DIY Cranberry Liqueur

Serious Eats has a recipe for cranberry liqueur that I tried out this week. Had to make some modifications as I do not have an immersion blender, and it seemed as if the cooking was taking way less time than the recipe was calling for. Surfing around the web reveals quite a few recipe variations, some with lime zest instead of orange, some with cinnamon...and totally different techniques. Pawing through them though, the one I tried appears the most appealing to me (and the least amount of sugar), but don't let me stop you from shopping around to find one worth tweaking to your own tastes!

What can you use it for, you might ask? Plenty of things! Add a dram to mimosas. Put it in your vodka tonic. Sip it neat. As for me...after some quality control testing, I believe there will be some spreading the (holiday) spirit ...in gifted form.

1. • DIY Cranberry Liqueur
   • 1 cup sugar
   • 3/4 cup water
   • Zest of half an orange (without pith)
   • 1 cup fresh cranberries
   • 1 1/2 cups vodka

   
   

   Bring the sugar, water, orange zest, and cranberries to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook until cranberries start to burst, 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

   Roughly break up the cranberries with the back of a spoon so that the juice is out of the berries but the mixture remains chunky. Pour into an air-tight glass jar along with the vodka and shake. Let steep at room temperature for 2 days, or up to a week depending on your taste.

   Strain through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth, pressing to extract as much liquid as possible. Store at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.