 132
- protein
- 6 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 5 min
- cook
- 0 min
- total time
- 5 min
- water
- 120 ml cold
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Drink
- Dessert
- No cook
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Canoe / raft
- Winter / snow
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Eat in the bag
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Dump and stir
Ingredients
| Whole milk powder | 1/2 cup | full-fat, not skim, or it tastes thin |
|---|---|---|
| Coconut milk powder | 3 tbsp | stands in for the whipping cream |
| Powdered sugar | 1/3 cup | dissolves cold, granulated will not |
| Cocoa powder | 2 tbsp | replaces the 3 tbsp chocolate syrup |
| Coconut extract | 1/2 tsp | carried in the smallest dropper you own |
| Instant espresso powder | 1/2 tsp | |
| Salt | a pinch | |
| Whiskey | 1 1/2 cups | scotch or a cheap blend, both work |
| Cold water | 120 ml |
Method
- At home, shake the milk powder, coconut milk powder, sugar, cocoa, espresso powder, and salt together in a bottle until the cocoa stops streaking.
- In camp, pour in 120 ml of cold water and shake hard for a full minute. Get the lumps out now, they will not leave later.
- Add the whiskey and the coconut extract. Shake again, briefly.
- Let it sit an hour if you can. It goes from gritty to smooth in that time.
- Pour about 4 oz per person over snowmelt or straight from the bottle.
The original is eggs, sweetened condensed milk, and whipping cream in a blender, which is three refrigerated things and a wall outlet. None of that travels. Full-fat milk powder plus coconut milk powder gets you the same body without a cooler, and the raw eggs go away entirely, which is a food-safety win as much as a weight one. Powdered sugar replaces the condensed milk’s sweetness and dissolves in cold water; cocoa and a little espresso powder replace the chocolate syrup at a fraction of the carry weight.
The hour of standing is not optional if you want it smooth. Cocoa and milk powder both hydrate slowly in cold liquid, and shaking alone leaves grit on the tongue. The alcohol keeps the mix stable overnight without a cooler, so a bottle made at camp on night one is still fine on night three.
Packing
All the dry goods premixed in one wide-mouth bottle with a good gasket. The extract goes in a 2 ml dropper. The whiskey is already in a bottle, so carry it as is.
Variations
- Skip the whiskey and it is a cold chocolate malt for the people not drinking.
- A tablespoon of powdered peanut butter turns it into something closer to a milkshake.
https://www.hunttalk.com/threads/irish-cream-recipe.215946