Thread: Thanksgiving and Christmas Season - Holiday Treats and Assorted Stuff

Chive Blossoms in Booze or Vinegar?

June 23, 2012 by Alicia | 10 Comments



As a canning addict, I have been a fan of Food in Jars for quite a while. So after seeing Marisa’s post last year on Chive Blossom Vinegar, I had been longing to infuse some chive blossoms of my own.
As much as I wanted to try the Chive Blossom Vinegar, we do have certain priorities here at Boozed + Infused. So when my chive blossoms finally started opening up, the first ones went into a booze infusion. There would be plenty more blossoms for vinegar later.



I was going for something reminiscent of a Gibson with this infusion.

Chive Blossom Martini Infusion
1 c. chive blossoms (about 12 blossoms)
1 c. gin
1/3 c. extra dry vermouth
Following Marisa’s instructions for the vinegar infusion, I soaked the blossoms in water to help remove any sediment or insects. Remove from water, toss in towels, and allow to dry. Add chive blossoms, gin and vermouth to a pint jar. Infuse for a few hours, a few days, or up to a week depending on how strong you want the flavor. Strain and filter the infusion.



I infused this for 6 days, and this has a very strong onion flavor. I have made a few cocktails with it, but so far the jury is still out on this infusion. It is not for the faint of heart.
I think my favorite cocktail with the chive blossom infusion so far is a variation on a Bloody Mary.
I now have a jar of white wine vinegar infused with chive blossoms, and another jar of distilled white vinegar infused as well. It was very interesting how much more vibrant the vinegar is than the gin/vermouth infusion. The booze infusion is the one that is just faintly pink. For the vinegar infusions, I left the blossoms in for about three weeks.
Be sure to check out Food in Jars for lots of great ideas on canning and all manner of foods in jars. I recently purchased the Food in Jars cookbook and can’t put it down!

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Kiwi Vodka Tonic

June 21, 2012 by Alicia | 8 Comments

Several months ago we made a kiwi liqueur. And with warmer weather (finally) upon us, we used this tasty, fruity liqueur to make a simple Kiwi Vodka Tonic.



Kiwi Vodka Tonic

2 oz Kiwi Liqueur
4 oz Tonic
Pour over ice, enjoy!
For summer parties and cookouts, fruit liqueur and tonic make for easy entertaining. The fruit gins (blueberry, raspberry-mint, tamarind-orange,) as well as the vodkas (cranberry-orange, raspberry, pineapple, mango) can quickly be turned into fun and festive summer drinks.
Cheers!

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Update: Strawberry Booze Infusion, Day 17

June 19, 2012 by Alicia | 23 Comments

I didn’t forget about the strawberries, I promise! I took a little mini-vacation, hiking and beer-tasting my way through Central Oregon. (Both were amazing!) Now I’m back and have just sampled the gorgeous red strawberry infusion.
Our last post on the Strawberry Booze infusion was at Day 5, and it still had a fairly weak flavor.



At Day 17, the strawberry flavor is starting to get a bit stronger as is the color. I am hoping that the flavors will continue to enhance with more time, so I am still waiting… (fairly) patiently.
One thing that I did notice after looking back at the photos from Day 5, is that the strawberries have now sunk to the bottom of the jar. I’m no chemist, so I don’t really know what that means. I’m guessing there is more rum in the berries, and more of the fruit sugars in the rum at this point.
So, with the first day of summer almost upon us, we are not quite ready for those strawberry mojitos over here at Boozed + Infused. Maybe by the 4th of July? That would be quite festive! We can hope…
Cheers!

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Cocoa Nib Brandy, and the battle of the booze

June 12, 2012 by Alicia | 15 Comments

Remember a few months ago when we made a Chocolate Bourbon? Well, it was fabulous! But some people tell me that they don’t like bourbon. And since one of them is my mother, and she happens to be a chocolate lover, I decided to test out a Chocolate Brandy.



The recipe we made was nearly identical to the Chocolate Bourbon.

Chocolate Brandy
2 c. Brandy
1/2 c. Cocoa Nibs
2-inch piece of vanilla bean, split
(if desired, add simple syrup)
Infuse for 4-5 weeks. Strain through cheesecloth or jelly bag, and coffee filters. We did not add any simple syrup. I think it would be delicious with it, but we wanted to be able to use this in cocktails, and thought it would be more versatile this way.
If you have trouble locating Cocoa Nibs, please reference the post on Chocolate Bourbon.
Bourbon v. Brandy… what’s your pick?
I have written before that I have a much improved appreciation for bourbon now that I infuse with it. There had long been a few bourbon cocktails that I really enjoyed, but it was never at the top of my list. But when infusing, bourbon is often my favorite spirit to use. It brings so much flavor and nuance to the end result.
We did a Prune liqueur show down a few months ago where we taste tested Prune Brandy v. Prune Bourbon, and although they were both delicious, the bourbon was the clear winner.
In the case of Chocolate Brandy v. Chocolate Bourbon… I declare the winner to be… Brandy!
I’m sorry bourbon lovers. Both of these are really amazing, and I would encourage ALL of you to start infusing with Cocoa Nibs. As much as I really enjoyed the Chocolate Bourbon, the Chocolate flavor shines through better in the brandy.
But, that is just my humble opinion… have any of you infused with Cocoa Nibs? How about a Chocolate Vodka? I think it would be delicious!
Cheers!

