More Infused Liquor: Chocolate-Mint Vodka & Jalapeno Tequila

On Sunday I had some free time in the afternoon while Sonny D and Husband Jeff went to the park to play with our neighbors, so I decided to make some recipes I've had on my list for a while, chocolate-mint vodka and jalapeño tequila. This will go along with the spearmint vodka and cherry bounce I made earlier this year.  We're going to break them out at Thanksgiving with our friends, that's probably going to be a drunkfest.  :)

Chocolate-Mint Vodka

I finally went out to our garden to pick the chocolate mint for this recipe.  It's a hearty plant, still going strong despite growing without maintenance.

I picked all of the leaves off a few stems and ripped them a couple times to help release the oils, then put them in the jar.  I had no idea how much mint to use, so I just did it until I ran out of leaves and then covered it with vodka.  I used up the last of a bottle of vodka we had in our pantry and cracked open a new one I had purposely bought to make this recipe.  I wanted to use all of the vodka up so we didn't have any leftovers, but I ended up with a tiny bit that wouldn't fit in the jar.  Maybe I'll infuse it with another flavor.

Don't you love the classy homemade masking tape label!?

This will sit in our fridge to infuse for a week and then I'll strain off the mint.  I'm still not sure how we'll use this or the spearmint vodka I made, but I'm sure we'll figure something out.  Mint, lime, and rum go together to make a mojito, so maybe we'll make a variation on that with something like pineapple juice or coconut.  Or spiked hot chocolate.  Drizzled over vanilla or chocolate ice cream would be good too.  Mixed into hot tea.  Martinis. 

Jalapeño Tequila

I did a bunch of research to learn about tequila to come up with a list of possible brands/types to buy.  I ended up buying El Jimador tequila because it was highly ranked, available at the store I was in, and it's the type our friends Jim & Isabelle drink.  I tasted it straight before I added the jalapeno slices and found out that good tequila is nice!  There's a great smoky quality and it was actually enjoyable, not something you'd need to learn to appreciate like whisky.

I sliced up three jalapeños from our garden and put them in the jar and dumped the tequila on top.  It will infuse for about three-four days and then I will strain out the jalapeños.  I wonder if there's something I can do with those now-boozy jalapeños? 

El Jimador, gettin' spicy. 

I saved the bottle for this one so I can use a funnel and fill it back up.  I figured it will be easier to pour out of a bottle than a canning jar. 

This one seems like it will be easy to use, either straight shots of tequila or made into some sort of margarita.  Yum!