Rethinking Holidays: Revolution Gift Idea #8

Rethinking Holidays

This gift is a great compromise between handcrafted and purchased. I guess it falls under the category of "Semi-Homemade," but it is...

Creative

(Mostly) Handcrafted

Frugal

Simple

Personalizable (Is that a word???!!!??!? Spell check says...no. But I'm keeping it anyway.)

The following gift gives new meaning to "Holiday Spirit."

Revolution Gift Idea #8

*Photo Courtesy of Cooking Light Magazine*

Infused Liqueurs

I can attest that this is a FUN and EASY gift to give. I also want to post this one TODAY, because it involves up to a 2-week infusing period.

Now, some people in your life may not appreciate a gift of alcohol. I completely understand and respect this. Feel free to look back through the past few weeks of Revolution Gift Ideas for those people.

Others will think YOU TOTALLY ROCK when presented with this gift. It's kind of classy, because infused liqueurs can be used to make different mixed drinks (think infused vodka for Martini's). They can be presented artfully, in clear air-tight containers with the infusion mediums still in the liquid. And while they require some handcrafting and creativity, you don't have to be a Kitchen Goddess to pull it off.

Score.

Last year, we bought a large (cheap) container of vodka, and it made easily 8-10 gifts. For the containers, we used olive oil dispensers that we found on sale at Pier 1 (if you can't picture what I am talking about, think THIS). So, for roughly $40, we got upwards of 10 gifts.

NICE GIFTS.

You can't beat that.

The recipe we used last year was a Limoncello recipe from Cooking Light. It goes as follows:

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Ingredients

• 4 cups vodka
• 1/2 cup lemon rind strips (about 7 lemons)
• 3 cups water
• 1 1/2 cups sugar

1. Combine vodka and rind in a bowl. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 2 weeks. Strain through a sieve into a bowl; discard solids.

2. Combine 3 cups water and 1 1/2 cups sugar in a large saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and cool to room temperature. Add to vodka mixture.

3. Divide limoncello evenly among 3 sterilized (750-milliliter) bottles, and seal.

Note: Store in the refrigerator up to 1 year.

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We obviously doubled or tripled the recipe, and used WAY smaller bottles. We attached a recipe for a Lemon Drop Martini to the bottle for flair.

We are all about the flair.

I recently came across another recipe for infused vodka in Real Simple Magazine. This one is more simple, and can be used as a base for many creative concoctions (your creativity is the only limitation):

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Infused Vodka

• 1 liter vodka
• flavorings, such as 1½ cups fresh pineapple chunks, 4 vanilla beans, or 3 halved and seeded jalapeños
• glass bottles with tight seals

1. Divide the vodka and desired flavorings among the bottles.
2. Refrigerate until the vodka reaches the desired level of infusion, at least 3 days and up to 1 week. Remove the flavorings after 1 week or instruct the recipient to do so. Keep refrigerated for up to 2 months.

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If you do a simple Google search, you will come across many new and unique ideas and recipes for infused liqueurs, utilizing more than just vodka.

So, if you are inclined to try this gift, give yourself some time so that the liqueurs are well-infused (ie: start this weekend). My vote? TRY IT! It's fun and your friends and family will think you are especially crafty (and awesome. And creative. And pretty. And rad. And they will continue to create new adjectives as the bottle becomes closer to empty).

Only a few weeks to go, and plenty more gifts to pass along. Keep sending me your ideas - and I will do a post next week with all of the submissions!

Hope your holiday season has been REVOLUTIONARY!

Check back next week

(if you are lucky, maybe even later this week!!)

for Revolution Gift #9