Boozed + Infused

Infusing liqueurs at home with inspiring and seasonal ingredients

Category Archives: Infusion


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Peanut Bourbon

This is an easy one. And if you like peanuts, you will like this.

Peanut Bourbon

2/3 c. Raw Peanuts (unsalted)

1 1/2 c. Bourbon (or other spirit of your choice)

Remove skins from peanuts, and give just a quick rough chop (not much). Toast the peanuts lightly until they just start to brown and the oils are starting to come out.  Set the peanuts aside and allow to cool. Once cooled, add both the peanuts and bourbon to a jar and cap it. Shake or stir, and keep in a cool dark place. Allow to infuse until it reaches your desired taste. We let this infuse for about a month, but you could do a much shorter time. It started to get the peanut flavor very quickly. Strain and filter with cheesecloth, and if desired, with a coffee filter.

* Keep those peanuts after you have strained them! (And stay tuned for a future post about the delicious treats we made with those infused peanuts.)

If you can’t find raw peanuts, you could probably try any unsalted peanuts. Make sure if you do use raw peanuts that you toast them to bring out the flavors. I made another nut-infused liqueur without toasting and it didn’t turn out as well.

Cheers!


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Sesame-Honey Vodka

I like sesame, and I like honey. When I was a kid, we used to make a variety of a honey-sesame candy, and somehow I thought it would be good to infuse vodka with these flavors. … it is delicious!

Sesame-Honey Vodka

1 oz Sesame Seeds

1 c. Vodka

2 TB Honey

Stirring frequently, toast the sesame seeds in a frying pan on low, until they start to brown. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Add all ingredients to a small canning jar or other sealing jar. Shake, and allow to infuse in a dark, cool place for 3-4 weeks. Strain and filter, with cheesecloth and a coffee filter, then enjoy!

This infusion really tastes like sesame and honey. I think it will be great in cocktails… any ideas?

Ok, so back to these sesame seeds… Since I’ve been on a roll trying to use my infused ingredients, I decided to keep the infused, vodka soaked seeds. I toasted them on low in the oven until they started to brown, stirring occasionally. I then roughly followed the instructions for a sesame-honey candy (from Nourished Kitchen), and … they were pretty good! They disappeared pretty fast.

If you like sesame, you will like this liqueur.

Cheers!
Sesame-Honey Vodka on Punk Domestics


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Star Anise Gin

Anise… I think this is one of those flavors where you either love it or hate it. My mother happens to love it, and she loves gin. So this was one of her Mother’s Day goodies.

Star Anise Gin

20 grams Star Anise

1 c. gin

1 TB Simple Syrup (or more/less to taste)

Place Star Anise in a jar, add gin, seal tight and shake. Allow to infuse for about 2-3 days, then add simple syrup.

At 3 days, this tasted pretty good. Keep infusing until it reaches your desired taste, then strain and filter with cheesecloth and coffee filter if desired. Your infusion time will depend on how strong you want the flavor. It reminded me of a Good and Plenty candy (which I always loved).

I happened to have a lot of star anise, but you could probably cut way back on the amount in the infusion and just allow it to sit for a longer period.

This was very easy and really tasty on its own. And I think might make for a very refreshing gin and tonic!

Cheers to Mom!


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Blueberry Gin

Today I hosted a small get together for a few Portland area bloggers. It was a bit of a leap of faith for all of us as we had never met, and they came over to my home. Luckily, we are all still alive to tell the tale. And fortunately I believe a good time was had by all. A few fun cocktails were flowing, and eventually we got out a stack of spoons for everyone to start taste-testing (I think they may have tasted a few dozen…)

So, a big thank you to Evelyn from Momsicle, Poppy from Funny or Snot, and Krista from Mostly Mommyhood.

Eventually, I will post about our cocktails (and they might too…) so stay tuned. In the meantime, I wanted to share the infusion that was the base of our featured cocktail from today’s gathering.

Blueberry Gin

2 c. Gin

2 c. frozen blueberries

1/4 c. sugar

zest of 1 lemon

2 whole cloves

1/2 inch piece of a cinnamon stick

Place the frozen blueberries in a small saucepan. Crush them lightly (I used a pastry cutter). Lightly cook them on low for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. This amounted to about 1 cup of a gelatinous blueberry goop.

After the blueberries are cool, place all ingredients in a quart jar (or larger). Shake and allow to infuse for at least 4 weeks, stirring or shaking occasionally.When it has reached your desired taste, Strain and Filter through a colander, cheesecloth, jelly bag, and coffee filter.

