hi omg hiiiiii. I'm on route to north carolina with frankie and his brother and sister right now and i'm hopping on my hotspot to tell you aboutttttt HOMEMADE LIMONCELLO! three different ways! we're talking, classic lemon… BOLD ORANGE…. and TANGY GRAPEFRUIT.
you NEED to make this for your new years eve party! DOOO IT.
but also… don't feel peer pressured. because peer pressure is bad.
but also you should definitelyyyyy do this. YUM.
SO. remember when i told you guys about my friends at Drizly that sent me some liquor to play around with and come up with a few recipes? rememberrrrr?? we talked about it when we talked about these DREAMY PSL ESPRESSO MARTINIS.
anyway. even if you don't remember, they did. when Erin reached out to me and offered to send a couple bottles my way, i mentioned that i had been planning on trying to make my own limoncello and she loved the idea!
I chose a timeslot and the bottles were delivered right on time! because that's what drizly does.. .they’re an alcohol delivery service (and yes they deliver in Seattle, NYC, andddd even Providence!) that will deliver alcohol in one hour or less! how cool is that?! My code: ASHppk gets you $5 off your first order!
guysssss. when i tell you this limoncello smelled SO FREAKING GOOD i can't even explain.
wait, do you know what limoncello is? or why i'm obsessed?
so it's an italian drink that frankie and i were first introduced to when we studied abroad in florence. It's typically served in small doses after dinner to cleanse the pallet and apparently to help with digestion? idk. ALL I KNOW is that it's delicious. and a great spirit to use in cocktailssss. or just drink straight shots of. just sayin.
OH and did i mention already that it's super simple?
you just have to be patient. which is not my greatest virtue. i'm SUPER impatient. i bet you guys would never guess that. right? right?!
whatever. really all you have to do for this is peel the fruits, soak them, and mix in simple syrup! DONE.
I'm really intrigued by adventuring into crema di limoncello next. that's SUPER smooth. almost like a dessert.
which now has me thinking you could totally add this limoncello into a homemade orange julius and just cry from happiness. i can't even.
okay. i've talked too much and i'm now being rude in this road trip. (plus i really want to be done so i can go eat the homemade chex mix i packed!)
I'll leave you with this one last tip: you don't HAVE to do all three flavors – you could just do one or just two – just adjust the amount of fruit peels you use. OR you could even put all three fruits together and make a citrus blenddddd version. YES do that.
no peer pressure.
- 3 cups vodka
- 4 lemons
- 2 oranges
- 2 grapefruits
- for the simple syrup:
- 1 cup water
- 1 + 1/2 cups sugar
- To start, wash your fruits thoroughly and separate them. You'll use the exact same method for each fruit, but keep them in separate jars – unless you're into a citrus medley which could be awesome.
- Peel the citrus and save the peels – try to only peel the skins and avoid the white pith parts. The pith can turn the limoncello bitter, so if you have some showing up on your peels, trim it off with a knife.
- Place the peels for the respective fruits each in a mason jar. If you're doing the three different flavors, distribute 1 cup of vodka to each mason jar. If you're only doing one fruit, pour all of the vodka over the peels (be sure to use a larger jar/container!).
- Let the jars sit, out of the sun, for at least 4 days. I let mine infuse for a month. The longer the vodka infuses, the bolder the fruit flavor will be!
- After the vodka has infused for your desired time period, strain the peels out of the vodka.
- Prepare your simple syrup using 1 cup of water and 1 + 1/2 cups of sugar. You can find my method for simple syrup [url href=”http://thepikeplacekitchen.com/homemade-simple-syrups/” target=”_blank”]here[/url].
- Distribute the simple syrup into the mason jars evenly – a little more than 1/3 cup in each jar of vodka. Mix the limoncello together gently. Taste and add more sugar as necessary!
- You can store the limoncello in the fridge for about a month and in the freezer for 2 years or more (not that it'll last that long)!
SIP ON THAT.
Make it? Lemme see it! Hashtag it: #thepikeplacekitchen
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FULL DISCLOSURE: I was not compensated to write this post, create this recipe, or recommend using Drizly… i just really think their service is stellar. They did send me liquor to use in this recipe and one bottle for personal consumption.