The Boozy Ingredient That'll Take Your Chocolate Chip Cookies Up A Notch

Chocolate chip cookies are a classic go-to sweet snack that always seems to hit the spot no matter the time of year or occasion. However, because they've been a crowd-pleaser for nearly a century, their flavor — while beloved and comforting — can be somewhat predictable. As a result, many home cooks like to experiment with the basic formula. One especially tasty way to do this is to add a boozy ingredient like Baileys Irish Cream liqueur. Consider including some of the creamy, whiskey-based drink from the 1970s in your next batch to jazz up those regular old chocolate chip cookies for a twist that's all but guaranteed to wow anyone lucky enough to come across them.

In fact, adding a little Baileys to your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is a great way to give your dessert a deeper, richer flavor with the aromatic benefits of the sweet liqueur. If you want to get super creative, you can even make your own Baileys Irish Cream, which will allow for greater control over the flavor and level of alcohol involved.

It's been scientifically proven that our sense of smell is integral to our experience with tasting and enjoying foods. So, adding any kind of sweet alcohol can, with the full-bodied, rich smell alone, drastically enhance the flavor of a dish. However, that isn't the only advantage of including spirits in your cookies. In fact, according to the iconic convenience-based culinary brand Betty Crocker, the addition of alcohol in baked goods helps the "fat and water bind together to improve the flavor perception."

The reason Irish cream liqueur specifically works so well in chocolate chip cookies is that it is dominated by a pleasantly sweet and creamy chocolate and vanilla flavor and doesn't have the typical alcohol bitterness that many liquors do. That being said, it's still a good idea to start by adding just a little Irish cream to your cookies. This is because while adding too much may still taste good, it can quickly overpower the subtleties of the dough and disrupt the perfect balance of flavors you're going for. Aiming for 3 tablespoons of Baileys for a batch of two dozen cookies is a good starting point. If you want to up the ante on the Irish cream flavor, you can even include a mixture of regular and Baileys flavored chocolate chips.

If you are a coffee fan, you can toss in a pinch of espresso powder and a splash of Kahlua to accentuate the Irish cream's flavor. You could also experiment with other complementary liqueurs that are fun to bake with, like Godiva's chocolate liqueur or Borgata's hazelnut liqueur. However, it's not just these sweetened alcoholic beverages that are great in cookies. If you're a fan of boozy baked goods with a stronger kick, give bourbon or rum a try. For stronger alcohols, you may want to start out with a sweeter dough to offset the bitterness — like in a classic vanilla chocolate chip cookie recipe. 

Whichever fun, boozy option you choose to spike your chocolate chip cookies with, it is important to note that the belief that all the alcohol will bake off and disappear is actually a myth. In fact, according to research done by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Nutrient Data Laboratory, depending on how long you cook your baked goods, they can contain anywhere from 5% to 40% of the alcohol content originally added. So, enjoy your boozy cookies responsibly!