Boozed + Infused

Infusing liqueurs at home with inspiring and seasonal ingredients

Tag Archives: recipe


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Mandarin Spice

Having recently filtered the Mandarin Gin, we were ready to try it in some cocktails!

Mandarin Spice

2 oz Mandarin Gin

1/2 TB Vermouth

1/2 TB Winter Spice Liqueur

Lemon peel garnish

Mix or shake liquid ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into chilled glasses, add lemon peel, and sip away.

If you don’t have Mandarin Gin, you could substitute another orangecello or orange liqueur that isn’t overly sweet. And the Winter Spice could probably be subbed with Angostura Bitters with a pleasant result.

Cheers!


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Mandarin Gin

Can you believe it took us this long to post a citrus infusion?

A few years ago, some friends of ours shared a homemade limoncello with us. It was the best limoncello I had ever tasted. Naturally, I asked for the recipe. I had just started getting into making home-infused booze, and this was too good to pass up. The limoncello recipe was very different from any other I’ve seen. While the others all require zesting the lemons and infusing for long times, this one just required juicing the lemons, and a much shorter infusion time. The result (perhaps because of the short infusion time) does not give the overly bitter taste of which everyone warns.

So we decided to test out a similar recipe with mandarin oranges and gin.

Mandarin Gin

11 Mandarin Oranges

2 cups of gin

1/4 c. sugar

Slice the mandarins in half, and juice them. Reserve the juice for another use (try it in a Mandarin Hibiscus).

Place the mandarin peels and sugar in the gin, and let infuse. This is where our original idea started breaking down. The limoncello recipe required only about a one-week infusion time. These mandarins needed more time. We felt the product was ready in about 4-5 weeks. Happily, the flavor is quite good, with no bitterness (perhaps because the mandarin peels have very little pith). But the quick infusion was not meant to be.

When the flavor has reached your desired taste, strain and filter. Serve chilled (straight from freezer) or in cocktails.

Cheers!


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Mango Cooler

Here is our “healthy” cocktail suggestion for the Mango Liqueur.

Mango Cooler

2 oz Mango Liqueur

1 TB Honey Liqueur

3-4 oz club soda

Light and refreshing, this will be a great spring/summer beverage… if only it was spring in the Northwest!


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Mango Liqueur

Sorry the posts have been a little less frequent for the past week or two. I have been traveling like crazy. As my husband and I checked into a hotel on Saturday, I remarked that it was the 6th bed I had slept in for the week. Yes, the sixth. Four different hotels, one night in my own bed, and a short stay at my sister’s house. Needless to say, there has been lots of work, lots of fun, and just a lot going on!

I have just returned home after a weekend on San Juan Island in Washington State. We had some amazing weather and even got to see a group of Orca Whales. Very exciting.

Ok, now back to the booze…

Mango Liqueur

2 Mangos – peeled, pits removed, and sliced

2 c. Vodka

2 TB Thick Simple Syrup (or to taste)

Infuse the mango in vodka for approximately 3-4 weeks. Strain and filter, then add the simple syrup. Age for another 2-3 weeks for the flavors to mellow.

When we first filtered this, the mango flavor was a bit bitter. But as with many fruit liqueurs, the flavors mellow with some time and rest. This is finally ready to drink. I’m happy to report that I’m enjoying a delicious cocktail with this liqueur as I write this.

Cheers!

Mango Liqueur on Punk Domestics


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German Chocolate Cocktail

Who’s ready for a drink?

That’s what I thought…

We have started accumulating so many delicious liqueurs and infusions in our liquor cabinet (ok, it is really the coat closet) that it seemed a shame to just let them sit there… time for a fun, new concoction…

German Chocolate Cocktail

1 oz Chocolate Bourbon

1 oz Coconut Liqueur

1/2 oz Walnut Liqueur

1/2 oz White Creme de Cacao

Coconut flakes for garnish

If you’ve read this far, you know what to do…

German chocolate cake usually has pecans instead of walnuts, but I figured this was close enough. I think this would be delicious with any other nut liqueur as well (try it with Frangelico or Amaretto).

We thought it was a nice dessert beverage (and not too sweet). Give it a try and see what you think. Or try some variations and improvisations and share your taste tests with us…

Cheers!


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Ginger-Lime Gin & Tonic

For those of you wondering if the Ginger-Lime Gin would make a good G&T…

We thought it was spectacular!

2 oz Ginger-Lime Gin

4 oz Tonic Water

Lime Wedge

Pour gin and tonic over ice, squeeze a bit of lime, stir and enjoy.

This was amazing. We really liked it. I’d like to try this with club soda next time since the ginger-lime gin had so much flavor on its own (including a bit of sweetness from the agave). But I’m almost afraid to mess with this since it was so delicious.

