Last year I made homemade Irish cream liqueur which was well received and seriously delicious in coffee... or straight on ice let's be real. This year, I wanted to change it up again and decided to infuse vodka with hot peppers and cucumber and bottle them to gift with bloody mary mix, hoping that the yankee swappers would love bloody marys as much as I do.
Infusing is easy and it really takes on the flavor of whatever ingredient you choose. Both of these infusions could be used in martinis, multiple cocktails and of course bloodys. Cucumber is one of my favorite flavors in boozy drinks and it pairs well with basil (added option in recipe), mint, lemon, lime, melon, tonic, ginger, hot peppers, blueberry, strawberry... you name it! It's mild and refreshing and really is limited to your imagination. For the hot pepper, think pineapple, cucumber, ginger, olives, etc.
They are delicious enough to just be sipped on ice!
Beware when infusing with the peppers because the vodka will take on a lot of heat! For me, that's wonderful as I do love my bloodys and martinis on the spicier side. If you're a bit weaker, reduce the infusion time and/or the amount of peppers you infuse with and know the heat level of your peppers. Jalapenos are usually a crowd pleaser, while serranos are spicier and habaneros are hot as hell. For any infusion, you can always taste it to see if it has the amount of flavor that you want and if it's not quite there yet let it steep a bit longer.
My favorite part is when you open up the jar or bottle, you can clearly smell what it is infused with and it just makes me want to chug the whole bottle! But what else is new...
In my recipe below I use a pint jar as the vessel because I figure most people have those lying around and it's easy to fit the peppers/cucumbers in. From there, funnel them into cute little bottles for gift giving or convenient, easy to pour storage in your own cabinet. It's a great thoughtful gift for around the holidays or just a great weekend cocktail for yourself!
PS - Both of these infusions would work for other liquors, such as tequila with the peppers and gin with cucumbers
Hot Pepper Infused Vodka
Ingredients:
1 pint good quality vodka
1 jalapeno pepper, cut in half and nearly completely seeded (or half of one jalapeno, half of a serrano)
Directions:
- Fill jar nearly to the brim with vodka.
- Add the pepper to the jar. A few seeds go a long way in terms of spice so don't overdo it, you're better off to remove nearly all of the seeds.
- Close the jar tightly and let the vodka sit for at least 24 hours and up to 4 days, shaking the jar a bit and tasting to see if it's reached your spice preference.
Cucumber Infused Vodka
Ingredients:
1 pint good quality vodka
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
(Optional 1 fresh basil leaf to get even fancier!)
Directions:
- Fill jar nearly to the brim with vodka.
- Add the cucumber to the jar.
- Close the jar tightly and let the vodka sit for at least 24 hours and up to 4 days, shaking the jar a bit and tasting to see if it's reached your flavor preference.
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