How to Make DIY Bourbon Cream – Dairy + Vegan recipes!
One of our favorite things about our travels on the 127 yard sale is near the end of the trip when we head down the Bourbon Trail, tasting and buying and touring distilleries. For the past two years we have been stocking up on Buffalo Trace’s Bourbon Cream which is a phenomenal cream liquor that we love to share with friends as a nice after-dinner treat. Unfortunately we always run out of the case we buy not long after we get home so I thought, why not make some at home!
This makes an awesome host gift. This year I am making it for all my Christmas presents! I have also included a non-dairy/lactose-intolerant/vegan version because really, EVERYONE should try this. My version is a little stronger than Buffalo Trace’s, so beware!
The recipe is fantastic to drink on it’s own or as an addition to iced/hot coffee for a brunch cocktail. At the distillery, they served it with root beer which was delicious!
-Delilah Snell + photographs by LP Hastings
- 1 ½ cups of bourbon
- ¾ cup of cream (I used heavy whipping cream)
- 1 14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk (this classic brand is perfect)
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (we love this organic one)
- 2 teaspoons of almond extract (we love this organic one)
- 3 tablespoons of honey (or to taste) (this raw unfiltered honey is great)
- Add all ingredients to the blender and gently blend for a few minutes.
- Pour into a container and let it rest in the fridge for a few hours before serving, it should be a little thicker after cooling.
- 1 ½ c bourbon
- ½ cup of coconut cream (this can be tricky to find but, here’s an organic one that we love)
- ½ cup of coconut creamer (like this)
- 1 cup of non-dairy sweetened condensed milk (this can also be a bit tricky to find but this one is awesome)
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract (we love this organic one)
- 2 teaspoons of almond extract (we love this organic one)
- 3 tablespoons of honey (or to taste) (this raw unfiltered honey is great)
- Add all ingredients to the blender and gently blend for a few minutes.
- Pour into a container and let it rest in the fridge for a few hours before serving, it should be a little thicker after cooling.
*NOTES:
-(See recipe HERE for the non-dairy sweetened condensed milk). This recipe calls for you to reduce the mixture for seven hours. If you have the time to do this, add the sugar slowly (I added 3 tablespoons to start) and then slowly increase the cream/creamer/sugar until, blend then taste until you reach a flavor that you like.
We went to Buffalo Trace for the first time this August, after our nephew’s wedding back in Ohio. When we tasted their Bourbon Cream, oh boy… We were hooked. However, in AZ we can’t find it for sale. So, when I came across your recipe I tried it. We got the chance to serve it to the same brothers and sisters in-laws we went to the distilleries with in August. They flew in last night and when I pulled it out and they tasted it, everyone LOVED your recipe. The dairy recipe is great but I can’t wait to try the non-dairy since our niece is Vegan. I’m positive this will be the staple libation we serve for years to come. Thanks for posting all the recipes!?
HI Karen!!
So glad that you like the recipe!! I agree, that Bourbon Cream is pretty incredible–it never lasts long when I make it 🙂 Try it with root beer too. Last year I made large batches and gave them away as gifts…let me just say we were pretty popular!
Thanks for reading! XO- D
I love the bourbon cream and this recipe is amazing. However I felt the 2 tablespoons of almond extract was a bit too much and overpowering. I will be cutting back on the almond on the next batch.
Kinda amaretto cream instead of bourbon good though
Can you tell me how long this will last in the refrigerator. I am trying to decide how far in advance I can make it for Christmas gifts.
Thanks!
Actually it should last a month. As long as the ingredients in it aren’t past their expiration it will be good. 🙂
Tasty, but overkill on the almond. Maybe you meant 2 teaspoons? I use 1 Tablespoon and it takes over the entire taste.
OH yes! It really depends on your taste. 🙂
Yeah. 2 Tbsp of either extract is WAAAAAYYYYY too much. It’s almost undrinkable. I’ve found other recipes suggesting 1tsp. I’ll be trying those next.
How long will this last once it’s mixed
It should last a week or so – ie: as long as the individual ingredients would last. 🙂
Yes, 2 tablespoons per quart is really excessive. It’s like making anything else…a little bit of extract goes a LONG way. Almond extract is extremely potent, and can be overwhelming. This recipe calls for the same amount of almond and vanilla extract as I use when making 5 gallon batches…which is 20 times times the batch size. Start with less and add to taste.
This recipe sounds great. I think I also will use a small amount of the almond extract as well. I’m not a huge fan of it in general.
My question is, to make this completely vegan, could I swap the honey in exchange for maple syrup?
I am a HUGE fan of BUffalo Trace bourbon and their bourbon cream was always a treat! Since I found this post 2 weeks ago, we have made the recipe twice and have made several friends converts! Like at Buffalo Trace Distillery, we serve ours with root beer. And to make it more to our liking, we added 1/4c Cream de Cacao.
Thank you for the recipe!
What about a dietetic version? Personally, I don’t like the sweetness of the commercially available Bourbon Cream (or Bailey’s, for that matter). Any reason why it wouldn’t be good with just two ingredients: bourbon and cream?
You could BUT it wouldn’t be sweet. Maybe a bit of Splenda would help?
The cream curdle when I put it in is this normal?
when I blended it it would not blend out to a smooth liquid.
I have been using just bourbon and Coffeemate liguid creamer (fat free french vanilla) and it tastes just like what we had at buffalo Trace, Nobody in our area could get the bourbon cream so I made up my own version. I do a shot of bourbon, a shot of coffeemate liquid creamer and then fill the glass with rootbeer or regular soda and cherries.
I made some drizzling vanilla icing for scones that I ended up not using, so I found this recipe and kind of adapted it to the ingredients I had on hand, and made a delicious bourbon cream. Thank you!
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I have used your recipe using incinerator cinnamon whiskey and it’s delicious