What’s better than eating a Christmas pudding? Drinking it. Here’s a DIY Christmas pudding liqueur recipe to make and enjoy during the holiday season.
DIY Christmas Pudding Liqueur – Photo © Cocktails & Bars
Whether it’s a DIY gift idea or something to enjoy neat or in cocktails during the festive season, the Christmas pudding liqueur is easy to prepare and doesn’t require any specialist equipment. To make it, simply gather all the ingredients, steep them in your preferred spirit for a period of time, then fine strain twice and bottle. It’s important to remove as much of the solids as possible to prolong its shelf life.
In this recipe, bourbon was chosen as the base spirit. You can also use gold rum, dark rum, brandy or even vodka as a base. Bourbon has natural sweetness with vanilla and caramel notes that carry the Christmas pudding flavours well.
Christmas pudding ingredients such as organic lemon and orange zest, currants, cherries, winter spices and sugar are steeped in bourbon. We deliberately stayed away from using fresh nuts as they can turn rancid. Instead, almond essence is used to add a nutty flavour to the liqueur.
Christmas Pudding Liqueur Recipe
Original recipe created by Cocktails & Bars
Ingredients
- 500ml bourbon (can also use dark rum, gold rum, brandy or vodka)
- 1 small orange, zested and pith removed
- 1 small lemon, zested and pith removed
- ¼ cup currants
- ½ cup fresh cherries, pitted and cut in half
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 6 allspice berries
- 4 whole cloves
- ½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Equipment: glass jar with a lid, fine strainer, cheesecloth, funnel, swing top glass bottle
Method
- In a large jar, add all the solid ingredients.
- Pour the bourbon in the jar and stir well to combine.
- Cover the jar and leave in a cool dark place for 7 days.
- Stir daily and taste as you go.
- After 7 days or when it has reached the desired level of flavour, strain through a fine sieve, pressing the solids to extract as much of the liquid as you can.
- Fine strain again through a cheesecloth.
- Bottle the liqueur and store in the fridge.
Originally published 24 November 2020. Updated 7 December 2023.
