Happy Hour Nightcap Edition: Homemade Limoncello

I know that there’s a lot of parents out there that say, “Happy Hour!?!? Are you crazy??? I’ve got no time for happy hour – dinner has to get on the table, and the kids need to do their homework, et cetera…”  Well, hopefully, everyone gets to that quiet time of the evening where they get to relax* – and sometimes it’s nice to wind down with a drink.

Now, every now and then I like to have an after dinner drink. A few of my favorites would be:

Scotch (appropriately referred to as whisky – no “e”)
Port (especially if there’s some chocolate around)
Good anejo tequila
Limoncello

Now the first three of those wouldn’t make for much of a post as the “recipe” would be: open bottle, pour into glass, drink. But one of the real joys this spring and summer was an “experiment” performed by The Beloved and one of our friends in making homemade limoncello (we’re scientists even at home, you know…).

Limoncello

Here’s the recipe – its pretty easy, and the final product is fantastic!

Limoncello Recipe

12 Meyer lemons (or big ol' Costco lemons like we used), peel only, no pith!
2 liters vodka (we used Skyy from Costco)
~4 cups sugar (you can use more - up to 6 cups -- but we didn't want to make it cloyingly sweet)
3 cups water

Put the lemon peels and vodka in a glass container and let
stand in dark, cool place for 4 weeks (we used the back of our pantry).

Strain the mixture into a decanter.  Mix the sugar and water in a
medium saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer until
the sugar has completely dissolved.  Let cool before adding to vodka
mixture.

Place in freezer for at least a day.  The limoncello is good for 6 months.  Start this weekend and you can have yours before Labor Day.

You can add an herbal touch to your limoncello by adding 3 sprigs lavender to the "steeping" mixture.  We made both and each is very good.  The plain limoncello is crisp and clean, and the lavender one has an interesting "woody" flavor to it.

* even those of us sans kids