I’m a huge fan of dessert shots! I really like that this mini dessert recipe in shot glasses is small so you can indulge without the guilt. These St. Patrick's Day Desserts are miniature, cute, no-bake, and can be made in 15 minutes. And best of all they have Baileys Irish Cream in them (or use Irish Cream extract if you want to avoid the alcohol) AND chocolate in the form of 2 bite brownies. They are ideal for your S. Patrick's Day celebration!
It's fun to make holiday-themed food, especially St. Paddy's Day green desserts with Irish cream! Although they are popular around St. Patrick's Day, they are great any time of year! And because EASY green dessert recipe ideas are not always easy to come by, I created these St. Patrick's day Irish Cream Dessert Shooters! They are the ideal dessert when you only want a small amount and pair perfectly with my Reuben Soup and green beer!
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Just be mindful of who you feed it to if you decide to use alcohol. A recent blunder taught me that you need to be particularly cognizant of who you're cooking for.
🥘 INGREDIENTS
For this Irish dessert recipe, you'll need these basic ingredients:
- vanilla instant pudding
- Baileys Irish cream liqueur
- green food coloring - use icing/decorator color
- whipped cream - use real whipping cream/heavy cream, as the spray whipped cream will melt
- 2 bite brownies - these are the best brownies to use
- white granulated sugar
- gold sprinkles
*See recipe card for amounts
You may or may not want to feed this dessert to your kids. I do and am not concerned, as there is a scant amount of alcohol in it (1.5 tablespoon for 12 dessert shots).
But without even thinking, I recently brought my boozy Kahlua and caffeine-infused No Bake Black Forest Tiramisu dessert to a family BBQ potluck for my kids' dance school back in the fall. Doh!
📖 Variations & Substitutions
- Pudding- you could use store-bought or homemade, or instant white chocolate pudding (and make it into green chocolate!), or pistachio pudding mix
- Sprinkles - you could use green sprinkles or shamrock sprinkles instead of gold
As I said, I'm not worried about my kids consuming the little amount of alcohol in this recipe, but if you have toddlers, you're probably going to feel a bit different! So if you are concerned or do not consume alcohol, you CAN get Irish Cream Extract (see link in the ingredient list in the recipe card) and use it as a substitute in Bailey's recipes. You don't actually have to use the alcohol.
My kids are my testers so they try pretty much everything I make. They would be pretty upset if they didn't get to test a recipe, especially a delicious dessert. But my daughter did ask, "I am going to get drunk?" She was 10 at the time. I assured her that wouldn't happen.
🍽EQUIPMENT
You'll need shot glasses, an electric mixer, and a pastry bag, and a 1M tip also come in handy, to make this easy dessert. However, you can simply spoon on the whipped cream. *See recipe card for recommended equipment photos and links
🌡️Storage
- You can make this green treat a day or two in advance, but I do not recommend you put it together until just prior to serving. Store the whipped cream, pudding, and brownies in separate containers.
- This St. Patricks Day dessert does NOT freeze well.
👪 Serving Size
This St. Patrick's Day dessert serves 12. You can also cut this recipe in half by adjusting the serving size on the recipe card. Just click on the serving size and select the number of servings you’d like.
Cook for your Crowd!
Luckily before I arrived at the family BBQ I remembered that I'd be feeding my alcohol and caffeine-spiked dessert to a group of kids and stuck up a sign warning parents that it contained these ingredients. Although the amount of alcohol or caffeine wasn't a concern to me (I'd feed it to my kids), there are parents out there who may not appreciate finding out about that after the fact. Fortunately, no one at this particular family function appeared phased by it (at least that I could see) so that was a relief. But there are many family-friendly events I could reflect back on where I'd probably be lynched with that move.
More often than not, I'm cooking with my blog in mind, as I'm trying to fit my recipe posts into my real life. I needed to photograph my Black Forest Tiramisu recipe again, as my old one was hideous and since it makes a great potluck dessert, I decided to do it then. But I learned that more importantly, you need to cook for your crowd!
But rest assured, these shot glass desserts, made with Baileys alcohol (or Irish cream extract) are a sweet treat that will definitely please any crowd, with or without the alcohol! They are the ultimate St. Patrick's day treat. So, if you are looking for Irish desserts, a Baileys Irish cream recipe, and/or green dessert ideas, this is your easy and green St. Patrick's Day dessert.
💭 Top tips
How to get perfectly piped whipped cream
If you're not sure how to use a 1M piping tip:
CLICK HERE: How to use a 1M Piping Tip
And if you don't know how to fill a pasty bag:
CLICK HERE: How to fill a pastry bag
Sprinkles: You can use any brand or type of gold pearls or edible glitter for the garnish. You can buy them at hobby and cake decorating stores (Michael's in Canada) or through Amazon. Just double-check to ensure they are edible. Also, note that most gold and silver Dragees are safe to decorate with but NOT edible!
