Theresa Curran's Kahlua Recipe

By Hklbrries

There is just one problem with making homemade liqueurs to give as holiday gifts: Your concoctions just may be so good – so much better than what you'd buy at the store – that you'll have trouble parting with even a drop.

So, do yourself and those on your gift list a favor: Make a double batch and there will be plenty to go around.

Nearly every flavor of liqueur you could find at a liquor store – and even some you can't – can be whipped up in your home kitchen. Think Kahlua and Irish cream and amaretto. Hazelnut and anisette. And orange and lemon and cranberry, too.

"It's creative and fun and you have the advantage of saying, 'I made this myself,' " says cookbook author Cheryl Long. "It's very rewarding."

Plus, she says, "They just make great gifts."

And homemade liqueurs are sometimes two-thirds the price of commercially prepared ones.

Long, who lives near Grant's Pass, Ore., is co-author of "Classic Liqueurs: The Art of Making & Cooking with Liqueurs." She's been making liqueurs and developing recipes for them since the 1980s.

Many of the recipes take several months to age, so you might want to consider them for next year's gift-giving. (Or give the not-quite-finished products this year, with instructions on how long to let them rest before drinking.)


But some liqueurs can be imbibed right away.

Spokane resident Theresa Curran, owner of the Something Else Deli, makes a rich coffee liqueur similar to Kahlua that can be consumed as soon as it's made. She's been making the recipe for several years, giving some away as gifts and saving some for drizzling over ice cream or mixing with a little half-and-half.

"We always have a stash of that around," she says.

The full-flavored recipe was passed along to Curran from her sister-in-law, who got it from a friend. It calls for seven cups of brewed espresso, which is made extra-strong by pouring the brewed coffee through dry coffee grounds.

"It's got more flavor," she says. "It's a really rich flavor."

Bob Ketcham, owner of Jim's Home Brew in Spokane, has taught liqueur-making classes with the city's Parks and Recreation Department for the past four years. Often, the winemakers and brewers who frequent his store take an interest in liqueurs as an extension of their hobby, he says.

Ketcham's store sells flavorings that can be added to alcohol to make liqueurs. And he also sells a variety of glass bottles, priced at less than a dollar each or up to $4, in which to put homemade liqueurs. You'll also need some large glass jars or containers (like quart-sized mason jars) in which to age your liqueurs.

Ketcham says liqueur-making isn't that hard as long as you follow a good recipe from a trusted source. In the interest of food safety, liqueurs should be kept at about 20 percent alcohol to avoid spoilage, he says. Equipment should be well-washed. And the finished product should be kept in glass, not plastic, containers.

"Alcohol acts as a solvent and can dissolve the finish," he says.

Special care should be taken when making fruit liqueurs, Long says.

"You don't want to use spoiled fruit," she says. "That will not make a good liqueur. Use good quality and fresh type of fruit. Wash them well; you don't want pesticides."

When it comes to the base for your liqueurs, most recipes call for either pure grain alcohol or vodka.

When it comes to vodka for liqueur-making, there's no need to break the bank, Long says.

"Use a medium quality," she says. Better-quality vodka, though, will make the liqueur drinkable more quickly than a lesser one, she says.

Once you've got your stash of high-quality homemade liqueurs, there's no need to keep them reserved for the bar. Bring them in your kitchen for a variety of recipes.

"They just taste darn good, and they're fun to cook with," Long says.

Ingredients

• 1 pound fine-ground espresso
• 7 or more cups boiling water (to yield 7 cups brewed espresso)
• 4 cups honey
• 4 cups white sugar
• 4 vanilla beans, split and scraped
• 1 (750 ml) bottle vodka or 1/2 fifth of Everclear

Preparation

Step 1

Here's a rare thing in a liqueur recipe – one that can be consumed immediately. This one comes from Spokane resident Theresa Curran, owner of the Something Else Deli and Coffee House.

1 pound fine-ground espresso

7 or more cups boiling water (to yield 7 cups brewed espresso)

4 cups honey

4 cups white sugar

4 vanilla beans, split and scraped

1 750 ml bottle vodka or 1/2 fifth of Everclear

Divide ground coffee into four equal parts. Put 1/4 pound of coffee into a filter set in a filter cone over a carafe or other large vessel. Slowly moisten grounds with boiling water. Pour remainder of the two cups of water through the grounds. Let all of the water drip through.

Throw out the filter and wet grounds.

Fill another filter with 1/4 pound of coffee and place in cone over another vessel. (Placing the cone in a colander set over a large glass measuring cup works well). Pour the previously brewed coffee over the fresh grounds. Follow with two cups of boiling water. (Pouring the brewed coffee through the grounds increases the coffee flavor.)

Repeat this process two more times until all of the coffee is gone.

You want to have 7 cups of brewed espresso.

Pour the brewed espresso into a heavy, four-quart saucepan.
Here's a rare thing in a liqueur recipe – one that can be consumed immediately.


Add the scraped vanilla beans and the pods, along with the honey and sugar. Stir the mixture over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer covered for 20 minutes. Simmer uncovered for another 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool completely to room temperature, about two hours.

When the mixture is cool, pour in the vodka or Everclear.

Pour the coffee liqueur into clean bottles.


Nutrition Information:
Per (2 ounce) serving
111 calories
0 g fat
Less than 1 g protein
24 g carbohydrates
0 g cholesterol
0 g dietary fiber
2 mg sodium