Our farm was with one foot in Italy, so Italian food and liquors could be found in our fridge and cellar all year around. I grew up enjoying the Austrian-Hungarian meals at home, and appreciated the German cooking during the week, even though it was in a boarding school, and some of the food they served seemed highly questionable.
The Italian authentic cuisine is deeply embedded in my everyday cooking as well. All these countries are known for their homemade liquors, aperitifs, wines, and beers.
I often joke that my Grandma would have been arrested for making ‘moonshine’ but of course, that would have never happened. I guess one is safe if the gendarme buys alcoholic beverages from you.
Quickly I learned what American moonshine really is and so in retrospect, grandma would have been safe. Our liquors didn’t require a distillery, just a nice set of empty bottles and a bit of finesse.
The Christmas Liquor
Ingredients
750 ml Applesauce
250 g Sugar
500 ml Apple Juice
750 mg Vodka
1 tsp Cinnamon
150 mg Rum (optional)
Directions
Warm all ingredients on the stove until the sugar dissolves. Do not let it boil! Make a taste test and add cinnamon or more sugar -to your taste.
While still warm, fill the liquor in clean, sterilized bottles and jars and decorate the outside to your liking.
You can keep the liquor for two months in the fridge.
It’s every year a big hit. The taste of apple and cinnamon! It’s like a piece of apple pie in glass.
The happy Quitter! 
This sounds really amazing, definitely apple pie in a cocktail glass!
It made me laugh when you mentioned your grandmother. During prohibition, my grandmother, living in southern Vermont at the time, would visit her relatives in Quebec, and come back with a car full of whiskeys and other spirits. I have her notebook, her order form, and the story goes that she always had a few bottles for the local police!
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Yep, sounds very familiar 🙂 We had a few bottles for the local gendarme (police office Austria) as well.
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Mom said her mother told her that everyone still had plenty to drink, it might have cost a bit more, but no one went without, especially the police!
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My grandma called it “medicine” lol
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Oh yes, the drug stores sold tons of medicinal liquor!
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sounds perfect for a cold day to warm you up!
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It is really good on the rocks or to warm you up. 🙂
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This looks a simple and delicious drink, which I might try out when winter comes round again 🙂 At this time of the year those of us in the southern hemisphere are on the lookout for cold drinks – the colder the better 🙂 🙂
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I remember Christmas in the Southern Hemisphere, they were a bit different but still, it was Christmas, just with a Lumumba and a bikini under palm trees at the pool.
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I don’t think it would last two months in my fridge!
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I suppose the two months were an estimate 🙂
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I would drink it long before the best before date!
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This sounds delicious. Although I am sure I don’t need the alcoholic content, given the weight gain that happening in latter years. Plus the fact it is so hot here at Xmas, I don’t need comfort drinks to keep warm. Have you ever tried making it without the alcohol?
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It’s a gift for others for Christmas, so no weight gain. It’s a great tasting Christmas liquor. I sometimes forget where you are, Amanda.
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I am still here at the boondocks of the world, Bridget. haha! It is easy to forget about the switch of seasons….
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Yum!!!
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