Homemade liquer for christmas presents?

greensalad

So this year I'm doing Christmas gifts on a budget and am hoping to make up 5 hampers to give out to family with homemade produce/products where possible.

So far I've stockpiled chilli chutney using the tomatoes from my garden, and I'm about to make green tomato relish.

I was going to add a nice block of cheese and some sort of impressive looking homemade bread loaf (any ideas on a recipe for that too?) but now I'm thinking a homemade liquer could be the answer.

Sloe gin is not viable because our in-laws own a sloe gin farm and make their own gin so half the family are drowning in sloe gin anyway.

Any other ideas?

CocoM2020

Homemade wine? Or flavoured vodka? Home brew? Ciders?

greensalad

Homebrew might be an option, we have all the equipment, though my boyfriend's last batch didn't go that well! Also I'd like something my grannies can drink too and none of them drink beer but I know everyone will have a little glass of something. Probably not vodka though. I guess sloe gin really would be perfect but they've got the market cornered on that one, ugh.

How easy is homemade wine to make? I know you can buy those boxes from homebrew shops with everything in them to make loads, but considering they're not that cheap and we only want 5 bottles of something I am thinking something more homemade would be better.

(One day we intend to grow our own hops and grapes and make our own brews! But that's a few years off yet).

joedenise

Is it really worth making bread for the hampers as they don't really keep that well so you'd end up having to make it the night before, or even on the day, you're seeing the relative?

I'd second flavoured vodka if everyone drowning in sloe gin.  Or how about home made Irish cream (Bailey's type)?  Plenty of recipes on line.

rachsecret

Theres a nice recipe for flavoured vodka using Werthers sweets that comes out as tasting like Baileys that is worth a go. I made it one year and everyone loved it. I think you can just google a recipe for it. I have made some blackberry vodka this year too. I also fancy making some Limoncello...apparently this is really easy to make too. 

CocoM2020

Oh didn’t Hugh FW (sorry can’t even begin to spell it) make homemade wines or alcohol on his shows? 

greensalad

joedenise said:

Is it really worth making bread for the hampers as they don't really keep that well so you'd end up having to make it the night before, or even on the day, you're seeing the relative?

I'd second flavoured vodka if everyone drowning in sloe gin.  Or how about home made Irish cream (Bailey's type)?  Plenty of recipes on line.

We were going to make it the night before but could easily do an overnight prove and bake it in the morning. We bake bread often, and Christmas Eve is pretty much always spent in the kitchen as we make all sorts (we usually make about a hundred sausage rolls).

greensalad

rachsecret said:

Theres a nice recipe for flavoured vodka using Werthers sweets that comes out as tasting like Baileys that is worth a go. I made it one year and everyone loved it. I think you can just google a recipe for it. I have made some blackberry vodka this year too. I also fancy making some Limoncello...apparently this is really easy to make too. 

Oooh the Wether's stuff sounds nice!

couriervanman

greensalad said:

rachsecret said:

Theres a nice recipe for flavoured vodka using Werthers sweets that comes out as tasting like Baileys that is worth a go. I made it one year and everyone loved it. I think you can just google a recipe for it. I have made some blackberry vodka this year too. I also fancy making some Limoncello...apparently this is really easy to make too. 

Oooh the Wether's stuff sounds nice!

Make this every year......half a bottle of cheap vodka plus 3 bags of werthers original 

I make mine in an empty 1L Absolute Vodka bottle because the top is wide enough to fit sweets in then give it a good 5 minute shake a couple of times a day it takes about 4-5 days for all the sweets to  dissolve, put it inside dishwasher works wonders as well to speed the process up a bit. The stuff I make is nice and creamy but gives the warm tingle/glow on the throat when consumed, also find it has to drunk within week to keep it tip top as well as giving the bottle a good shake before pouring.

Pear Drops makes a nice vodka as well but you have to filter it through coffee filters 

Brambling

Marmalade gin is easy and there are lots of recipes on line, you can chose different marmalades rather than just orange.  I've made marmalade cake from the strained marmalade. If you have blackberries in the freezer blackberry whiskey is worth trying.  It would be cheaper to buy some smaller bottles rather than a bottle for each hamper 

if you've made chutney what about a jar of HM jam.  Biscottis are also easy to make and can be made a few days in advance, something with dried cranberries and nuts is quite Christmasy or orange and dark chocolate 

goldfinches

I remember reading somewhere on here about someone making Christmas Pudding Vodka last year and I think it might have been this recipe which seems doable if a little pricy https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vodka-recipes/christmas-pudding-vodka/
Alternatively if you look on the bbc good food site there are a lot of infused drinks on there that you might like such as toffee vodka or turkish delight vodka both of which sound very like the werther's drink above.
Something I'm thinking of doing is making crystallised orange and lemon slices which is cheap but very effective and I'm also going to try making chocolate dipped orange and lemon peels as well so that nothing is wasted.
I'm keeping my eyes peeled for really nice chocolate that's on offer between now and the last week before Christmas too and if I find enough to make a chocolate salami or florentines that will be a bonus.
There's also making peppermint creams that can be chilled and then chocolate dipped for your own home made bittermints.
Then there are all the things like bottling peaches in brandy or soaking cherries in alcohol and then chilling and dipping them in chocolate for after dinner treats or as a pudding filling or topping.
There's also making your own spiced nuts which tastes heavenly when fresh and means you just get the nuts and flavourings you like.
Another thing you could do is make some spice pastes or dry spice blends for specific dishes like the roast potato magic sprinkles sort of thing you get in supermarkets that you mix with oil and drizzle over your spuds. For instance this recipe https://www.nigella.com/recipes/moonblush-tomatoes
is great  and you could copy the salt, sugar and dried thyme combination quite easily and cheaply especially if you have your own thyme in the garden.
Sorry for going on a bit, I'm sure your family will love whatever you give them, goodnight and sweet dreams, goldfinches.