St. Patrick’s Day Dinner Ideas - Life at Bella Terra

Top of the morning to you! Tomorrow is St. Patrick’s Day and time to make a special meal. Typically, corned beef and cabbage is served on St. Patrick’s Day, but a few years ago I discovered two recipes that are winners. Thanks for joining me today to get some St. Patrick’s Day dinner ideas.

Guinness Pie

If you love pot pies, you will definitely find this recipe from the New York Times exceptional. Beef with tender vegetables is cooked and reduced in stout beer for hours. Then it is laden into a flaky crust and baked. It is truly incredibly delicious.

This year I am making 3 pies~one for my daughter in college, one for my neighbor who is having hip surgery and one for us. Using a cookie cutter, I will add decorative pastry shamrocks to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.

Using green food color on pastry shamrocks

Last year, I did use green food coloring on the pastry dough. Surprisingly, it worked out well ! May branch out and do a pot of gold design this year!

Every year I make this recipe, I ask myself, “Why am I not making this all the time?” So good and hearty especially on a cold night or rainy afternoon.

For the complete tutorial and recipe, click here to see last year’s post.

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake

Boozy, sinful and decadent, this Bailey’s Irish cream Cheesecake is topped with a thick layer of chocolate ganache. This is a great St. Patrick’s Day dessert and your friends and family will love it! Recipe from Oh My Goodness Chocolate Desserts.

Most of the ingredients I have on hand, with the exception of the Oreo cookies. Since I am also making 3 cheesecakes, I did need to buy more Bailey’s and cream cheese.

Crumb the Oreos and mix with melted butter. Push this mixture into a 9″ springform pan, partially up the sides. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Perhaps the most challenging part of this recipe is wrapping the pan with two layers of aluminum foil. Make sure the foil is tight and secure so no water gets in during the baking process.

Pour in the cheesecake mixture into the prepared pan. Bake, rotating once halfway through.

You will need to refrigerate the cheesecake at least 5 hours or overnight, before adding the ganache.

Look how beautiful this cheesecake is!

I suppose a good glass of red wine or an Irish stout will be perfect with the main course. And you won’t need a drink during dessert because there is plenty already in the cheesecake.

Hope you have a fun and festive St. Patrick’s Day. If you did not see my St. Patrick’s Day table, click here.

Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake

Boozy, sinful and decadent this cheesecake is loaded with Bailey's Irish Cream, and topped with a thick layer of chocolate ganache and Oreo crust.

For the crust

5 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted)
2 cups Oreo Cookie crumbs ((use whole cookies with filling))

For the Cheesecake filling

3 (8 oz.) packages of cream cheese (softened)
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup Bailey's Irish Cream

For the Chocolate Ganache

1 1/4 cups heavy cream
12 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate-chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Mix together Oreo crumbs and melted butter, press the mixture into 9" springform pan and bake for 8-10 minutes; set aside to cool.
Once the crust is cooked, wrap pan with two layers of aluminum foil and bring the foil up the sides of the pan and make sure it is tight and secure so no water gets in during the baking process!!
With electric mixer, mix cream cheese and sugar on medium speed until smooth.
Add cornstarch and continue to mix until fully incorporated, decrease the speed to low and add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla extract and Bailey's.
Pour batter into prepared pan and place in a roasting pan. Fill rosting pan about a quarter of the way with hot water and bake at 350 degrees for 55-65 minutes, rotating once halfway through (until the cheesecake is set around the edges and slightly loose in the center).
Remove springform pan from the water bath and set on a cooling rack to cool, then remove aluminum foil and refrigerate (for at least 5 hours or overnight). When it's completely cooled run a thin knife around the edge and take off the ring of the springform pan.
Over a double boiler melt chopped chocolate until completely smooth and has no lumps, then stir in heavy whipping cream (from the fridge). It should be very thick and creamy so you could spread it on top tof the cake but also on sides without dripping. Use just 2/3 of the ganache and set the cake in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to harden the ganache. Take the cake from the freezer and reheat the rest of the ganache but this time it should be smooth (but not too thin) so you can pour it over the cake to make the smooth and shiny surface.
To keep the shine of the ganache, let it cool at room temperature and then store the cake in the fridge.