I got some of the inspiration for this liqueur from Post Prohibition. He recommends using frozen berries because of the organic breakdown of frozen fruit (or something like that… I was willing to give it a try) and also lightly cooking the berries.

The flavor came out great. I really love blueberry pie, so the intent was to include a few spices that you might find in a blueberry pie.

It is delicious! I have not yet tried making a blueberry liqueur with fresh berries, but have had a few blueberry infusions that tasted quite weak. I wanted to make sure we didn’t fall into that trap. The result was great.

Cheers!

Related Posts:

The Blueberry Pieball: Our new favorite highball

Blueberry-Orange Liqueur


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Coffee Bourbon

Coffee… many of us can’t imagine a morning without it (I’m certainly one of them). And coffee liqueur… who doesn’t love a good White or Black Russian?

We knew we wanted to do a coffee liqueur, but took some time trying to decide exactly how we would do it. A lot of coffee liqueur recipes call for vodka, lots of sugar, instant coffee or brewed coffee, etc. In general, we like to use less sugar in our recipes and wanted to incorporate a different booze. So, Coffee Bourbon seemed a natural choice!

Coffee Bourbon

1/4 c. Whole Coffee Beans, Smashed (preferably dark, espresso roast)

1/2 vanilla bean, split

1 TB dark brown sugar (packed)

1 1/4 c. Bourbon

First we took the coffee beans and placed them in two plastic bags. We took a metal muddler and smashed the beans until they were gently crushed (see photo).

Place all ingredients in a small canning jar, and set the jar in a dark, cool location. Every few days, shake the jar lightly.

Infuse for about 3 weeks, or until this reaches your desired taste.

Strain and filter through cheesecloth, jelly bag (if desired) and finally coffee filters.

This coffee liqueur is so rich and delicious. You can taste all the nuances of the bourbon, and the espresso roast coffee gives it such a good flavor.

We are also going to try this same recipe with brandy.

This is a “must try”! If you love coffee, you need to make this.

Enjoy!

Related Posts:

Coffee Bourbon Milkshake: Quite possibly the best milkshake you will ever have!

Coffee Liqueur on Punk Domestics


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Tamarind-Orange Gin

I have been enjoying tamarind flavors in a number of Indian and Thai dishes for years, but until recently it had not occurred to me to attempt to use tamarind in anything myself. Last year, I was making a recipe that called for tamarind concentrate. We used it in a few dishes (and a few cocktails), and when I recently stumbled upon a bag of dried tamarind pods in a local international market, I decided it was finally time to figure out how to really use this lovely fruit.

Now, I am certainly not an expert on how to properly use tamarind. So for those of you who are, feel free to chime in on how I should have prepared this fruit.

First I cracked off the hard, outer pod. Then, inside the fruit are very large seeds which I removed. Although I probably could have infused the fruit at that point, I thought reconstituting the fruit a bit might help bring out the flavor. So I added some water and heated it on the stove (as above). It isn’t very pretty at this point, but it has that lovely, tangy flavor.

Tamarind-Orange Gin

50 g. tamarind flesh (approximately 1/3 cup)

1/2 c. water

Zest of 1 orange

1 1/2 c. Gin

2 TB Sugar

Combine the tamarind flesh and 1/2 cup water in a small sauce pan and place on stove. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 3-4 minutes, or until most of the water has either soaked into the flesh or evaporated. Remove from heat and let it cool.

After the tamarind cools, combine all ingredients in a jar, shake and let sit in a cool area for a few weeks. We let this infuse for about 3 weeks, but it seemed to infuse pretty quickly. You could probably do this in two weeks, or even use a bit more gin. Strain and filter through a strainer, cheesecloth or jelly bag, and finally a coffee filter.

We love this liqueur. Both the tamarind and orange flavors stand out beautifully. We have tried it in a gin and tonic, and I think you can guess how delicious it was. More cocktails recipes to follow…

Don’t let the tamarind intimidate you! I’m so pleased with how well this infused and how easy it was, we will make more tamarind infusions as well.

Enjoy!

Tamarind-Orange Gin on Punk Domestics


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Prune Brandy v. Prune Bourbon

If we told you we were doing a prune taste test, would it sound like we were trying to “spruce up” the menu at a senior living community?

I had not had prunes since I was a kid. I had seen some prune infusions at bars, and love how most dried fruits turn out in liqueurs, so we thought we would do a taste test… Prune Brandy v. Prune Bourbon

You decide…

Prune Liqueur

3 oz. dried prunes

1 1/2 c. of Brandy or Bourbon

Let infuse for approximately 2 weeks. Delicious!

For the prunes, we used Newman’s Organic. They were very soft and juicy for a dried fruit, and had no added sweeteners or preservatives. We split a 6 oz bag between the 2 spirits, which turned out to be about 10 large prunes per jar.

