My work Secret Santa this year had a rule in addition to the usual monetary value - it had to be handmade or from a charity shop. It got me thinking about all the DIY gifts that I could possibly make and after putting it to the test I had to share my creation - Starburst Vodka. It was so easy to make, and though I certainly couldn't test it my husband took great delight and proceeded to make his own Starburst Gin after.
What you need:
- Vodka - nothing too cheap and nothing too expensive.
- Starburst - about 3 sweeties per 30ml of vodka
- glass bottle or jar with screw on lid
- an empty water bottle to infuse the mixture
- a measuring jug
- a sieve
- and coffee filter paper.
It all starts off with deciding on your flavours. You can either make separate flavours or mix and match. For this I made a batch of Strawberry and a batch of Blackcurrant separately. I counted out my Starburst and then measured out my vodka. I used abut 260ml of vodka with 23 Strawberry Starburst sweeties from two 210g packs.
I put down a tea towel to protect our counter and then added the vodka to the water bottle. I you're using a thinner necked bottle you might want to use a funnel. Once the lid was on tight I gave it a good shake and the sweeties began the infusion process and started to break down. I gave it a shake every time I passed and left it for 24 hours. After this time all of the sweeties had completely broken down and the vodka had turned pink with a thick froth on the top. The vodka was ready and it was time to strain the infusions.
The froth doesn't taste very nice and separates from the vodka so it's worth taking the time to strain it away. This was definitely the hardest and messiest part though, making the tea towel a must as any of the mixture that spills is super sticky. To strain away the froth you put a coffee filter paper into a sieve and pour the infusion in slowly. The froth all gets caught in the filter paper and your flavoured vodka ends up in your measuring jug ready to pour.
I used jars from Hobbycraft for my Starburst Vodka creations but you could even reuse a jar or glass bottle for more of a recycled, homemade gift. I made a tag for each of my flavours on Picmonkey so the recipient knows exactly what's inside. When it comes to drinking the Starburst vodka they can be had straight as they taste sweet, full of flavour and not quite as strong as regular vodka. I think they'd also be quite good with a bit of lemonade or tonic if you weren't feeling quite so brave.
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