Infusing a fine bottle from The Captain should have been a rather simple adventure, however, this infusion taught me a thing or two.......as well as how to rescue my attempts from complete failure!
I will try this again soon, the problem was definitely too much vanilla, left in for too long!
I used two whole vanilla pods and left this for a week, so I have changed this around to just half a pod for a week, or a whole pod for a couple of days.
Ingredients
500ml Morgan Spiced Rum
1/2 Vanilla Pod
You're also going to need:
An Air Tight Bottle
A Fine Mesh Sieve / Coffee Filter Papers
Sharp Knife
Time to Infuse: 4-8days
Method of Madness
Split the Vanilla pod lengthways and add to an air tight glass bottle, I use the swing-top types, then simply pour over the rum!
This one is super simple.......but I got things wrong, so make sure you test the batch each day (tough life eh?) and remove the vanilla once the flavour has reached your acquired taste. If you find it is too strong, then just add extra rum, or for extra vanilla flavour, leave a few more days, or add a little more vanilla pod if time isn't on your side!
Make sure you are swirling to infuse the flavours each day, and keep the bottle out of direct sunlight.
Party Morning - Use a fine sieve or filter paper to separate the infused vodka from the vanilla beans, and bottle up for later!
Tips
If you are not keen on the vanilla pieces floating around your drink, then you will need to use the coffee filters to remove these.
Taste EVERYDAY!!! Don't miss your perfect batch!
Drink Suggestions
I'd love to hear what cocktails you created with this infusion, here's what I am going to try with the next batch:
- My Easy Monday Night Tipple: Vanilla Infused Spiced Rum, topped up with Cream Soda
- Evening Warmer: Add a shot or two of the rum to a latte! Mmmm, Cosy!
Now for the Creative Part!!
So as you know, things didn't go to plan for me with this one, and so instead of wasting half a bottle of rum, I decided it would definitely perk up some leftovers from my cupboards!
Introducing.........Vanilla Infused Spiced Rum, Apple Pie Pockets!!
Ingredients (Serves 2)
A good glug of your freshly infused Vanilla Spiced Rum
2 Red Dessert Apples
1 tbsp Sugar
1 tbsp Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
Pinch of Ground Nutmeg
Filo Pastry Sheets (I used the low fat kind so that I could have extra ice cream!)
Vanilla Ice Cream to Serve
Method
Chop up your apples no larger than 1cm cubes, these aren't going to get a good roasting, so if they are too large, they will still be hard and cold when you come to digging in.
Add the apples to a bowl and stir in the rum, sugars, and spices.
Take the filo pastry and cut in to 4 inch strips.
Spoon a dollop of the apple mixture on to the pastry and fold up in to samosa shapes, or any preferred shape.....sometimes it's a messy pile, and that's okay, it still tastes good!
Add the samosas to a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, and pile any leftover apple mixture on to the tray also. With the left over juice from the mix, use this to glaze the samosa tops, and also drizzle over the leftover apples.
Bake in a preheated oven on 220 C for 15-20 minutes until golden.
Eat the samosas straight away with the apples and vanilla ice cream melting over!
Mmmmm success from failure!
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