I like putting coffee liqueur in my evening hot chocolate. But the problem with coffee liqueur is that it has coffee in it. And the problem with coffee is that it has caffeine.
I can’t have caffeine in the evening because it will keep me up at night. I also can’t drink red wine after 4 pm. Or too much water after 7. Getting a good night of sleep is tricky at my age.
But I digress.
(Sort of. It all relates to why I can’t put coffee liqueur in my hot chocolate at night.)
So — PLOT TWIST — I decided to make my own coffee liqueur using decaf. [tips hat and curtsies]
I made a sugar syrup, added a vanilla bean, dissolved instant decaf espresso powder in boiling water, and threw in a large quantity of vodka — which I store at room temp like a true sinner; don’t judge — and after everything hung out together in a dark place for a few weeks, I divided the mixture between two, flip-top liter bottles.
Now I’m all set for a winter’s worth of hot chocolates (or a couple Christmas gifts, if I was the sort of person to give away my treasures, which I’m not).
Next up, homemade marshmallows because store ones are an abomination and will ruin a cup of hot chocolate faster than you can drink it.
Coffee Liqueur
4 cups sugar
3 cups water
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
½ cup instant decaf espresso
1 cup boiling water
1 quart vodka
Bring the sugar and 3 cups of water to a boil, and then keep it at an energetic simmer for 20 minutes. Cool, and transfer to a gallon jar.
Add the vanilla been to the cooled syrup. Make sure to include every last grain of itty-bitty beanie goodnesses.
In a separate container, dissolve the instant decaf with a cup of boiling water. Cool, and then add it to the syrup, followed by the vodka, glug-glug-glug.
Store the liqueur in a dark place for a couple weeks, swirling periodically. Transfer the liqueur to bottles.
Add this glorious devilish elixer to coffee, hot chocolate, ice cream, milk, frostings, chocolate cake, etc, etc, etc. Or sip it straight.
Good night.
This same time, years previous: seven fun things, scalloped potatoes, the quotidian (10.24.22), the quotidian (10.25.21), vote!, snowboarder cake, 2017 garden stats and notes, impressing us, winter squash soup with corn relish, our cracking whip, random.
