Cherry Vanilla Liqueur + a review of Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits

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What do you get when you add flavors and sweetener to vodka, brandy, whiskey, or rum? Homemade liqueurs! You’ll be delighted by how easy it is to make your own versions of popular brands such as Bailey’s, Triple Sec, and Kahlua, as well as dozens of original flavor combinations.

Cherry Vanilla Liqueur

Andrew Schloss shows you the basic techniques for making a liqueur – typically as simple as combining fruit with liquor and sugar, letting the mixture sit for a week, straining, and enjoying – and then provides more than 150 recipes organized by types of flavoring, which include fruits, herbs, spices, nuts and seeds, vegetables, coffee, tea, chocolate, cream, caramel, honey, and butterscotch. Schloss also shows you how to make infused spirits, which are flavored but don’t contain sweeteners.

And finally, he offers 80 recipes for irresistible cocktails you can make with your homemade liqueurs and infused spirits. Cheers!  (-synopsis)

Cherry Vanilla Liqueur

This cookbook is awesome!  Around the holidays I love making homemade gifts for people and one of my favorites are homemade liqueurs.   The possibilities in this book are endless.  The beginning of the book has a lot of explanations.  There are definitions of different types of alcohol, types of liqueurs, how to strain the liqueurs, types of added sugars, and needed equipment.  I found this section very helpful in preparing to start making my liqueurs.

The chapters are divided by flavors.  My favorite by far is the fruit liqueurs.  There is everything from apple brandy and lemon drop to coconut date and persimmon sunrise.  The very first one I made is the one I’m sharing today:  cherry vanilla liqueur.  It was sweet and tasty.  I enjoyed it over iced, mixed with gingerale, and even drizzled over top of ice cream!

Cherry Vanilla Liqueur

The other chapters have vegetable liqueurs, herb and spice liqueurs, nut and see liqueurs, floral liqueurs, coffee, tea, and chocolate liqueurs, and caramel, syrup, and butterscotch liqueurs.  My favorites in these chapters include caramel cordial, Coco-Loco, Toasted Hazelnut, Spicy Rum, Honeysuckle Honey, and Pumpkin Pie.  I already have a list of 5 to make this summer and another 7 I want to make around the holidays as gifts.

The thing I liked best about these recipes was that they only take 7-10 days until they are ready.  In the past when I’ve made infused spirits I’ve had to wait several months before drinking.  Since these are ready so quickly, it’s easy to make them a week in advance of an event.  The recipes also only require a handful of ingredients so they are easy to make as well.

I give this book 4 1/2 out of 5 stars.

Cherry Vanilla Liqueur

Infuse your own vodka with fresh cherries and vanilla beans.
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Prep Time: 20 minutes
Inactive Time: 7 days
Total Time: 7 days 20 minutes
Author: Hezzi-D

Ingredients

  • 1 fifth 750 ml vodka
  • 2 pints sour cherries stemmed and crushed or 2 1/2 c. dried sour cherries, coarsely chopped
  • 2 vanilla beans Madagascar or Bourbon, split
  • 1 c. Simple Syrup

Instructions

  • Muddle the vodka, cherries, and vanilla with a wooden spoon in a half-gallon jar. Stir to moisten everything
  • Seal the jar and put it in a cool, dark cabinet until the liquid smells and tastes strongly of cherries-3 to 5 days for dried fruit, about 7 days for fresh fruit.
  • Strain the mixture with a mesh strainer into a clean quart jar. Do not push on the solids to extract more liquid.
  • Stir in the simple syrup.
  • Seal and store in a cool, dark cabinet. Use within 1 year.

Notes

Source: Homemade Liqueurs and Infused Spirits by Andrew Schloss
CHerry Vanilla Liqueur

 

3 Comments

    1. It’s up to you. SInce you will be straining the mixture before using it’s not needed to pit them but if you want it to be easier to strain and to get more flavor from the cherries then you can. I personally do, but either way works!

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