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Homemade Amaretto Recipe

Homemade Amaretto
Difficulty: Easy | Total Time: 20 mins, plus macerating, filtering, and infusing time | Makes: About 4 cups

The beauty of making your own amaretto lies in controlling the sugar content of this almond liqueur. In a side-by-side tasting of our homemade amaretto and popular commercial brands, ours was less sweet and had a true almond flavor. For the sweet tooths out there, just add more sugar.

What to buy: Apricot kernels are the dried seeds of fresh apricots. They have an almondlike yet bitter flavor and can be found oniline.

Bottled or purified water is important because any impurities in the water may affect the final flavor of the liqueur.

Special equipment: You’ll need a flat-bottomed, basket-style paper coffee filter. (The smaller, cone-style coffee filters are not big enough and tend to fall over during the filtering process.) Try bumming one from your local coffee shop or buy some oniline.

You will also need two large pieces of ultrafine woven cheesecloth. It can be purchased at cooking supply stores or online.

Game plan: After the soaking and combining the macerating ingredients, there is a 4-week waiting period, so if you’re planning on giving your homemade amaretto as a gift, be sure to factor in the month of infusing time.

This recipe was featured as part of our... read more

INGREDIENTS

For the macerating mixture:

  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots
  • 3/4 cup bottled or purified water
  • 2 cups vodka
  • 1 3/4 cups whole, skin-on, coarsely chopped almonds
  • 1 cup brandy
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped apricot kernels
  • 1/4 cup coarsely chopped dried, unsweetened cherries

To finish the liqueur:

  • 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup bottled or purified water
  • 1 cup vodka
  • 2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
For the macerating mixture:

  1. In a 2-quart jar with a tightfitting lid, soak the apricots in the bottled or purified water until they’re rehydrated and most of the liquid has been absorbed, about 3 hours.
  2. Add the remaining ingredients to the jar, cover, and shake. Place in a cool, dark place to macerate for 4 weeks, shaking once per week.
  3. After 4 weeks, line a medium fine-mesh strainer with two 13-by-15-inch pieces of ultrafine cheesecloth and place over a large bowl. Drain the contents of the jar through the cheesecloth and into the bowl. Press on the solids, then gather the corners of the cheesecloth and squeeze the solids to extract as much liquid as possible. (Be careful not to let any solids drop into the strained liquid.) Discard the cheesecloth and solids; reserve the liquid.
  4. Rinse and dry the strainer and place it over a second large bowl. Set a flat-bottomed paper coffee filter inside the strainer and pour the reserved liquid into the filter. (Be careful not to spill into the bowl.) Let the liquid filter undisturbed until all of it has passed through and only a sludgelike beige film is left in the filter, about 5 hours. Remove the strainer, discarding the filter. Measure the liquid in the bowl—you should have about 1 3/4 to 2 cups. (The amount of liquid will determine how much sugar syrup you’ll add later.) Return the liquid to the bowl.

To finish the liqueur:

  1. While the macerating mixture is filtering, make the sugar syrup. Place both sugars and the bottled or purified water in a small saucepan set over medium heat, stirring until the sugars have dissolved, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
  2. Add the vodka, almond extract, and vanilla extract to the reserved filtered liquid and stir to combine. Add about half of the sugar syrup and taste the liqueur. Depending on how much filtered liquid you have and how sweet you like your amaretto, you may want to add more or all of the syrup. Stir to combine. Transfer to a 1-quart container with a tightfitting lid or small individual containers and store in a cool, dark place for up to 6 months.
    Write a review | 34 Reviews
  • Homemade Amaretto Recipe
    5

    I'm currently doing this but I'm only soaking almonds and apricots in the alcohol. Is it possible to use both of them after in a fruit cake? Would anyone advise this?

  • Homemade Amaretto Recipe
    3

    Dear "MangiaFR" - You MIGHT want to confirm if "Guilty" is in fact diabetic themselves before accusing them of being callous with their comments. What I took from their comment was that this recipe was something diabetics should be careful with. They didn't say it CAUSED diabetes. I don't see how you came to that conclusion.

  • Homemade Amaretto Recipe
    3

    I wonder if anyone can explain the result I had with this recipe. I added too much vodka to my amaretto to drink straight, so I've tried it with sour mix and ice. At first the drink is fine, if a little thicker than normal, but as the ice melts the drink gets progressively gummy. I can see waves of this stuff originating from the ice. I figured I had too much gunk left in the amaretto, but after another trip through coffee filters, it still gets gummy. I wonder if I have some kind of reaction going on with pectin that's left over?

  • Homemade Amaretto Recipe
    1

    Dear "Guilty", A little off topic, but I wanted to share some insight with you. On behalf of all diabetics out there, "not to mention diabetic shock" probably shouldn't have been mentioned. You can NOT get diabetes from overindulging, even in a 5 lb. bag of sugar, for a day, a week, or maybe even every day for a year."Diabetic shock" is a term non-diabetics like to throw around as if they know what it means. I presume you mean severe hyperglycemia - high blood sugar? Only a person who already suffers from Diabetes - a real and serious illness - can go into this kind of "shock," which is extremely serious, resulting in blindness, heart disease, loss of limbs, and even a coma. So please be respectful about making comments regarding diabetes. It has recently become the illness that everyone thinks they know something about, but really don't, and it's acceptable to joke around about, as you did with your statement about drinking that much liqueur. So before you offend other diabetics, either do some research or just don't say anything. You wouldn't make cracks about cancer -don't do it about diabetes either. Thanks.

  • Homemade Amaretto Recipe
    3

    buy the good stuff. probably better, much easier, and cheaper. add good vodka if want more kick. amaretto and cream is delish.

