Homemade Kahlua

Homemade Kahlua

As I mentioned in a previous post, our family decided to do homemade gifts this past Christmas.

There were candles, and bath soaps, and foot soak, and even homemade laundry detergent.

Everyone certainly outdid themselves on creativity and functionality and Christmas just seemed so much more special this year!

Of course, one of the items I chose to make isn’t exactly something you need. It isn’t even really that creative.

But it is delicious! And a SUPER special treat.

Homemade Kahlua.

I’ll be frank.  My family isn’t much for booze. A glass of wine here, a cold beer on a hot summer night there, but teetotallers we are not.

But I  decided to make homemade Kahlua anyway because a friend of mine told me she’d made it for her family and they absolutely LOVED it!

And better yet it was super easy and the recipe makes 3 good size bottles (exactly what I needed) so the cost was only $15 for the bottle of vodka the recipe requires. So if you do the math that is $5 per gift! Pretty cheap if you ask me!

But don’t tell my family! ( Shhh.)

As I said Kaluha is so easy to make!!

To start with you just brew up a pot of coffee. I recommend a strong brew ( I use expresso) You actually only need 4 cups for this recipe but you could always double or even triple it if you wanted. Once the coffee is brewed I just poured it into a large saucepan and then added 4 cups of white sugar to it. ( I know. That’s a lot of sugar, but just remember Kahlua is a coffee liquor-hence liquor and it definitely needs some sweetness-+ I don’t know about you but this stuff is pretty potent so one cocktail will do for me.)

Now that you have the sugar and coffee combined bring the mixture to a boil. Then turn it down to low and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. It will start to thicken up a bit, and that’s what you want. Next, remove the coffee mixture from the stove and let it cool completely. As it cools it will become even thicker.

When the coffee mixture is completely cooled add in 4 cups of whatever vodka you choose (I used Sdveka) and 2 1/2 Tablespoons of vanilla.  Stir the liquid well.

Next, it’s time to bottle this yummy elixir. I had a couple of these pretty glass containers already that I’d picked up at Walmart, but you could pour it into mason jars or re-use any glass container you have. Just make sure to sterilize the container beforehand.

My family definitely enjoyed this ‘special’ treat around the holidays-especially when we added in just a splash of fresh cream to make a White Russian for a delicious after-dinner drink.

This Kahlua is rich and full of flavor and not super sweet like I thought it would be. You can drink it right away but the longer it sits the more smooth it gets!

TIP: Store in a cool dry location.

Here’s the recipe!

I hope you enjoy this recipe for Homemade Kahlua as much as we did!

Looking for more homemade gift ideas?

Thank you for stopping by!