Green food coloring: It's important to use an icing color (and not a green food coloring from the grocery store) in order to achieve the bright green color you need for this dessert. You can buy the icing colors off Amazon, at Michael's Arts & Crafts and even some dollar stores. My local Dollar store/party store carries them
And since easy St. Paddy's Day Desserts (that are also green) are hard to come by, here's a few more green dessert recipes for your back pocket. Forget the traditional Irish desserts!
Or try these EASY Shamrock tarts!
And if you love Baileys recipes, you'll love my Easy Baileys Cheesecake!
And my Chocolate Guinness Cake with Irish Cream Frosting!
⭐ COMMENTS & REVIEWS
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These Irish Cream Dessert Shots are not only fun and easy, they are the perfect way to enjoy a little portion of dessert! So if you are looking for an easy Irish Dessert Recipes, you'll love this one!
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
☘️ Shamrock Irish Cream Dessert Shots
Ingredients
Shamrock Pudding:
- ½ of a 102 g -pkg of jello vanilla instant pudding mix (½ of 3.5 oz pkg.)
- ¾ cup 1 % milk
- 1.5 tablespoon Bailey's Irish Cream (or substitute ½ teaspoon Irish Cream extract) -you can add more to taste if this isn't strong enough
- ⅛ teaspoon green food/icing coloring **Kelly green is best icing/food colouring
- ¾ cup whipping cream
- 12 -2 bite brownies cut in half
garnish
- gold sprinkles
- whipped cream (half reserved from ¾ cup)
- 1 tablespoon white granulated sugar
Instructions
Shamrock Pudding:
- Prepare only ½ pkg vanilla pudding as directed on package, but with only ¾ cup milk ** If you decide to make up the entire pkg of pudding and use the reminder for something else, use 1 ¾ cup of milk
- Whip the whipping cream to soft peaks with hand mixer. Set aside about ½ of the whipping cream, then add Bailey's Irish Cream to the other half and whip to stiff peaks.
- Fold whipped cream/irish cream mixture into pudding and add food/icing colouring.
- With remaining whipped cream (that will be your garnish) add 1 white granulated sugar and whip to stiff peaks. Set aside for garnish.
Assembly:
- Cut each 2 bite brownie in half and take bottom ½ of brownie and press into bottom of shot glass, then add a little Shamrock pudding. Repeat for all 12, dividing it equally by remainder of shot glasses. ** Just make sure you leave enough space to add the other half of the brownie.
- Press top half of brownies into the top of each shot glass. You may have a little left over pudding mix, so if there's room in your shot glass, you can add a dollop on top of the 2nd half of the brownie
Garnish:
- Garnish with swirled whipped cream. (see notes for how to pipe a swirl of whipped cream onto your dessert shots) and scatter on gold sprinklesServe immediately or can remain in fridge for several hours or overnight to soften (this is best)
Terri Gilson
I love how these St. Patrick's Day dessert shooters combine my favorite things - Baileys, chocolate, and guilt-free indulgence! The no-bake, 15-minute prep is perfect for when I want to whip up something festive in a hurry.
DJ
I would try using Pistachio Instant Pudding … It's green!
D J
PS ~ Thanks for the recipe!
Terri Gilson
You are welcome!
Terri Gilson
Hi DJ- Absolutely give it a try!I already had a pistachio pudding St. Patrick’s Day recipe and wanted to do a mint chocolate:)Enjoy!
Leanne Orr
What can I ask is Pistachio Instant Pudding or Vanilla Instant Pudding? I’m in Australia...
Terri Gilson
Hi Leanne: Maybe you call it something else in Australia? Instant Pudding is simply pudding powder, you buy in a box, that you don't have to cook - you just add milk and beat it:
Vanilla Instant Pudding
Thanks,
Terri
Janet
They sound yummy but can I use cool whip instead of whipped cream?
Terri Gilson
Hi Janet: Of course! It will be a bit sweeter, but if you don't mind that then go for it! Enjoy...
Catherine
Just curious...a small box of jello pudding mix is 96 grams, or 3.4 oz. How much do you use for the recipe, and does it have to be fat free?
Thank you!
Catherine
Terri Gilson
Hi Catherine: Are you in the United States? In Canada the smaller boxes are usually 30-40 grams. Anyway, I would use 1/4 of a 96 g box, approximately. Nope, doesn't have to be fat free! I hope you enjoy it! 🙂
Catherine
Thank you! Yes, I'm in Colorado. Hope it turns out!
Lori
You are so brilliant Terri, I love this idea. This is a lot of effort for me to put them in shot glasses, do you think it would work well as a trifle? And I might use spinach powder to colour it green ; ). I can let you know how that goes....
Terri Gilson
Hi Lori- Thanks! I totally think it would be great as a trifle, but a lot more fattening, of course. I'd love to know how the spinach powder works out! I hope you like it 🙂