Tuesday, July 18, 2017

Make this easy and delicious Limoncello di crema recipe

The last time I was in Sorrento, Italy, I had the chance to taste this wonderful drink.  Sorrento is known for its lemons and every restaurant serves their own version of this.  There is a 'regular' limoncello and a creamy one.  My favorite was the creamy one.

This recipe will take several months to make but is so worth it.  First you will make the lemon infused Everclear, then you will add the sweet cream component.

Some people make it with vodka, but Everclear will infuse the flavors much better.  While this recipe does not require a lot of hands-on time to make, it does take a few months from start to finish.

Keep in mind, this is only for people of legal drinking age and please, DO NOT DRINK AND DRIVE.

Limoncello di Crema

Makes about three, 750 ml bottles 
  • 14 organic lemons 
  • 750 ml Everclear (151 proof)
  • 3 cups half and half
  • 1 cup milk
  • 4 cups sugar 
  • 1 Vanilla bean  

1.      Wash and dry the lemons. With a thin skin peeler, remove the lemon skin without any white part (gives the infusion a bitter taste). Infuse the lemon rind and alcohol in an airtight glass container, in a dark and cool place for a minimum of one month. (I did mine for 3 months).  I found that a half gallon canning jar works well for this step.  The alcohol will turn yellow.  

Notice the color of the Everclear.  It's nice and yellow.
2.      Once you have infused the Everclear as long as you choose, you will need to remove the lemon rind from the alcohol.  You may want to filter the rind out, but I found that since I had long strips of rind, it did not get pieces into the alcohol.  If you have smaller pieces, just pour the alcohol through a strainer to filterer the lemon alcohol mixture. Set aside. 

3.      Put the half and half, milk, sugar and whole vanilla bean in a pan and bring to a boil. Mix until the milk comes to a boil and the sugar dissolved. Allow to cool for several hours with the vanilla pod inside. 
Finally, limoncello di crema
 

4.      Remove the vanilla bean and strain, if necessary. Mix the milk mixture with the lemon / alcohol mixture. Fill clean bottles and close.  Store the bottles in the freezer and serve very cold – The high alcohol content will not freeze the drink.


5 comments:

  1. Judy, I know you live in a warm climate like me (New Orleans). Where did you keep the infusion for three months in a "dark and cool place"? We don't run the central A/C downstairs at night when we're upstairs so I think it would be too hot to put the jar in a downstairs closet. Just wondered where you kept the jar while the lemon infused in the Everclear...

    ReplyDelete
  2. Our house is built into the side of a hill so our lower level is cooler. We keep it in a pantry downstairs. I'd put it into the coolest area you can find in your house. In heat, it will infuse much quicker too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your help. I'm going to have to wait until "winter," assuming we have one this year. I grow my own sprouts in jars with great success and recently had one develop mold before the sprouts grew, which stunned me, so I know it's too hot downstairs right now. In our version of winter, the heat is only on occasionally, say when we first go downstairs in the morning, so a closet "pantry" off the kitchen will probably work around November. Thanks for the recipe, Judy; I remember your saying you were making some so I was tickled to find it here. Make sure to try a the Citrus Temptation, the cocktail I posted, as it hits the spot as a summer libation!

      Delete
  3. Can I post your Limoncello di Crema on the forum, Judy? With credit, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Please put the link to my blog or my simply impressive facebook page. that way whenever I make changes, I have one place to change. thanks.

    ReplyDelete

About Me

My photo
I am a former information technology girl who left the business and opened up a cooking school. Cooking and entertaining are my passions and I love to share this passion with others. I am currently on hiatus from teaching classes, but hope to begin offering them soon. In the meantime, enjoy the tips. Students always told me how much they loved the tips and now you can, too. I'll put out a new tip each day.