Liqueurs and Infused vodkas

Last Thursday the Puget Sound Chapter of the United Stated Personal Chef Association got together to make liqueurs and infused vodkas. The idea being that if we started them now, they would be ready before the holiday season begins.

In all, we made five different infusions.
Limoncello (which will get it's simple syrup added in about a month)
Apple-Infused Vodka
Pepper-Infused Vodka (which should be excellent for Bloody Mary's)
Coffee Liqueur (because I love a good white Russian)
Cranberry-Infused Vodka

One of the group also brought a bounty of peppers to pickle (along with some delicious tomatoes to nosh on). Here's Tom doing pickled pepper prep.


Wendy sliced apples for apple-infused vodka while Anita zested a million (okay 15) lemons.

Here's Anita adding Lime and Orange Zest to the jar in preparation for the apple-infused vodka while Tom packs jars with peppers.

Jars of packed peppers ready to be topped with hot vinegar.

Here's Betsy "helping" while the rest of us work.

Just kidding. Here's Betsy working on the cranberry-infused simple syrup. The recipe actually called for chopping up the cranberries in a food processor but we decided to pop them open in the simple syrup instead.

I made coffee liqueur and then took over stirring the simple syrups (we were stirring them to try to get them to cool faster).

Here's the limencello, apple-infused vodka, and pepper vodka.

It was Anita's Birthday so Sadie (who I managed to not get one picture of somehow) made the most delicious caramel-topped brownies.

All of the liqueurs and vodkas and now safely resting in my pantry. Each day for the next few weeks I'll be giving them a shake for optimal infusing.

It's true what they say, the waiting is the hardest part.