Milk Liqueur

February 22, 2011

If you are on twitter, then you’ve probably seen the milk liqueur’s spreading like wildfire through the knitting community. Well, since we like to ferment alcohol in our household, it was only natural for us to give it a try.

Whenever making a long term food item, you have to have a certain amount of trust in the process. So far the longest food item I’ve made was a Parmesan cheese aging 9 months. It was so worth the wait though! Believe it or not, this milky sludge turns into a very tasty golden liquid once filtered.

This was so easy to make, and so tasty! It’s now my favorite after dinner drink, and it’s nice to have something so unique and handmade. It’s opened a whole new world of liqueur making and we’ll be sure to try some more.

It was so nice to find a great use for this bottle. I had picked it up at one of my favorite home stores here on sale. I just knew we would have a great use for it someday.

Chocolate Milk Liqueur (from Lottie + Doof and The New Portuguese Table by David Leite)

2 1/2 cups Unflavored Vodka (or Grappa)
2 cups Whole Milk
2 cups Sugar
2 ounces Bittersweet Chocolate, grated (we used Semisweet baking chocolate for this)
1/2 Lemon, seeded and chopped, with rind

Pour the Vodka and Milk into a sanitized (washed with soap and hot, hot water) half-gallon glass jar with a tight-fitting lid. Scoop in the sugar, chocolate and lemon. Cover tightly and shake well to help the sugar begin to dissolve. This is where the trust comes to play. It may look curdled, and it may seem weird to set milk out. Just remember that between the alcohol and the lemon, all the bad germs should be gone. Set aside in a cool dark place and give it a good shake every day for at least 10 days.

Set a cheesecloth-lined colander over a bowl and ladle in the mixture. When the mixture has finished draining, squeeze the cloth to release as much liquid as possible, and discard the solids. This will mostly get rid of the lemon pieces and some of the milk solids.

Line a sieve with a paper coffee filter (we used our Melitta Perfect Brew Filter Cone). Pour in the liqueur and let the mixture drip through to a clean bowl. It took about 1 – 1 1/2 hours for each filter. Change the filter and repeat. You can filter the liquid again to make it clearer, but I didn’t. This may help it keep longer, but probably won’t make a huge difference.

Pour the liqueur into a clean decanter and enjoy! It will keep at room temperature for up to 6 months.