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Cantaloupe Vodka

September 9, 2012 by Alicia | 7 Comments

Summers are busy! While there is so much to infuse, there are so many great things to do in the sun. So these past few weeks have slipped by, and for the last seven days I was hiking and camping around remote Southeastern Oregon along with herds of pronghorn, coyotes, lizards, and little else.
Now that I’m back into civilization, it is time to post something that I infused back in the chaos of summer.



Cantaloupe Vodka
1 1/2 c. Chopped Cantaloupe
1 1/2 c. Vodka
2 TB Simple Syrup (or more to taste)
Place cantaloupe and vodka in a glass jar and seal. Shake and allow to infuse for 2-3 weeks. Add Simple Syrup and let it sit for another 2-3 weeks for the flavors to mellow.
That’s it! Cheers!
This infusion is very easy, and could probably be done with a lot of different varieties of melon. Depending on the sweetness of the melon, you may not need to add additional sweeteners.

Related Post:
Love Cocktail: Cantaloupe Vodka, Honey, Lime

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Strawberry Mojitos!

July 4, 2012 by Alicia | 14 Comments

Happy 4th of July!

If you’ve been following along, you know that we started a Strawberry Rum infusion about a month ago. The strawberry flavor is now quite nice. And while I’m not quite ready to strain and filter the entire infusion, we can easily pour off some of the liquor to use in cocktails.
And to kick-start our holiday celebrating, we decided to test out some strawberry mojitos on July 3rd.


Strawberry Mojito (adapted from Allrecipes)
(makes one drink)
10 mint leaves
1/2 lime, cut into 4 wedges
1/2 to 1 TB white sugar (or to taste)
2 oz Strawberry-Infused Rum
4 oz. club soda
ice
Muddle mint with 1-2 ice cubes in a sturdy glass. Add sugar. Squeeze 3 of the lime wedges into the glass, add the rind and muddle well. Fill glass with ice, add Strawberry-Infused Rum and club soda. Stir, and garnish with final lime wedge, and if desired more mint or fresh strawberries.
This drink turned out just as good as I had hoped. We loved them so much, we quickly had another! I have a feeling this Strawberry Booze will not last long…
If you are hoping to make these for your holiday festivities, you could muddle a few fresh strawberries into the glass, and just use regular rum.
What a perfect holiday refreshment.
Have a fun and safe holiday – Cheers!

Related Posts
Starting a Strawberry Booze Infusion

Update: Strawberry Booze Infusion, Day 5

Update: Strawberry Booze Infusion, Day 17

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Blueberry Gin

May 6, 2012 by Alicia | 15 Comments



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

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Raspberry Infusions: a little splash of heaven

July 1, 2012 by Alicia | 28 Comments



The first liqueur I ever made was Raspberry. I guess I should say the first four liqueurs I made were all Raspberry!
A few years ago, I went to my parents’ farm to pick some raspberries for jam. I came home with a LOT of berries. I made a few batches of jam, and it seemed like I had not even made a dent in the volume of raspberries. So I started going through my liquor cabinet, selecting anything that seemed like it would taste good with the berries.
I ended up with Raspberry Vodka, Raspberry Brandy, Raspberry Cachaça and Raspberry-Mint Gin. I left all of the infusions in the back of our coat closet for three months. And by the time we filtered them, they were heavenly. (Follow recipe for Simple Raspberry Liqueur below) Each year, the volume of Raspberry Liqueur in my pantry seems to grow.
As I started to infuse a wider variety of ingredients, the Raspberry liqueurs have remained some of my favorites.



I spent a good part of the day yesterday picking raspberries with my mother. (And I’ve got the scratches all over my arms to prove it!)
I ended up with about four pounds of amazing, sweet, delicious raspberries. If you have never infused raspberries before, you are really missing out. These wonderful liqueurs really are a little splash of heaven.

