Limoncello and Lemon Drops

Hi Everyone!

     Do you have a lemon tree in your yard? My boyfriend has a Meyer tree in his yard and I have a Eureka tree in mine. It has been a good year for lemons and that means that we have more lemons than we know what to do with!! (Should I do a giveaway?)
     Have you heard of Limoncello? Have you tried it? Back in March I made Limoncello using the Meyer lemons. Mmmm, squisito! I found a lot of recipes for this but used one that I found on allrecipes.com. These recipes called for 100 proof vodka but I was only able to find 80 proof. So, that is what I went with.....
Here is the recipe:

Ingredients

• 10 lemon
• 1 liter vodka
• 3 cups white sugar
• 4 cups water

Directions

1. Zest the lemons, and place zest into a large glass bottle or jar. Pour in vodka. Cover loosely and let infuse for one week at room temperature.
2. After one week, combine sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. DO NOT STIR. Boil for 15 minutes. Allow syrup to cool to room temperature.
3. Stir vodka mixture into syrup. Strain into glass bottles, and seal each bottle with a cork. Let mixture age for 2 weeks at room temperature.
4. Place bottled liqueur into the freezer. When icy cold, serve in chilled vodka glasses or shot glasses.

Another recipe that I had found said that you could steep the lemon in the vodka up to 40 days. And you can let the completed mixture age for this long as well. Its hard not to count down the days with this, though.

Eureka lemons

Peeling the lemon. Be sure not to get any of the white pith into the mix.

     So, you have heard the phrase, "Waste not, want not"? So I had a bunch of nekkid lemons. How about, while we are waiting for the limoncello, we make some instant gratification cocktails? Again, this recipe is from allrecipes.comallrecipes.com. Lemon Drop:

Ingredients

• 4 fluid ounces fresh lemon juice
• 2 fluid ounces vodka
• 1 teaspoon white sugar
• crushed ice
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 4 sprigs fresh mint

Directions

1. In a mixing glass, combine lemon juice, vodka and sugar. Stir until dissolved, then pour into glasses filled with ice. Garnish with a lemon slice and sprig of mint.

These left me with a bit of a pucker face but my boyfriend loves them!

Meyer Limoncello, Eureka lemons and Smirnoff Vodka

The Smirnoff was the smartest buy, ie; the cheapest.

I am wondering how much of a difference there will be between the Meyer and the Eureka Limoncello.

Limoncello with a lemon peel garnish inside.

Fair warning - if you are going to drink your props, make sure that someone else is able to drive when you need to make a grocery run. Just sayin'.