One of my favorite events of the weekend is brunch. Sometimes it's just so nice to sleep in a little later than usual, skip normal breakfast, and then have some lovely combo of breakfast and lunch, late enough in the day that you could easily have a tasty beverage OR dessert (or both!) along with the meal.  Today we had brunch, another iteration of our hash brown casserole, and my husband made me some Irish coffee! We don't really like Irish whiskey for much, but for Irish coffee, it is the only choice! 

The Recipe

• One Irish Coffee glass (preferably with shamrocks and a gold rim), failing that, any smallish glass about 5 or 6 fl. oz.
• One long shot of good espresso
• Two fingers of decent Irish Whiskey (Jameson or Bushmills)
• Two tablespoons brown sugar
• FRESH heavy cream, laced with a dollop of white sugar, beaten until it's the consistency of custard, but not whipped to fluffiness. In Madrid they refer to this heavy thick sweet cream as "nata".

Procedure

1. Have everything prepared and ready before you start assembling as time is of the essence. Get your nata prepared and keep it nice and cold.
2. Pour the whiskey and brown sugar into the Irish Whiskey glass together.
3. Then use the espresso steamer to heat the whiskey until it is good and hot and the brown sugar is dissolved, about eight to ten seconds.
4. CAREFULLY put a match or lighter to the glass and flame the whiskey for a few seconds. This adds a je ne sais quoi to the flavor, and cuts down the alcohol, bringing the caffeine and alcohol into perfect balance.

Recipe care of http://www.ineedcoffee.com/00/irish/ which is pretty close to what my husband uses!