aunt jess' cranberry moonshine

So a few weeks back I prepared some cranberry liqueur which I mentioned in passing. I also wrote about it here. And now, a few short weeks later, it's done. I have, actually already packaged up and given it as hostess gifts to two of my girlfriends.



This cranberry liqueur (god I hate that word) is seriously simple to throw together. The whole process took me about 30 minutes. Then it sat and steeped in jars on the floor of my pantry, until it was good and liquored up.



At that point I took it out and strained it twice (although you will only have to strain yours once if you use a fine mesh strainer the first time) and poured it into some cute salad dressing bottles I found at Homegoods.



I won't lie, the whole process of making and food processing a simple syrup and then straining and pouring the liqueur is a little sticky, but well worth it. The resulting hooch is sweet and tart and completely amazingly delicious when drizzled into a glass of chilled prosecco.



To complete this hostess gift, I simply tied a little label on the cranberry liqueur and gifted it with a bottle of bubbles. And then I made my hostesses open it up and pour me one. I have one left, which I will give my cousin, Jenny, who's hosting Christmas Eve.



This whole project cost me nothing, because I had on hand vodka, lemon zest, OJ and I got the bag of cranberries free. All I needed was a tiny bit of foresight to start the process a few weeks in advance and then had to pickup the bottles ($2.50 each). It's easy, it's cheap, it's cute and the brilliant red color makes it a super festive holiday gift. Trust me, you'll go Lansbury for this Cransberry (serious watch this. So amazing!). Cheers!