About Those Oranges

There are two things I almost always have in my house....a giant basket full of fresh fruit and fresh flowers. These are neither for show. I eat fresh fruit and my son does even more than I do. I keep fresh flowers in the house just because... well... they make me happy. It's a Sat/ Sun morning ritual to pick out new flowers for the house. Fresh anything pretty much makes me happy.

A couple months ago, oranges were on sale so I experimented a little. I made an orange liqueur. I made limoncello last year and LOVED it so I decided to try something different.

The process was easy.

Peel oranges with a potatoe peeler. (I used about 10 oranges). Make sure to get the least amount of pith (the white stuff) as you possibly can. The more you have, the more bitter your liqueur will be. In a sun tea pitcher, I mixed the orange peels with a bottle of Everclear and 1/2 a fifth of whatever Vodka you choose (save the other half for another batch) Let this mixture sit (in the dark) for about 4 weeks. (The longer it sits, the better it tastes!) Mix in a simple syrup mixture...it can be made to your tastes. I used 4 cups of water and 2 and a half cups of sugar... heat it on the stove until sugar is dissolved. Pour this into the orange rind, liquor mixture. I also added 4 sticks of cinnamon. I let this sit for another 3 weeks. I would taste it occasionally to see how it was doing. When it was done I used a coffee filter and drained the liquid into my bottles.

This is a pretty strong drink to have alone.... I really like it with hot tea at night when it's really cold. It's the perfect night cap!!!!!!

Now I have to decide what to try next!!!!

Song: Bittersweet, Big Head Todd