Christmas Cheer Festive Fruit And Nut Brandy Liqueur

Deliciously fruity and with walnuts too this Christmas cheer liqueur really is like a Christmas pudding in a glass! Perfect to warm up in front of the fire on a cold winter’s night or to serve after Christmas dinner.

Making gorgeous foodie gifts for Christmas is something I am really keen on. I love to have lots of bottles and jars in the larder just waiting to be gussied up a bit to be given as gifts that I know my friends will love.

I’ve even written two books on this, check out;

Naughty and Nice Edible Gifts For Christmas and Gourmet Gifts For Christmas. There is also So Easy Christmas which is now available on Amazon both in hardback and as a Kindle book.

These were originally written to sell at the talks and cooking demos I do regularly for Coyuntry Living magazine Christmas Fair and other big foodie events. They are now available as downloadable eBooks.

Christmas is the best for me, I get to wallow in the larder and have great fun putting together just the right goodies for those gift baskets. I like to add a wee bottle of something special to my gift baskets and homemade liqueurs are the perfect thing.

Here is a recipe for how to make Christmas liqueur that has all those traditional flavours of Christmas packed into a bottle. It is warming and comforting on a cold winter’s night, and is also a great tipple to offer your guests at Christmas parties too of course.

Ingredients for Christmas Cheer Liqueur

• The booze element – you’ll need brandy and dry white wine for this Christmas liqueur
• Fruit and nuts – Nothing says Christmas more that fruits and nuts in abundance. Use dried fruit for this liqueur recipe. Any mixture you like from raisins and sultanas to cranberries, dried apricots, dried figs. Whatever you have lurking in the cupboard. I have used walnuts, but to be honest you could use some mixed nuts instead. Steer clear of things like peanuts.
• Flavourings – orange peel, rosemary and cinnamon add that special Christmas flavouring to this delicious liqueur recipe.
• Sweetness – no liqueur is complete without that sweet element. I have used a medium brown sugar in my recipe. I love the rich almost caramel flavour of this sugar. Avoiod really dark brown sugar as the flavour there is very intense.

Pro tips

When you are buying any citrus fruit they are coated in a protective wax to make them last longer in the shops unless you are buying fruit that is marked as ‘unwaxed’. It is really easy to remove the wax from oranges and lemons.

Simply scrub the fruit with a nail brush in hot soapy water and rinse thoroughly in cold water then pat dry on a clean tea towel.

How to make Christmas Cheer liqueur

• Peel your orange, if waxed give it a good scrub first. Try to avoid the bitter white pith.
• Put your peel, dried fruit and walnuts into the jar. Add the sugar and pour in the brandy and wine.
• Last but by no means least, pop in the cinnamon sticks and the sprig of rosemary. Seal the bottle and shake well. Now put this one away for 2 weeks and give it a shake every few days.
• Strain out all the fruit and nuts etc, remembering of course that waste is sin so eat these with great pleasure, lovely with ice cream, cream or just chucked in the mouth in a devil- may- care manner. Decant this into a nice bottle (sterilise the bottle first) or decanter and decorate with a red ribbon and a bit of faux holly.

This Christmas Liqueur makes a great gift for someone special, or as your own special treat for Christmas night curled up by the fire after all the cooking, prezzies and hoopla are out of the way.

So that was how to make Christmas liqueur, come on guys, no excuses, get creative with the booze and make something a bit different this Christmas.

Cheers!

Looking for more fun and easy liqueur recipes to make at home? Then check these out before you go;

Scotch Wehay! Whisky based liqueur

Christmas cranberry gin liqueur

Blackberry and apple gin

Lover’s chocolate whisky liqueur(+Video!)

Homemade pear liqueur

Homemade coffee (aka Kahlua) liqueur

Finally, if you do try this recipe don’t forget to leave a comment/star rating below as I just love to hear from readers. Want more Larder Love? Then follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter and sign up for my newsletter too of course.