Our Limoncello!

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about a friend giving us some lemons. I made the "Mile High Lemon Chiffon Pie", but secretly, the Trout and I were also doing something else with the lemons. We were making Italian Limoncello!

We followed Giada De Laurentiis' recipe, but did some tweeking along the way. Tonight, we had our first taste, and I called it delightful!

Limoncello
courtesy of Giada De Laurentiis

10 lemons
1 (750 ml bottle vodka)
3 1/2 cups water
2 1/2 cups sugar

Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel from the lemons in long strips. Using a small, sharp knife, trim away the white pith from the peels and discard. Place the lemon peels in a 2 quart pitcher. Pour the vodka over the peels and cover with plastic wrap. Steep the lemon
peels in vodka for 4 days at room temperature. (We steeped for 2 weeks.)

Stir the water and sugar in large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar dissolves, about 5 minutes. Cool completely. Pour the sugar syrup over the vodka mixture. Cover and let stand at room temperature overnight. Strain the limoncello through mesh strainer. Discard the peels. Transfer the limoncello to bottles. Seal the bottles and refrigerate until cold, at least 4 hours and up to 1 month.

Now here is where I admit I goofed up. After two weeks of steeping in the vodka, I had forgotten that we had cut the recipe in half. I used the full amount of sugar and water to pour into the vodka mixture.

Surprisingly, it was not as sweet as it could have been. I really liked it. Of course, just a sip or two is necessary. This is not a drink where you drink a lot. To be honest, I do not know if I would cut the sugar/water syrup in half next time. Personally, I do not like sweet drinks, and I still find this enjoyable.

Cin, cin!!