We will make this again…


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Mandarin Hibiscus

Well, it was supposed to be a hibiscus sunrise…

We happened to have a whole lot of fresh-squeezed mandarin juice on our hands. (Perhaps that will clue you into one of our upcoming infusions…) In the meantime, the juice was amazing. We knew it needed to be paired with the hibiscus brandy.

Even if the “sunrise” didn’t turn out as I had hoped, it sure was good. I hadn’t factored in the fact that the juice was a lot heavier than the brandy.

Hibiscus Sunrise

2 oz Hibiscus Brandy

3 oz Fresh squeezed Mandarin (or standard orange) juice

Pour over ice, and enjoy!

That will probably be the end of the hibiscus cocktails for now. Hope I didn’t overload you with them. The rest of the hibiscus brandy is going to be saved for some mimosas and champagne cocktails.


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Tropics in the Winter Part 2 – Coconut Liqueur

I thought I better get this posted before we reach the end of winter! For those of you who are in warmer climates, it may be a bit late to infuse this and enjoy it before we hit spring. But for those of you in colder regions, you may still have some time… sorry. When I lived in Maine, I would always take a tropical vacation this time of year to escape the cold weather, as we still had plenty of time for snow before we hit spring (mud season).

Coconut Liqueur

3 c. Vodka (or Rum would work very nicely)

2 c. chopped/shredded coconut

6 Tablespoons Thick Simple Syrup (or to taste)

Crack and drain one coconut, then cut away the brown shell. Place the white coconut flesh in a food processor and pulse until shredded/chopped to a fairly fine grain. If you do not have a food processor you could try grating it.

Place 2 cups of the shredded coconut in the vodka and let infuse for approximately 3 weeks. At that time, add 4 TB thick simple syrup and let infuse for another 2 weeks. After a total of 5 weeks, strain the coconut and add more sweetener to your taste. I added another 2 TB of simple syrup, for a total of 6 TB. At first I thought that this was heavy on the alcohol taste, but after sitting for just a day I think this tastes perfect.

You may be able to infuse in a shorter time if you use more coconut.

Etched "Boozed + Infused" bottleThe end result for this coconut liqueur is milky white and delicious. It isn’t overly sweet, and tastes strongly of coconut. This will be great by itself, or added to cocktails. (I think it will be perfect for some upcoming cocoa and nut infusions we are working on.)

Unfortunately the color of the liqueur masks the etching on this bottle. This was a gift from my sister, etched with “Boozed + Infused”.

Simple Syrup

In many of my recipes, I list “thick simple syrup”. When I use this term, I typically have used 2/3 c. of sugar and 1/2 c. of water. I bring this to a boil on the stove and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool completely before adding to your recipe. If you have extra left over, you can save this in a glass jar in the refrigerator for a few weeks.


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Chocolate Infused Cherry Cocktail

My love of cherries has been no secret. The pale beauties in this drink come from the preserved cherries we made last summer. They feature the Queen Anne or Royal Anne cherries. The flavor of the Royal Anne cherry is very delicate. They might just be my favorite cherry.

We preserved the Royal Anne cherries in a variety of sugary/boozy mixtures. One of which was a simple syrup with Creme de Cacao. It gave just a hint of chocolate flavor to the sweet cherries.

I like chocolate martinis, but typically the clear variety. I much prefer it to the thick, creamy, syrupy versions. My chocolate martini consists of equal parts vanilla vodka and white creme de cacao. So for this drink, we added a hint of cherry.

Chocolate Infused Cherry Cocktail

1 oz Vanilla Vodka

1 oz White Creme de Cacao

1 oz Cherry Bourbon or Cherry Brandy

Creme de Cacao infused preserved cherries (or brandied cherries)

Shake all ingredients with ice, and pour into chilled or frosted martini glasses. Garnish with Creme de Cacao infused cherries.

Of course this would be delicious with brandied cherries instead of the Creme de Cacao cherries. And any cherry brandy or cherry liqueur would work well in place of the cherry bourbon. This gives a nice light mix of cherry and chocolate without either flavor overpowering.

Cheers!


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Hibiscus Sidecar

I couldn’t wait any longer to share one of the delicious hibiscus cocktails with you…

Who loves Sidecars? I do! I do! Thanks to a friend for introducing these to me some years ago, I have delighted in them for quite a while. So the addition of hibiscus brandy in this cocktail was only logical. As I mentioned in the last post, citrus goes great with hibiscus…

Hibiscus Sidecar (serves two)

3 oz. Hibiscus Brandy

1 1/2 oz. Triple Sec

1 oz. Fresh Squeezed Lemon Juice

garnish of your choice

Combine all liquid in a cocktail shaker with ice. Shake vigorously… strain into chilled glasses. Garnish of your choice (preferably citrus – we used a mandarin orange slice).

Delicious. Please give this a try…

Cheers!