As for the taste test, both my husband and I prefer the Prune Bourbon. My husband is a bourbon lover. He loves all bourbons, especially on their own, so that is not really a fair judgment. But for myself, I am not a huge bourbon fan. I love a good Manhattan, and there are certain other bourbon cocktails that are spectacular, but it is not typically something that I would have on its own.

Infusing bourbon has really changed my feelings about this spirit. I have to say, I think bourbon makes some of the easiest, and tastiest liqueurs we have made. It has so many flavors and sugars of its own, and they blend so nicely with nearly anything that you would choose to infuse.

The Prune Brandy is also spectacular, so don’t let this rant convince you not to try that as well. I can see why the “prune” industry has been trying to give itself a face-lift over the past few years. I believe the proper term is now “dried plums” but they will always be prunes to me… But I think I’ll start buying them more often now!

Cheers!

Related Posts:
Boozy Spiced Sugar Plums

Boozy Prune Jam

Plum Liqueur


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Mushroom Vodka… I’m not kidding

I don’t know if you will believe me, but Mushroom Vodka is actually delicious!

I struggled with what kind of mushrooms to infuse, and what spirit to put them in. Many of you who are not vodka fans, but our intent was to try to leave the mushroom flavor to stand on its own. We didn’t want to mask the mushroom or interfere with the flavors it was infusing into the booze. Vodka seemed the best way to do that.

As for the mushrooms, I have heard a few accounts of infusing candy cap mushrooms, which apparently give a slightly sweet, maple-like flavor to the alcohol. I also found one reference to using porcini mushrooms. I have never had candy cap mushrooms, and truthfully, I was too lazy to go looking for them. I happen to love chanterelles, so that was what we infused.

Mushroom Vodka

1/4 cup Dried Chanterelle Mushrooms (a bit overflowing)

1 cup Vodka

Combine ingredients in a jar, seal and infuse for about 3 days. Strain.

Now we need to figure out what kind of cocktail we would like to use this in. We will probably do something simple, to appreciate the mushroom flavor. It is slightly sweet, and has subtly mellowed the vodka a bit.

Please let us know if you infuse any mushrooms and feel free to send us your cocktail suggestions.

Cheers!

Related Post:

Maple Mushroom Martini


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Oatmeal & Brown Sugar Booze – why oatmeal is not just for breakfast anymore!

How do you like your oatmeal? Do you like it with cream and brown sugar? How about raisins and walnuts? Even if you don’t normally eat or care for oatmeal, I have a feeling you will like this…

I was inspired by an Oat and Honey Vodka recipe from Chow, which lists that it is adapted from Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

I have trouble following directions, so I didn’t follow the recipe. I really love brown sugar in my oatmeal, so we adapted it accordingly. It was hard to keep myself from putting dried cranberries and walnuts in there, but we wanted to be able to try this on its own first.

Oatmeal & Brown Sugar Booze

1 c. rolled oats

1 1/2 c. vodka

2/3 c. brandy

1/4 c. packed light brown sugar

We infused this for about 9 days, then strained and filtered well.

We did not refrigerate as the Chow recipe indicates. With the portions of ingredients we used, it was not necessary.

The oatmeal gives it a creamy flavor, and it is delicious! We have not tried it in cocktails yet, but this recipe from Chow says to add half-and-half for a Quaker Shaker.

Maybe the true inspiration for this is my college reunion (which I am not attending)… our mascot was the Quaker. Here’s a toast to dear old Penn!

Give this one a try. You won’t regret it.


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Carrot Vodka

I’m convinced that adding booze makes anything delicious! That kind of makes it sound like I have a problem…

I love carrots, especially raw carrots. Infusing cucumbers in vodka worked so well, we thought we’d give carrots a try!

Carrot Vodka

2-3 medium carrots, peeled

1 1/4 c. vodka (or enough to cover your carrots)

After discarding the outer peel of the carrots, continue to peel them until the whole carrot has turned into thin strips. Place in jar, and lightly press into place. Cover with vodka (or your choice of spirit) and infuse until it reaches your desired taste. We infused for about 9-10 days.

Strain and filter the liquid and enjoy! The result is a little cloudy, just a hint of pale orange, but deliciously tastes like sweet carrots. It is not over powering. This will be great in a number of cocktails… Bloody Mary?

We had been wanting to do a carrot infusion for a while, then really got some inspiration from Good Booze with their Carrot Top. They infused carrots in rye, which I’m sure is fabulous.

Happy spring and happy sipping!

Carrot Vodka on Punk Domestics