This festive christmas liqueur is an adaptation of our Christmas Extract recipe. Whereas the extract is designed to be really concentrated in flavour for use in other recipes, this liqueur can be enjoyed as it is – Christmas in a glass! For us, these ingredients represent Christmas but you could easily adapt it with your own favourites.
Not everyone is aware that pine needles are edible, and are in fact high in vitamin C, as well as having other benefits. When foraging please ensure you are 100% sure of what you are picking, and bear in mind that some evergreens such as yew are highly toxic. I also recommend that you provide an ingredient list with any home-made items that you give away as gifts, so the recipient can make an informed choice to whether or not it is suitable for them.
How to Make Festive Christmas Liqueur.
- 50g Molasses
- 50g Dried Cranberries
- Zest of half an Orange
- 1 Cinnamon Stick
- 3 pieces Mace
- 3 Cloves
- 6 Allspice Berries
- Handful of Pine Needles
- 250mls Brandy
- 750mls Vodka
You will also need a Glass Jar (Amazon affiliate link) big enough to hold the ingredients, that seals well enough that you can get away with giving it a shake without it all leaking out. Muslin Cloth ((Amazon affiliate link) for straining and pretty glass bottles (Amazon affiliate link) to decant it into.
Bruise the spices and pine needles in a pestle and mortar, and add to a large jar with all the other ingredients. Pop on the lid, and give your Christmas liqueur a good shake.
Leave in a dark place to infuse for at least 4 weeks, giving it the odd shake. We tasted our Christmas liqueur every so often to check how it was developing, and although we didn’t feel a need to adjust it, you could easily do so.
Once you are happy with the taste of your Christmas liqueur, strain through muslin and bottle. The flavour of your liqueur will continue to mature and develop over time. Our Christmas liqueur smells like Christmas trees and mince pies, and tastes divine. We also think it would make the most amazing Christmas Champagne Cocktails.
16 comments
this sounds delish! I made some less exotic liqueurs awhile back and they were tasty and this one does sound like Christmas in a bottle! I have heard of chewing on pine needles for a bit of vitamin c and fresh breath so with all the fruits and spices, this could also be healthy right? 🙂 Thanks for sharing at the Christmas in July party!
Thanks Millie, I’m sure it is healthy, and it really does smell and taste like Christmas 🙂
I just loved the idea of your Christmas extract and this is great too. I’m pretty sure a glass of this would make anyone a bit less Scroogy! I’d probably have to leave the pine out as I am completely useless and foraging, I just don’t trust myself to correctly identify anything – I’d be like “it’s evergreen, it’ll do”.
You have to be a bit careful with evergreens as you wouldn’t want to use Yew as its highly toxic, but it’d taste delicious without the Pine anyway 🙂
Liqueur is not really my thing, but I’ll pass the recipe on to my father in law, I’m sure he’ll love it!
It’s delicious if you do enjoy a liqueur 🙂