  • Homemade Amaretto Recipe
    1

    I've made a number of infusions and liqueurs at home and was excited to try this - did not like it. At all. Finally poured it down the drain. What a waste of good ingredients.

  • What is an apricot kernel - the pit ( seed) ?

  • I have to say that I found this a little too fruity as well. To me it tastes a little muddy, and almost as much like apricot as it does almond/apricot kernel. I'm wondering if this might be because I did this during the summer, where even in my climate-controlled apartment the temperature was between 75-80F? I will say that the fragrance is delicious, and I'll be keeping this around for a while to see how the flavor matures. So far I have no complaints on its role in cocktails. PS - To filter this all at once, I think you need the commercial-sized filters; with the regular basket coffee filters I had to do it in two batches--though each batch definitely took less than 5 hours to strain, so this wasn't a bad thing.

  • Thanks, Amy. It's definitely clogging up in the coffee filters, not the strainer, but after filter No. 5 and 72 hours, it looks like we're on a roll. I just hope too much of the alcohol didn't evaporate in the process. Maybe I'll add a bit more vodka if the flavor seems too intense.

  • boogabooga, you may have a very tightly meshed strainer. I tested this with a couple different weaves and, as suspected, the more loosely weaved strainer was quicker, but not as thorough at removing sediment. If you have a medium mesh, try that one. Other than that, you may have chopped your almonds a bit more leaving you with more sediment. The idea is to get a non-cloudy finished product. The sediment won't hurt it, it just doesn't taste or look very delicious. Amy Wisniewski, CHOW test kitchen

  • OK, did I do something wrong? So far I've had the liquid sitting coffee filters for 48 hours, swapping out three times, and still haven't gotten it all to drop through.

  • Pretty good. A little too fruity for my tastes.

  • This turned out beautifully. I made six times the recipe to hand out to family and friends, and all loved it. I'm thinking of regularly having a batch going -- with a nice bottle (hello, Container Store) it makes such a great hostess gift, house warming gift, etc.

  • Thank you. I will let you all know how this turned out after Christmas. Happy Holidays to all Chowhounds

  • ssharp, straining 3 days early will definitely not ruin the amaretto. The flavor continues to develop and round out a little after it's been bottled, so bottle away! Amy Wisniewski Assoc. Food Editor, CHOW.com

  • Would three days make a huge difference in the final solution? We started on the amaretto today, but with the four weeks steeping time, that makes our finish date at Christmas. We would like to strain a few days before in order to make Christmas gifts.

  • I would imagine you rehydrate them with the water so that later when you are taking out the solids some of the alcohol does not get thrown out with them. Same logic as soaking your hair down with tap water before swimmin, your hair will absorb less chlorine/salt that way.

  • I'm pretty sure that 1/4 cup of apricot kernels is fewer than 40. Even if all of the cyanide makes its way into the amaretto, alcohol poisoning will be a concern sooner than cyanide poisoning from the apricot kernels if od'ing on this recipe. Not to mention the possibility of diabetic shock.

  • Border, you actually do not need to consume a "ton" of apricot kernels to suffer deleterious side effects -- reports of toxicity range from consuming 20-40 kernels. The UE recommendations stipulate that safe kernel consumption for adults to be 1-2 kernels daily.

  • Why is it necessary to rehydrate the dried apricots in water first? Won't they rehydrate in the alcohol with the other chopped ingredients?

  • You can often find apricot kernels in large Asian grocery stores. That's where I've gotten mine in the past - lots cheaper than online!

  • Regarding cyanide poisoning. Unless you consume a TON of apricot kernels, this recipe will not kill you. You run into far more problems with your local ground water and heavy metal poisonings than what could possibly kill you in this recipe.

  • Amaretto also tastes great poured over vanilla ice cream...=)

  • I don't think Chow.com would post a recipe if it was going to kill you.

  • I had it in a bar once where they couldn't heat the booze directly, so instead he filled a glass several times with the hot water from the coffee machine, then added the amaretto. The heat from the glass raised the temperature of the booze, probably around 100 degrees like you like it. Neat trick.

  • I'd go with the almonds instead.

  • Apricot kernels can be toxic in large amounts. (Cyanide poisoning - not exactly fun times.) I don't know what "large amounts" might be, but I'd like to avoid the chance for cyanide poisoning. Could I substitute something for the apricot kernels, or just leave them out?

  • One of my favorite winter drinks is Amaretto heated to about 100 degrees and then sipped slowly. Such a wonderful experience.

  • @piggie1230 So you're saying almond extract is a good sub for the apricot kernels? I'd love to make this but I really don't want to spend 12.95 plus shipping on apricot pits... anyone got suggestions on what to sub in for those?

  • Sounds like a great gift idea, but where are you going to get apricot pits in November?

  • If you make your own vanilla extract it's the same as adding a bean. Use real extracts, not imitation flavors, and it should be okay. It does make me wonder, though, what's the difference between this and just using straight up almond extract instead of the apricot pits.

  • Almond extract is made from bitter almonds, and has a flavor that is different (and more intense) than regular almonds. It's illegal to sell bitter almonds in the US, so for those of us Stateside, almond extract is our best bet. Also, Italian or Spanish almonds tend to be more flavorful than US almonds (sorry, California), so I'd think they'd be great for this recipe.

  • Is there any way to avoid adding extracts at the end? It seems like a vanilla bean added to the infusion would impart more depth of flavor. And is the additional almond necessary? Could more almonds be added from the beginning instead?

  • Why store in the refrigerator? This wouldn't be suitable for storage in a home bar?

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