How to cook with homemade coffee liqueur
How to cook with homemade coffee liqueur, and where it falls flat
One bottle of essence makes over a litre of coffee liqueur, which is a lot more than most households drink in martinis. So the bottle sits there going down slowly, and meanwhile there's a whole second use for it sitting in the kitchen that hardly anybody bothers with.
Coffee liqueur cooks well. It just doesn't cook well in everything, and knowing where it works saves you wasting a dessert on it.
Why it behaves differently to a shop bottle
A homemade liqueur made from an essence and a base is usually less sweet and a bit stronger than a commercial one, because you controlled the sugar and you chose the spirit. In a glass that's an advantage. In a recipe it means you can't swap it one-for-one with a measurement written for a shop bottle without tasting as you go.
The other difference is heat. Alcohol carries flavour, and most of it leaves as soon as things get hot, so the more cooking a dish does the less of the liqueur survives it. That's the single rule that decides everything below.
Where it genuinely works
Anything cold or barely warmed
Tiramisu is the obvious one, because the liqueur goes into the soaking liquid and never sees an oven. Same logic for a coffee cream, a no-bake cheesecake or a spoonful stirred through mascarpone. Poured straight over good vanilla ice cream, it does the job with no cooking at all.
A syrup or a glaze made off the heat
Reduce sugar and water to a syrup first, take the pan off the stove, then stir the liqueur in at the end. You keep the coffee aroma that way. Do it the other way round and you boil the interesting part off and end up with sweet brown syrup.
Brushed onto something already baked
A sponge or a brownie takes a brush of liqueur once it's out of the oven and still warm, and it soaks in without losing much. This is the easiest way to get it into a baked dessert.
Where it falls flat
In a cake batter it's mostly wasted. It goes in and the oven takes the alcohol and the aroma straight back out, so what's left is a faint sweetness you could have got from a spoon of sugar. Same with a long-simmered sauce.
The barbecue glaze idea gets repeated a lot and it's a harder sell than it sounds. Coffee and pork do go together, but a sugary liqueur on a hot grill burns before the meat is done, so if you're going to try it, brush it on in the last few minutes and keep the heat off it.
And it isn't a substitute for coffee in a recipe. If something calls for strong coffee, use strong coffee. The liqueur brings sugar and alcohol you didn't ask for.
Turning the rest of the bottle into a cream liqueur
If you're not going to drink it or cook it, the other option is to convert it. Still Spirits Cream Liqueur Base 400g turns a coffee liqueur into something closer to a cream, which drinks quite differently and gives the bottle a second life. Keep it in the fridge once it's made, because cream is cream.
The licence bit, said plainly
Owning a still is legal in Australia and so is buying one from us, and that's where a lot of posts stop. Distilling spirits at home needs an excise manufacturer licence from the ATO, and sorting that out is on you before you run anything through it. Flavouring a bought base spirit with an essence is a different job again and it doesn't need a licence at all.
Shop related products
- Still Spirits Cafelua 50ML. A coffee liqueur essence, and one that is listed online.
- Edwards Essences Khaloola Essence. Roasted coffee, and it takes to cream well.
- Still Spirits Cream Liqueur Base 400g. What you need to take a coffee liqueur creamy.
- Still Spirits Creme de Cacao. Chocolate rather than coffee, and it cooks under exactly the same rules.
Did you know Still Spirits Coffee Maria sits in the shop rather than on the website, along with a good part of the range that comes in under the supplier's own branding. Ring us on (08) 8536 4333 and we'll check the shelf for you.
Brewhilder is our homebrew adviser if you want a hand picking an essence, and you can always come in and ask us instead.
There's more in the Still Spirits range and the Edwards Essences range.
Read next
- Which coffee to use in an espresso martini at home
- Still Spirits Coffee Maria, what it does
- Why the liqueur base matters more than the essence
I'm better at pouring the stuff than cooking with it, so take the dessert advice as a work in progress.
Cheers,
Candeece
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