There's no sweeter gift than a handmade one, and in my humble opinion, there's no better gift than a cocktail, so combining the two is a match made in heaven that is sure to get you a well-deserved 'Partner of the Year' Award!Love is in the air and that means sweet, fruity, red characteristics are a must!
So of course, it makes perfect sense to make your own Raspberry Liqueur gift for your loved one this Valentine's Day.
The best things about this infusion is that it's incredibly easy, pretty quick, and I also discovered that at this time of year when decent raspberries are sparse, the frozen variety actually makes for a far more flavourful drink. Just in case you refuse to believe this idea, I shelled out for the finest, most expensive, gold-range raspberries that I could find, and after the first week, I noticed the flavour just wasn't there. I always keep frozen raspberries in to fulfill those year-round raspberry daiquiri cravings, so I decided to throw a handful in and see what effect it had on the vodka.
Well, within one day alone the liquid was a beautiful red colour and the smell had noticeably got fruitier.....so I added more and so the recommendation to begin with frozen raspberries is there to save you a week or two in time, and a bottle or two of wasted vodka! Now, neither of us want that do we?
If you're lucky enough to be reading this when raspberries are in season and bursting with flavour, then by all means, use the fresh variety, just be sure to taste a couple before you pop them in the bottle to be sure you've got a good harvest that's full of flavour!For This Infusion, You'll Need...
1 Litre Vodka
2 Cups Frozen Raspberries
2 Cups Caster Sugar
And...
A Measuring Jug
Funnel
Fine Mesh Sieve / Filter Papers
2x 1litre Bottles
(You can reuse the one the vodka came in!)
2 Weeks of Infusing Time (Though you could get way with one week if you're a last minute Larry!)
If you are gifting this to a loved one, be sure to get yourself some pretty bottles to store it in! These amounts will yield around 1.5 liters, so bare this in mind when selecting storage bottles.
Let's Get Infusing!
To get started, give your raspberries a bit of a rinse in cold water just to remove any excess ice crystals, and evenly distribute them between the two infusing bottles.
Depending on the size of your raspberries and the neck of the bottle you are using, you might be best chopping the raspberries in half. The berries I had slid in to the bottles easily though so this was not necessary in my case.
Next up, time to add the party......In goes the VODKA!
Use a funnel to get the job done in double-fast time, without the mess or wastage worry!
Leave this to infuse for about a week - or 3days if you've left it a little late to woo!
Give it the usual gentle swirl-shake everyday, and be sure to leave it to infuse away from direct sunlight and heat!
The second infusion stage sweetens things up, and the sugar can also draw out any further flavour left in the berries.
Boil some water in a kettle, and measure out two cups of boiled water in to a jug, add the two cups of caster sugar, and stir to dissolve. Once dissolved and cooled, use a funnel to pour equal amounts in to each of your bottles of vodka and berries, and leave again for another week (or 3days if pushed for time).
You may choose to half the sugar syrup by only adding one cup of sugar and one cup of water, and this will give you a final product with a higher alcohol content, and less sweet, but for my taste-buds, and for the tartness of my berries, two cups of each worked well.
Party Time!!
Week two means you're almost ready to party!
You just need to remove the berries, and to do this, grab your pretty storage/gifting bottles, pop in a funnel, line the funnel with coffee filter papers (or a fine mesh sieve, though this will leave a sediment), and I also pour through a sieve or straining bag to easily catch the raspberries. Using both the sieve and filter paper together gives a lovely clear liqueur, and the papers are easy to find in all supermarkets if you do not have any at home.
Have a think about reusing the raspberries, they make a great boozy jam, or just add a couple to garnish your drinks.
If you're not going to use the raspberries then be sure to give them a good squeeze to get every last bit of the flavour in to your liqueur. The berries will absorb a lot of the vodka and that is definitely one thing you don't want to throw away!
Once bottled up, you're ready to taste!
Due to the sugar syrup addition, this is beautiful just over ice or added to a glass of Prosecco with a couple of the whole berries.
I recently managed to get my hands on some Smirnoff Iced Cake Vodka after a friend very kindly brought some back from a holiday for me. We played around making drinks before we discovered, and rediscovered, and then discovered again the....
Jam Roly Poly Cocktail!
30ml Iced Cake Vodka
30ml Raspberry Liqueur
Splash of Lime Juice
Sparkling Water to top
Fill a glass with ice, add all ingredients, and drink! So Simple, SO Tasty!
Gifting Your Raspberry Liqueur
I am rather new to gift wrapping ideas, but hopefully I will learn lots more and share these over the course of the year.
This is how I wrapped up for Christmas:
- Glass writing pen for contents, love messages, and drink ideas.
- Red tissue paper wrapped and taped around the bottle.
- Prosecco wrapped in red tissue paper to create an instant serve gift.
- Both bottles wrapped in clear Cellophane which is then gathered and secured with a large white bow.
Hopefully you'll agree that the wrapping really takes the gift to a whole new level and my way was super easy (honest, gents you can do this too!), but you can add all sorts of homemade tags, check out my Valentine's Day Pinterest board for more ideas and printable labels!
If you are thinking of making your own gift this Valentine's Day, I'd love to hear your ideas and see your creations, send them through on Twitter or Facebook to share your homemade successes!
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