cheers!

wanted to share a quick gift project i made last weekend - infused vodkas! i gave them to friends as new year's gifts during our first game night of 2011. i think new year's gifts instead of christmas presents are nice since you have time to make them after things have settled down. 

the recipes were from the january issue of martha stewart magazine (which isn't online yet). i chose three infusions: lemon + fennel for vodka tonics, celery + bay leaf for bloody mary's; and coffee bean + hazelnut for white russians.

i used 16oz canning jars and papered the lids (with west elm paper they use to wrap up your purchases) and made simple tags with a hole punch and some baker's twine. if our printer wasn't on the fritz i would've printed something cute out instead of hand writing everything. next time.

each jar took 1 1/2 cups of vodka plus ingredients as follows:

celery + bay leaf
1/2 celery stalk + 2 celery leaves + 1 dried bay leaf. infuse for 2 days.

coffee bean + hazelnut
4 coffee beans + 2 tablespoons toasted hazelnuts. infuse for 3 days.

fennel + lemon
2 sprigs fennel fronds + 2 thin lemon slices. infuse for 2 days.

store in a cool, dark place and shake occasionally. strain before serving. can keep at room temperature for one month or in the freezer for two.

it was an easy and cost effective way to make gifts for a large group. i think they were a hit. i had a white russian (or two) last night with my infused vodka - yum!