Simple Raspberry Liqueur
750 ml bottle of 80 proof booze (vodka, gin, rum, brandy, or cachaça)
3 1/2 c. raspberries
1/4 to 1/2 c. sugar (or more depending on your preference)
Combine all ingredients in a large glass jar. Shake or stir every few days, allowing to infuse for up to 3 months, or until it reaches your desired taste. Add more sugar if desired. Strain and filter well. The straining process can take a while with raspberries, but the jelly bag (or lots of cheesecloth) and coffee filters will produce a clear result.



Raspberry-Mint Gin (adapted from Get Fresh)
750 ml bottle of Gin
1 1/3 lb Raspberries
1/2 c. tightly packed mint leaves
1/2 c. sugar
Follow directions above, same as Simple Raspberry Liqueur.
This is a favorite of ours, and tastes amazing in a gin and tonic.


This year I decided to try out some new variations and flavors. I don’t quite know how they will turn out yet… I guess we’ll have to wait a while before we know. I hope these inspire you to get creative with your raspberry infusions as well.

Raspberry-Lemon Vodka
2 c. Raspberries
Zest of 2 lemons
2 c. Vodka
1/4 c. Sugar
Follow directions above, same as Simple Raspberry Liqueur.



ROB Rum (Raspberry-Orange-Blueberry)
1 c. Frozen Blueberries (cut in half or roughly chopped)
1 1/4 c. Raspberries
Zest of one orange
2 c. Rum
2 TB Sugar
Follow directions above, same as Simple Raspberry Liqueur.
After these have infused for a while, we may alter them with more sugar or simple syrup. We also may add more zest if necessary.



And finally, one last treat…

Chocolate-Raspberry Liqueur
1 1/2 c. Raspberries
1/4 c. cocoa nibs
1/4 c. sugar
2 c. vodka
Follow directions above, same as Simple Raspberry Liqueur.



We will let you know how these new flavors turn out… but it may be a while before they are ready. We will try tasting them before the three months are up to see if they infuse quicker than we think. But I think they will need at least a month.
Do you have any raspberry infusion flavor ideas? What are your favorites?
Cheers!

Related Posts
Raspberry Caipirinha

Raspberry Bliss

Update 7/12/12 Happy National Can It Forward Day! Visit great canning ideas at The Domestically Impaired Guide to Retro Kitchen Arts.

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Maple Mushroom Martini

September 24, 2012 by Alicia | 9 Comments

Many months ago, we posted a Mushroom Vodka infusion. For the most part, that infusion has been sitting in a mason jar doing nothing… until now.
A handful of readers gave some great cocktail suggestions, and a simple drink with orange bitters sounded great.


Maple Mushroom Martini
2 oz. Mushroom Infused Vodka
3/4 tsp maple syrup
5-6 dashes Orange Bitters
1/2 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 dash aromatic bitters
Mix all of the above ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice.
This drink has the flavor of the mushroom, with a touch of sweetness from the maple, balanced with the tart lemon juice and bitters. In all, I think this was pretty delicious! I wouldn’t mind having another…
Cheers!



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Fresh Cherry Bourbon

September 29, 2012 by Alicia | 24 Comments



I love cherries! Last winter, since cherries were not in season, we made a Cherry Bourbon with dried cherries. The dried cherries we used were tart cherries that had been sweetened with sugar.
Typically, every summer I preserve cherries for cocktails; brandied cherries, amaretto cherries, spiced brandied cherries, creme de cacao cherries, and much more. In truth, many of these end up on ice-cream, but making a good brandied cherry was the inspiration behind my canning addiction.
Last year, we went a bit overboard, picking 24 pounds of cherries. In addition to our usual boozy cherries, we made a steeped cherry bounce, cherry brandy, cherry jam, and chutney. This year we needed a little break from canning cherries. We still have a few jars from last year to keep our cocktails garnished for a while.



This year, I took the easy route. I picked up a bag of mixed sweet cherries at the farmers market and made only a simple, fresh cherry bourbon.

Fresh Cherry Bourbon
2 heaping cups of fresh cherries
2 c. Bourbon
Score each cherry with a knife, piercing through the flesh. No need to pit them.
Combine the scored cherries and bourbon in a quart jar, and allow to infuse for 2-4 weeks, or until it reaches your desired taste. We infused ours for 2 months and it tastes great. At this point you could strain the infusion, or simply use the cherries in cocktails as you use up the bourbon. (These cherries will be much boozier than our typical brandied cherries which use a simple syrup with liquor added, but will be much better than a lot of the cherries you get at the store.)
This fresh cherry bourbon has a much fresher, cleaner, and light taste than the dried cherry bourbon that we made last winter. I think I actually prefer the dried cherries, but both are delicious and will work well for different cocktails.
How do you prefer your cherry bourbon?



Fresh Cherry Bourbon after infusing for two months

Cheers!



Boozy Cherries from 2011

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