Googling Yourself

You have to admit it: We all google ourselves. The reaction ranges from embarassment (I wrote THAT?) to pleasure (I wrote that!) to surprise (I wrote that?!). More often than not, I always learn something new. For instance, I went through a phase in graduiate school where I loved liqueurs - Bailey's, Grand Marnier, etc. Not being able to afford these, I hunted down the recipes to actually make them at home. I perfected the recipes and posted them on the fledgling online community at Carnegie Mellon called usenets. Over the years, these recipes have been used and reproduced at a million sites, all without permission of course! So here is one for Kahlua, that delicious coffee liqueur:


Ersatz Kahlua

Source: Yashodhara Pawar (yp02+@andrew.cmu.edu) <--- Note the expired student email Id!
6/12/92

Ingredients:

3 ounces, medium to dark roast coffee, finely ground
2 3/4 cups, Vodka, 80 proof
3/4 cups, Brandy, 80 proof
4 teaspoons, Good quality instant coffee
1 tablespoon, Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon, Chocolate extract
1 teaspoon, Glycerine (at most pharmacies)
1 drop, Red food colouring (optional)
7/8 cups, Distilled water
1--3/4 cups, Granulated sugar

Procedure:

Place the ground coffee in a large wide-mouthed glass bottle. Add the
vodka and the brandy. Allow the mixture to sit approximately 18 to 20
hours. Use coffee filters to remove the coffee from the alcohol --
discard the spent grounds. Add the instant coffee, the extracts, the
glycerine, and the food colour to the mixture. Set aside.

In a scrupulously clean pan, boil the water. Add the sugar, stirring
rapidly. When the sugar is dissolved, remove from heat. Allow the sugar
syrup to return to room temperature.

Add the syrup to the alcohol mixture. Store in a tightly capped glass
bottle. The liqueur is better when aged for 3 or more months.