Liqueur - quick and easy recipes - page 4

Pegu Club bartender Kenta Goto’s lovely cocktail La Fleur de Paradis spends its evenings perched atop a weathered zinc bar, sipped by the beautiful people of New York. Our rendition of it using wheat beer instead of champagne is more at home in a plastic cup, enjoyed by folks sporting cut-off shorts and soaking in the sun on a picnic blanket or the open gate of a pickup truck.

Inspired by the idea of making a camping cocktail, we thought it’d be novel to use a little pine liqueur to bring the taste of the great outdoors to the canteen. We found the punchy, herbal liqueur a little tricky to mix with, but ultimately we were able to balance it out with some dark rum and a little pineapple juice. This recipe is scaled to fit into a canteen, and serves four.

This autumn-inspired drink uses sweet maple-flavored liqueur with apple brandy, sparkling apple cider, and a bit of lemon juice to balance it all out. What to buy: We like Sortilège maple liqueur for its smooth and not-too-sweet blending of whisky and maple syrup.

Often used as a cold remedy, a hot toddy is at once delicious and invigorating. This take on the classic receives a boost of flavor from honey liqueur and apple brandy, for a toddy that’s sure to leave everyone warm and a bit toasty. A unique blend of highland honey and fine spirits, it can be found at well-stocked liquor stores or online. If you can’t find it, high-quality clover honey can be substituted.

This light, refreshing punch starts with a mix of apple cider, vodka, orange liqueur, apples, and lemons, which is then topped with sparkling apple juice and sparkling wine. Serve this not-too-boozy-tasting punch at a Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Year’s party.

Deep in the heart of San Francisco’s gritty Tenderloin neighborhood is the creative bar Rye. When a few folks from the CHOW staff made a trip there, they fell in love with this light, bubbly cocktail made with elderflower liqueur, Yellow Chartreuse, and Prosecco.

Tart kiwis are an excellent fruit to muddle into a cocktail, especially when offset with a sweet, fruity liqueur like peach. Gently crush the kiwis to release their juice, add the rest of the ingredients, strain into a glass, and top with sparkling wine.

Abigail Gullo, head bar chef at SoBou restaurant in New Orleans, celebrates the flavor of ripe figs by muddling them with elderflower liqueur and shaking them in a cocktail shaker with vodka, lots of lemon juice, and agave nectar. This floral, sweet-tart drink is a refreshing way to enjoy fresh figs.

The combination of coffee, cream, and booze is as good in a cocktail as it is in a milk shake, but we also like it mixed with puffed rice cereal and marshmallows—similar to a Rice Krispie Treat recipe. Add instant espresso powder to the crispy base, then glaze the top with a mixture of white chocolate, Kahlúa, and cream, for a sweet, coffee-infused treat.

This make-at-home version of a coffee-shop pumpkin spice latte gets bonus points for using actual pumpkin, plus it’s spiked with rum. Plan ahead and make a batch of Homemade Pumpkin Spice Liqueur. When it’s ready, brew some coffee, add the liqueur, and top with a dollop of brown-sugar whipped cream and freshly grated nutmeg. Serve steaming in mugs with Spiced Pumpkin-Pecan Pancakes to reach pumpkin brunch critical mass.

Herbal Yellow Chartreuse is shaken with orange liqueur, orange juice, and heavy cream in this frothy after-dinner drink. If you can’t find Yellow Chartreuse, you can use Galliano instead.

This light, delicate cocktail combines the dry, salty flavor of manzanilla sherry with herbaceous gin and floral elderflower liqueur. Stir together a few of these for guests as an elegant after-dinner drink. What to buy: Manzanilla sherry, made in the coastal town of Sanlúcar de Barrameda in southern Spain, is a very dry sherry with a touch of saltiness from the sea. You can find it in the wine section of well-stocked grocery or liquor stores or online.

Trick Dog is a bar in the Mission District of San Francisco that’s known for its expertly crafted cocktails. The Lombard Street cocktail was named after one of the city’s most famous, and windiest, landmarks. The smokiness of the mezcal, paired with the sweet and sour flavors of the pineapple syrup, sherry, and lime juice, makes this a well-balanced drink that’ll give you a much-needed taste of the tropics on a chilly evening.

Substituting tangerine juice for lime in a margarita is a revelation. The taste is gentler, a little sweeter, and far more aromatic—the tangerine flavor acts as a shadow for the orange liqueur, amplifying its presence. If you can get a Meyer lemon to garnish with (it adds a final burst of citrus perfume), go for it. If not, a regular Eureka lemon will do just fine.

Named for the French Quarter in New Orleans (a.k.a. the Vieux Carré), this sophisticated, spirits-driven cocktail is a lot like the Big Easy itself: a fun and potent blend of diverse elements. What to buy: Bénédictine, a gold-colored liqueur first produced by Benedictine monks in the 16th century, adds a sweet, aromatic flavor to cocktails. Peychaud’s Bitters were created in New Orleans around 1830 by the Haitian apothecary Antoine Amédée Peychaud.

Orange liqueur and Cognac-based Bénédictine are shaken with heavy cream in this after-dinner drink inspired by the flavors of a Creamsicle.