Raspberry Chocolate Liqueur (Sous-Vide)

That's right, another infusion using Everclear. I just love this stuff. The high ABV and neutral taste give the best extraction and most generous yield. This version of Everclear has an ABV of 95% and a proof of 190. I've made several infusions using Everclear, and it always produces excellent results. If you are unable to purchase locally, attempt to buy online. 

Please don't laugh, but I came up with this recipe in a dream. That's right; I do my best thinking and recipe creations while I am sleeping. While in La La Land, aka dream world, I was thinking about what desserts would work well with the SV-Process, and I thought about my favorite dessert, a Raspberry Chocolate Torte. After a long night of pondering food and desserts, I awoke but not with a recipe for a dessert but an infusion. Why Coffee in the infusion? I always drank Coffee with my Raspberry Chocolate Torte. BTW- One layer of our wedding cake was Raspberry Chocolate Torte.

Let's begin... I find that shooting for an ABV (Alcohol by Volume) of 40%/80-proof is best for cocktails, Apéritif, or digestif. This Liqueur is an awesome Apéritif and complements any dinner. The advantage of using Everclear is the ability to have more flexibility when computing the ABV. The high ABV lets you add all kinds of stuff without sacrificing the alcohol percentage. Don't forget whatever you add to the infusion dilutes the ABV.  If you use, let's say, 100-Proof Vodka, your wiggle room is diminished, and you end up with an ABV of something like 25%.

 If you are not into Geeky-Stuff -Geeky Math Calculations HERE.

Recipe

2-bottle of 750ml 190-Proof Everclear

3-Madagascar Vanilla Beans

2 lbs of Muscovado Sugar

2 lbs of Frozen or Fresh Raspberries 

2 lbs of Cacao Nibs

4 ounces of Coffee Beans

Distilled Water 

Other-Stuff

Cheesecloth a couple of Milk Nutbags.

Raspberry Preparation

1- 32 oz Frozen Berries (if using fresh skip bringing to simmer)

2- Place Berries in a pan.

3- Add 1 Liter of Distilled Water to the pan.

4- Bring to a gentle simmer until Berries become soft.

5- Place in Blender (Best is Vitamix) and process until smooth.

6- Place the Nut-Bag in the container.

7- Pour everything in.....

8- Everybody in the pool. 

9- Elevate the Nut-Bag.

10- Squeeze gently.

11- All done

12- Raspberry pulp. 

13- Optional- I ran the Juice through another Nut-Bag.  

Some Geeky stuff and recipe development. I knew the total weight could not exceed 3562.5 grams and keep 80-Proof.

3562.5 (Everything combined) -1500 (Everclear = 2062.5 (Water, Juice, and Sugar). 

To a huge container, I dumped in the Everclear (1500 grams) + the Juice and 1 lb of the Sugar. I stirred vigorously and noted the weight, knowing that I can not exceed 3562.5 grams. I started adding Distilled water and more sugar until I liked the taste, and it reached 3562. All done. This was for recipe development. At the end of this post, I will show you a better way to make this Liqueur.

In a huge Vac-Bag Dump in Cacao Nibs, Coffee and Spilt opened Vanilla Beans.

Now pour in the contents from the large container into the bag (Revised method below). This method was part of the recipe development.

Using the displacement method, place bag into SV-Bath and drape ends over and secure. The process at 140f for 6-Hours.

Place a huge sieve lined with cheesecloth on top of a huge container, making sure the cheesecloth hangs over the sides. Pour all the contents of the Vac-bag into the container lined with cheesecloth. Use a whisk to stir and push Liqueur into the container. Pull up the sides of the cheesecloth and squeeze out the liqueur. Lastly, pour the Liqueur into a nut bag like we did earlier. You will need to manhandle (no pun intended) the Nut-bag a little to expedite the filtering (see revised method below).

The above method served two purposes—recipe development and extraction. I noticed after filtering the Liqueur through the Cheesecloth, the yield was diminished because the Coffee and Cacao Nibs absorbed some of the Raspberry and Sugar. 

The revised method is as follows. Place Cacao Nibs, Coffee, and Vanilla Beans into Vac-Bag and process as described above (140f at 6-Hours). Filter, as described above. 

In a saucepan, pour in filtered Raspberry and Sugar and enough distilled water to equal 2062.5 and heat till about 135-140f. Use the tare feature on the scale and make sure everything equals 2062.5 grams. Using a whisk, vigorously mix dissolving sugar. 

This requires a little timing on your part. To the saucepan, now add the now-infused filtered Everclear and, using a whisk, mix vigorously until thoroughly combined. As an option, if you want to filter again using a nut bag. 

Use a funnel, bottle, or the Liqueur, and freeze. If your freezer is set above -5f, the alcohol won't freeze. Give it a shake to dissolve sugar crystals if present before pouring.

Drink by itself or add some 1/2 and 1/2 using a cocktail shaker. I like a 3 to 1 ratio. 

NOTE: I did not take into account the alcohol density. One bottle of Everclear is 750 ML., but in grams, it weighs 603 grams. The Proof is actually about 65 Proof.