Friday Cocktail – Homemade Amaretto

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned last week I LOVE Disaronno Amaretto. Downside… it can be expensive, but I’ve always thought it was worth it. Well, about a month ago, Paula from Bellalimento.com. Paula has some AMAZING recipes, one which I was compelled to make is her Homemade Amaretto. I would love to meet her and we could just sit around talking Italian food while sipping amaretto. What am I thinking… EATING Italian food and sipping on amaretto!

Anyway… I had all but one of the ingredients for her amaretto so when I was at the store yesterday I bought the missing ingredient. 😀

When I made Paula’s recipe it was too sweet for me. That sounds really weird coming from me… I have a MAJOR sweet tooth. So I had to tweak her recipe a bit. So let me share with you how I ended up making.

Have an airtight bottle or jar ready to store your amaretto. In my case, I’m using an empty Disaronno bottle and a quart jar. I blacked out the “Disaronno”. 😉

Cast of Characters:

1 1/2 Cups Water
1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Dark Brown Sugar
2 1/2 Cups Vodka
1 oz Pure Almond Extract
2 teaspoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Put the water and sugar and dark brown sugar into a heavy bottom saucepan…

…and bring it to a boil…

While the sugars are dissolving, measure out the vodka and extracts…

…2 1/2 Cups Vodka…

…2 teaspoons of Vanilla Extract… As you can see I am using my Homemade Vanilla Extract. If you haven’t made it yet, put that on your list to do after you make this homemade Amaretto (it takes weeks to steep).

…Now for the difficult part… measure out 1 oz Pure Almond Extract… OK there really isn’t any measuring that’s necessary… the bottle is a 1 oz bottle. 😉

When the sugars have dissolved, let it cool for 15-20 minutes. I let mine go 20 minutes.

After the mixture is cool, add the vodka, vanilla and almond extract and then stir…

After you’re done stirring and the mixture has completely cooled off, pour it into your bottle of choice. It makes 4 Cups, so be ready. I used the old Disaronno bottle and a quart jar. Here you can see my version on the left with the “real” stuff on the right. 😉

When pouring into your bottle, be careful to not spill any of your new creation. I wouldn’t know anything about that, would I?

Here’s a crappy picture of the Disaronno and mine compared. Color is pretty close. Interesting since THEIRS has “carmel coloring” added. 🙁

I highly recommend you make this. It’s so super easy and less expensive and can be enjoyed as soon as you’ve made it. 😀

Have you ever made your own liqueur before?