Better, Easier, and FASTER than I expected

susiestar

Roll With It
This year one of the holiday projects that I did was flavored vodka. I have been amazed at how easy it is to do this. I did 3 flavors and WOW!

First I did chocolate vodka. I Poured about 1/3 of the vodka out of a big (looks like about a 2 liter) bottle into an empty bottle. I carefully put 1 bag of milk chocolate chips into the bottle and sealed it tightly. I put this in the top rack of the dishwasher and loaded the dishwasher with dishes to be washed. At the end of the cycle I shook the bottle and it looked great. It tasted really good. I did let it sit for a week or two because our holiday plans were cancelled because my inlaws and parents were both sick. After about 10 days it didn't smell like vodka, it smells like chocolate syrup. It is amazing straight or in coffee.

I did cinnamon at the same time. There was grocery with a special on cinnamon sticks, a big bag (way more than I needed) for about $3. I poured about 1/3 of a big botle of vodka into another bottle and added about 10 3 inch long cinnamon sticks. I ran this through the dishwasher and have let it sit for about 10 days. It tasted good the day after I ran it through the dishwasher, but after 10 days? It is amazing too. Very smooth, you taste the cinnamon and not so much the vodka, and it is great in tea, apple cider, on vanilla ice cream, etc.... (husband is having a blast with these because I cannot drink with-o my system going crazy. I taste a bit by dipping a finger into the vodka or husband's drink.)

Then I did some with Werther's. I took the bottle that I had poured the vodka not used in the other flavors and I put 24 werther's hard candies into them. I didn't even bother wth the dishwasher, I just let them sit. In less than a day the candy was dissolved. I think it could use maybe another 12 candies, but husband says it is great the way it is. But either way, it was again good after the candy dissolved and great a week later.

If you have thought of doing this, go ahead. It is sort of odd to run it through the dishwasher, but the heat helps the flavors mix and speeds up the process. It won't hurt the bottle (mine are in plastic bottles) and gives a very fast result with minimum work. These look great packaged in small jars and make great gifts, though it probably isn't good to hand them out to teachers on school property, lol.

I know we talked about this through the holiday season, and thought you might like an update.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
Now that sounds like a good idea for next year. I did the lemon one this year and that was such a pain I wont do it again. Especially since I dont drink and I gave it all away. LOL. Everyone teased me that it looked like I was giving them bottles of pee!
 

Calamity Jane

Well-Known Member
That sounds wonderful. I can think of about 5 people who'd love a gift like that. Question: Do you have to shake them up each time you use them; does the chocolate, cinnamon, etc. settle on the bottom, or is it fully integrated once it runs thru the diswasher?

That sounds like a hoot. I have to try it. Thanks so much.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
You do NOT need a dishwasher. If you want to just put the choc chips into the vodka and let it sit for a few weeks, shaking periodically, that works well. The dishwasher just provides heat and helps mix the vodka and chocolate. You could also just mix them in the top of a double boiler, but some of the alcohol will evaporate. I would just combine them, let sit in a window so the sun can help melt the chocolate. I just tried the dishwasher because it sounded interesting and a lot easier than standing and stirring in a pan over warm water. I was surprised at how fast it was with the dishwasher, and at the time I thought I needed them in under a week.

Same for the other flavors. The cinnamon doesn't need to be shaken at all. I do shake the chocolate because it sometimes seems thicker on the bottom, but it is yummy even if you don't. The werther's one should be shaken though.
 

1905

Well-Known Member
What kind of plastic bottles? When you give them as gifts do you put them in another type of bottle? I love flavored vodka mixed with club soda. The chocolate one sound good, they all do. How did you make the lemon, with candy or real lemons? TIA
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
When I made the lemon, I used the lemoncello recipe online at allrecipes.com

You have to zest 10 lemons and let it sit in the vodka for like 3 weeks then make simple syrup and pour that into the vodka and then let that sit another so many weeks. OMG...it was like torture zesting tha many lemons!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
That lemon recipe sounds like a PITA. Use a veggie peeler if you must get large amts of zest off a lemon. but why not just soak the whole lemons in vodka for a while, then after a couple weeks, remove them, juice them, add the juice, strain if needed, add simple syrup? Or just add simple syrup and some lemon oil (from the Wilton area of craft stores - the LorAnn brand is pure lemon oil and is awesome, and that is what you are getting out of the zest. Start with a few drops of lemon oil, add more until it is the right taste. It also wouldn't be yellow.

The plastic bottle I used is one that had rum in it that I added to my vanilla bottle (I keep a large size bottle wth a bunch of vanilla beans in it and top it up with rum as we use it. I use this as vanilla extract and it is superior to every purchased vanilla that I have ever smelled, also is great perfume, lol). I just poured part of the vodka from each of the 2 big bottles into that, and then added the flavorings.

To give as gifts, I bought some glass bottles at HObby Lobby. You MUST make sure they are labelled food safe because the ones that are not often have a high lead content. Adding something alcoholic to that kind of glass can result in lead leaching into your vodka. Just wash the bottles (I have some that are just small mason jars that work very well, but you can use any size. I tend to mix the vodka in plastic because if my hands are bad and I drop them they won't break. Given all the hand problems, well, it is just safer, Know what I mean??

Rachel Ray had an early show that she did with some guy and she talked about never just throwng a lemon away. One thing she did is to take leftover lemons and put them into a bottle of vodka and let it just sit and then when she wanted limoncello she could just make the simple syrup (which is an equal amt of sugar and water heated together until the sugar is totally dissolved and then either removed and used as is or simmered until it is thickened a bit, your choice. I have seen recipes that call for each way, and in my opinion it is more your preference with most recipes) and add a bit of lemon juice.

One of my aunts used to keep vodka in her fridge in a wide mouth container. She would put whatever fruit was about to go bad into the vodka. It was not just great vodka, it also made a great topping for ice cream, cakes, etc... Of course she did have to keep warnng her bridge club that if they ate too much of whatever cake, they had to wait before they could drive home, lol!

I think she had a gallon jar that had been used for something else but she put it to use for this after a while. The two fruits she said did NOT do well were bananas and fresh pineapple. Something about the enzymes or whatever in fresh pineapple makes them not work well at all for this. Canned pineapple leftover from some recipe or just not eaten is fine in it though.
 

DammitJanet

Well-Known Member
The reason you have to be careful with the lemon zest and peels is because you dont want any of the white part in the vodka. It will make it bitter. Also you need organic lemons or really scrub regular lemons to get rid of the wax that they put on them. Its a pain. Cherry might be good because you could just throw in whole cherries after you pit them. Or wash apples and throw in the peels.

I do think I am going to try the chocolate and the werners because I love caramel. I wonder if you could add a bit of cream to the caramel to make it creamy like bailey's irish cream. Might do the chocolate and do a cherry and then one of cherry and see if I can mix a small bottle of both to make chocolate cherry. That would be awesome!
 

susiestar

Roll With It
If you put a whole, uncut lemon in, the white part is not exposed and you don't get the bitter. I have done this before with little problem. I only left them in about ten days, then took them out and juiced them and added the juice to the vodka.

but it is vastly easier to just use lemon oil like for candy (LorAnn brand is what I use). Not flavoring or extract, pure lemon oil. yes. I do get lazy on this, lol.
 
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