I have discovered that I love Lemon Drops. After seeing an article in a magazine about Limencello, then watching Giada make it on one of her shows, I thought I’d give it a shot. Although it is not technically a Lemon Drop, but more of an Italian lemon liqueur, it still has that great lemony taste I was after. It is super yummy added to iced tea and lemonade and makes a great hostess gift. If you are going to serve it as a mock Lemon Drop, first rim the martini glasses with lemon juice then dip in (Suzanne’s brilliant idea) crushed up Lemonhead candies. Then shake up the Limencello with some ice and strain into the glasses. With only 4 ingredients (including water), it is super easy (lemon peasy) to make. Here’s what you need to start off with:
10 Lemons
1 (750ml) bottle of Vodka
Using a vegetable peeler, remove the peel only (not the white pith) from the lemons and place in a 2 quart pitcher. Pour in the entire bottle of vodka. Cover with plastic wrap and let the peels steep for 4 days at room temperature.
After the 4 days of steeping, make a simple syrup by stirring 3-1/2 C. water and 2-1/2 C. sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Cool completely. Pour the cooled simple syrup into the vodka/lemon peel mixture. Cover the pitcher and let stand at room temperature overnight.
Strain the Limencello through a mesh strainer and discard the peels.
Using a funnel, fill pretty bottles with the finished Limencello. Seal the bottles and refrigerate at least 4 hours and up to 1 month.
I made fresh squeezed lemonade with all of the peeled lemons by juicing them, adding simple syrup (recipe above) and enough water to make the right concentration..
