I made some candied pecans with my Candied Nutz and as I munched away enjoying the lovely caramelized sugar and great flavor of the toasted pecans I thought, "I wonder if I could get this flavor into a vodka infusion?"
So I grabbed half a cup of the nuts before they got completely gobbled up, snagged a bottle of vodka and got to work. The results were amazing - the infusion captured both the wonderful caramelized sugar and that lovely nutty flavor that really comes out when nuts are toasted.
I made one mistake, I didn't make a large enough batch the first time so I had to go through the whole process again. Don't be a dummy like me, double or even triple the recipe. Trust me, you won't be sorry. And do the same for the Candied Nutz or you'll eat them all up before you make liqueur!
By the way, you can do both recipes with other nuts, like pistachios, cashews and macadamias. I've also done it walnuts but I switched out the vodka for bourbon and used maple syrup instead of sugar for my
Toasted Walnut Maple Bourbon.
RECIPE FOR HOMEMADE
CANDIED PECAN LIQUEUR
INGREDIENTS:
1/2 C. Candied Pecans
8 Oz. Medium Quality Vodka
1/4 C. Sugar
TOOLS: Blender, infusion bottle or jar, funnel, medium metal strainer, cheesecloth, coffee filters, mason jar(s).
DIRECTIONS:
Put the candied nuts, sugar and the vodka into a food processor or blender and hit pulse about 5 or 6 times. Don't grind the nuts too small.
Pour this mixture through the funnel into a clean infusion bottle or mason jar.
Label and put it in the fridge to distill, shaking at least once a day.
Check the flavor every few days until you get the flavor strength and mellowness you want. (Mine took about a week before I couldn't resist having a glass but it really hit peak at about a month.)
Strain the liqueur to remove all the bits of pecan from the infusion. I used a large metal strainer for the first step, then, to get rid of the finer particles, I strained twice more, once through cheesecloth and finally through coffee filters.
P.S. Don't throw away the strained out pecans, they're great as a dessert topping.
Now you get to try it out in all my great
PECAN COCKTAILS!
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