Make Your Own Snaps with Pastor Maria
Midsummer is just around the corner, and before we have time to blink it will be Crayfish Party time. For many Danes, Swedes, and Swedish-speaking Finns, no summer celebration is complete without some spiced brännvin to accompany the meal. What better way to kick-start the summer than by making your own snaps (or schnapps). Here are four flavors invented by our very own Pastor Maria Thorsson.
Dill and Lemon Snaps
Ingredients:
350 cl (1 ½ cup) Vodka(unspiced)
The peel from ½ lemon
The juice from ½ lemon
A small bouquet of dill
1 tablespoon of sugar
Preparation:
Peel the lemon, avoiding the pith, as this will make the snaps bitter. Mix the lemon juice and sugar into the vodka. Put the dill and lemon peel in a clean bottle. Add the vodka and refrigerate. After one week, siphon out the dill and peel leaving only the snaps in the bottle.
Keep refrigerated. Consume within a few months.
Summery
Lemon and Vanilla Snaps
Ingredients:
350 cl (1 ½ cup) Vodka (unspiced)
½ Vanilla bean (cut)
The peel from ½ lemon
1 tablespoon of sugar
Preparation:
Put the vanilla bean and lemon peel in a clean bottle. Mix the sugar into the vodka. Refrigerate. Shake the bottle after a couple of days. After a week, siphon out the vanilla bean and lemon peel. Keep refrigerated.
Maria’s Swedish Midsummer’s Dream
Ingredients:
350 cl (1 ½ cup) Vodka (unspiced)
3 pinches of conventional rose petals
½ tablespoon of honey
Preparation:
Microwave the honey for 10 seconds so that it turns to liquid. Mix the honey into the vodka. Put the rose petals in a clean bottle and add the vodka. Refrigerate. After 3-4 hours, siphon out the rose petals. Keep refrigerated.
Maria’s Maple Delight (with a Canadian Twist)
Ingredients:
500 cl (2 cups) Vodka (unspiced)
1 piece of dried bitter orange piel divided into pieces.
1 Vanilla bean (cut)
1 star anise (divided into three parts)
1 tablespoon of Maple syrup
Preparation:
Mix the Maple syrup into the vodka. Put the pieces of star anise and the vanilla bean in a clean bottle, then add the vodka. Refrigerate. After one week, siphon out the pieces of star anise and the vanilla bean. Keep refrigerated.
