Vegan Irish Coffee!

I went vegan only a few short years after I hit legal drinking age. But in those three pre-vegan, legal adult years, I developed quite a love for Bailey's Irish Cream. It was sweet. It was creamy. And it made a damn fine White Russian (I believe it's called an Irish White Russian when you add Bailey's). We were huge Big Lebowski fans back then, and you simply couldn't watch that movie without the Dude's favorite cocktail on hand. But after going vegan in 2004, I wrote off White Russians and Bailey's Irish Cream. I figured I'd never have those things again. Sadness.

Then I discovered Joni Marie Newman's vegan Irish cream recipe in Vegan Food Gifts. I make it every year for St. Pat's. But once a year isn't really often enough! So Delicious sent me an assortment of their coconut creamers and culinary coconut milk to review, and with the care package, they included a recipe for Vegan Irish Coffee using homemade Irish cream. St. Pat's was months ago, but Irish coffee sounded wonderful. I made it iced since it's been in the high 90s for most of the summer. Perfect for back porch drinking!

Oh, and So Delicious also included this cute Mason jar mug in my review package. Thanks, So Delicious!

You can find that Irish Coffee recipe here, but these are the most important ingredients. You gotta have So Delicious French Vanilla Coconut Creamer, Irish whiskey, and So Delicious Culinary Coconutmilk. It's also got chocolate chips, cane sugar, and coffee. YUM!

I've long been a fan of So Delicious' coffee creamers, but this was my first time using the Culinary Coconutmilk. It's basically the same as canned coconut milk, and it comes in lite and full-fat. They sent me the lite version, and I couldn't tell at all that it was lower fat. It was still very creamy and full-flavored. 

The Irish Coffee recipe only calls for a small amount, so I used the rest in these Creme Brulee Protein Smoothie from the Vega website (recipe here). This is a dreamy dessert smoothie that's actually good for you, and it's loaded with protein, which is perfect for post-workout. It's got coconut milk, vanilla almond yogurt, Vega One French Vanilla protein, a banana, and a date. The coconut milk made this such a creamy smoothie. 

So Delicious also sent me their Original and Hazelnut coffee creamers. Both are coconut-based, but they vary greatly in sweetness. I failed to take a photo of the original container, but y'all have seen it before, I'm sure. It looks just like this hazelnut one, but it's red. 

Both the french vanilla (used in the Irish cream above) and the hazelnut creamers are very sweet, so sweet that you don't need to add additional sugar to your coffee. I love that because I'm always trying to cut back on sugar in the morning. The original, however, is only lightly sweet, so if you're used to sweet coffee, you may need to add sugar when using that one. The hazelnut has a great flavor, and it's probably my favorite of them all. Drinking coffee spiked with hazelnut coconut creamer reminds of me drinking my favorite Starbucks drink — the Toffee Nut Soy Latte (no whip!). 

All this coffee talk has me wishing I could have a cup right now! But I've started becoming more sensitive to caffeine after a certain hour. It used to never affect my sleep, no matter how late I had coffee, but now, if I have coffee late in the day, I'll often wake up in the middle of the night for no reason. I guess this is old age. I have to get to bed in a couple hours, so I guess it's herbal sleepytime tea for me now, but that would great spiked with coconut creamer too!