Amaretto
For this month’s Austin Food Swap, I was going to make irish cream. Then, I forgot to buy whiskey before it was Sunday, and, sadly, you cannot buy whiskey on the Lord’s Day here in the great state of Texas. This was rather disappointing. I had a handle of vodka and no specific ideas, so I started poking around for vodka-based liqueur recipes and hit on a few amaretto recipes that seemed simple enough.
I’ll preface this by noting that while this homemade amaretto tastes like real amaretto, it isn’t really. Traditionally made amaretto has apricot pits and/or almond pits in the mix, and tends to have a hint of bitterness. This amaretto is not bitter at all, but it’s a breeze to make, serviceable in sours and other mixed drinks, and smells lovely.
I have two ingredient recommendations for this. The first is to go with Monopolowa vodka, as it’s inexpensive enough that you won’t feel like you’re “ruining” it, and it’s high enough quality that it doesn’t make everything taste awful. The second is to use Adams extracts, which are high quality without being too precious to go slopping out by the bottleful.
This recipe is adapted from the one on About.
Amaretto
2 cups sugar
1 cup brown sugar (or, 1 cup white sugar with 1 T. molasses)
2 cups water
3 cups vodka
4 oz. almond extract
1.5 T vanilla extractFirst, heat the sugars and water to make a syrup. Allow to cool completely. Stir in other ingredients and jar. There, you’re done.
