Guide to Cordials: How to Know Which Ones to Cook or Bake With

If you’re going to add a cordial or liqueur bottle to your bar cart, you might as well get more use out of it than just cocktail creation! Luckily, cordials are excellent ingredients to use in all kinds of baking recipes, sauces, glazes, or just to pour over ice cream to enhance its flavor. 

Keep reading for all the different ways you can experiment with cordials in the kitchen. 

Cream-based cordials, like Baileys and RumChata, are best used for baking, dessert fillings and creamy sauces. Add a couple of ounces to cheesecakes, frostings or hot chocolate recipes for a rich, velvety flavor.  

Want a fun, low-effort holiday hosting idea? Make a hot chocolate bar with slow cooker hot chocolate and mini bottles of different cream liqueurs that adult guests can add to their mugs. Offer the standards, but also festive flavors like peppermint liqueur, coffee liqueur, coquito and boozy eggnog. 

Nutty or chocolate-flavored cordials, like Frangelico and Mozart Chocolate Liqueur, are perfect for adding to cookies, brownies and dessert glazes. Their deeper flavor works beautifully in baked goods or drizzled over ice cream. Amaretto especially is a favorite in baked goods for its rich almond flavor, from amaretto biscotti to amaretto pound cake to amaretto cookies. 

If you drool for Dubai chocolate (or anything with pistachio in it), Russo Crema di Pistachio Cream Liqueur is the sweet, nutty cordial of your dreams.  

Fruit-forward cordials, like Grand Marnier, Chambord and limoncello, are great to use in sauces, marinades and desserts that need a touch of brightness. Add it to cakes, berry reductions or fruit compotes for extra flavor and complexity. On the other hand, add to decadent, chocolatey desserts for a balancing hint of citrus.  

For example, limoncello makes a perfect addition to lemon curd, and Grand Marnier brings the orange in the chocolate-orange flavor combo when added to chocolate truffles. 

Coffee and spice cordials, like Kahlúa and Tia Maria, are ideal for use in baked goods, tiramisu, spiked whipped cream or any chocolate recipe. Coffee naturally enhances the rich flavor of chocolate, so coffee liqueur is right at home in any chocolate dessert recipe. 

You can also use coffee liqueur to make a simple Italian dessert: the affogato. What is it? Just espresso drizzled over ice cream! Use coffee liqueur instead for a boozy take on this bittersweet treat.