Frangelico and other nut liqueurs at home

Some 300 years ago, monks in Piedmont decided to practice distillation. The result is the superb Frangelico walnut liqueur. Today, this drink, sharpened in a bottle-cassock with a hemp garter, is recognizable all over the world, but we will try to find out its recipe. At the same time, we will practice making nut liqueurs in general.

According to local legend in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, Frangelico was invented in the 18th century by a hermit monk named Fra Angelico (Fra. Angelico, “Angel’s brother”). Sublimating his name, the liquor was called Frangelico. The name of the drink is not the only thing that reminds of its origin. In order to preserve the authenticity and mystery of the liquor, the Barbero company, which decided to recreate its recipe in the 80s of the last century, placed the drink in a bottle stylized as a monk, thanks to which it became recognizable around the world.

Of course, the Frangelico recipe is classified and we can only guess what the monks mixed there more than 300 years ago. It is known for sure that the composition includes hazelnuts, vanilla, cocoa and caramel to color the drink. Experienced tasters also caught in it Ceylon cinnamon, wild berries, orange flowers. The liquor itself has a rich taste with tones of roasted hazelnuts combined with cocoa, berries, dark chocolate and herbs. The recipes below are just a guide for your experiments – who knows, maybe one of Romovy’s readers will unravel the recipe completely.

I also decided to add recipes for other nut liqueurs as well. I highly recommend paying attention to the last two, where the walnut appears as a worthy alternative to hazelnuts, which are expensive today. In our articles, we have already used it a couple of times: the first time in the recipe for Italian Nocino liqueur, the second time in the recipe for ginger-nut liqueur, which for me personally became a discovery last fall. By the way, I recommend trying all the nut liqueurs from this article exactly as ginger-nut liqueurs – with milk 50/50.

Frangelico liqueur recipe No. 1

Hazelnuts (hazelnut) can be roasted in a pan or in the oven. Fry in a frying pan until the nuts are slightly golden. In an oven preheated to 180^оC, 10-15 minutes are enough for this, with periodic tedding of hazelnuts. Lightly chop the roasted hazelnuts, transfer to a jar of a suitable volume, pour vodka with cognac and leave to infuse in a dark, cool place for at least 2 weeks. It is advisable to shake the contents of the jar periodically.

When the infusion absorbs a sufficient amount of nutty smell and taste, drain it through several layers of gauze, and squeeze the nuts well. Boil the syrup with their sugar and water, add to the infusion a little bit at a time until the optimal sweetness is reached. Add half a vanilla bean (or 4 g vanilla sugar, or ½ tsp vanilla extract), insist another 5 days (of course, if sugar or extract is used, nothing is needed), strain, filter and bottle. Before tasting rest from 2 weeks minimum.

Frangelico liqueur recipe No. 2

Coarsely chop hazelnuts, place on a baking sheet and bake in preheated to 180^оFrom the oven 10-15 minutes. Take them out of the oven, cool and transfer to a jar of a suitable volume. Add there the angelica root, half a vanilla pod, almond extract and pour everything with vodka. Insist in a dark cool place for 1 month, shake occasionally. After the due date, drain the infusion through a sieve, squeeze out the nuts, filter the future liquor through cotton wool or coffee filters. From sugar and water, boil a simple syrup, add it to the infusion. Leave the liquor to age for 3 months. After filtering again, add glycerin and dye if desired, stand for another 2 months and serve.

Frangelico liqueur recipe No. 3

Hold the nuts in the oven, preheated to 180^оC, 10-15 minutes, then wrap in a towel and wait a few minutes. After that, the hazelnuts need to be rolled out in a towel so that the husk falls off. Coarsely chop clean kernels and transfer to a jar of a suitable volume. Pour vodka and cognac, leave for 1 week in a dark, cool place, shake occasionally. Without draining the infusion, add a vanilla pod cut along it (you can replace 8 g of vanilla sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract), cocoa beans or medium-roasted coffee beans, mix everything well and let it brew for another 1 week with occasional shaking of the infusion.

After a set week, drain our walnut-spicy infusion through a fine sieve or several layers of gauze. In a small saucepan, combine water, sugar, honey, chopped cinnamon stick, zest of one orange and bring the mixture to a boil. Stir until sugar and honey are completely dissolved, cool, mix with infusion. Before tasting, keep the liquor for 1-2 months in the refrigerator, where it should be stored.

Homemade hazelnut liqueur

Coarsely chop the nuts, transfer to a jar of a suitable volume and pour vodka with cognac. Insist in a dark cool place for 6 weeks, shake occasionally. Strain, filter. If desired, stand for another 2 days and filter again. Their sugar and water boil a simple syrup, cool it and add to the infusion. Add vanilla extract and glycerin to the same place if you decide to use it to give the drink a density. If desired, the liquor can be tinted with caramel coloring or caramel (read how to make caramel in this article). An extract is welcome.

Walnut liqueur №1

In an oven preheated to 180^оC, toast the nuts until light golden brown. While they are hot, transfer to a jar of a suitable volume and pour vodka with bourbon, after which the jar must immediately be hermetically sealed. Insist in a dark cool place for 1 month, shake occasionally. Strain, filter. Add to the infusion syrup to taste, vanilla extract, which can be replaced with vanilla sugar (about 8 g). Keep the drink for a month and serve.

Walnut liqueur №2

In an oven preheated to 180^оC, toast the nuts until light golden brown. While they are hot, transfer them to a jar of a suitable volume and cognac (you can use any other interesting brandy), after which the jar must immediately be hermetically sealed. Insist in a dark cool place for 1 month, shake occasionally. Strain, filter. Combine water and honey, bring to a boil, boil for 2-3 minutes, removing the resulting foam. Remove honey syrup from heat, immediately add cinnamon and cloves to it, wait until the syrup has cooled to room temperature. Combine syrup with infusion, add lemon and orange zest, vanilla extract, leave for 2 more days. Strain, filter. Rest 2-3 months.

You can drink walnut liqueurs at any time of the year. They are well savored in their pure form with ice after a meal, with coffee at any time of the day, as well as with ice cream. They also make a variety of cocktails that you can easily find on the Internet (I advise you to familiarize yourself with the recipe for the Crazy Monk warming cocktail with hot chocolate – winter is coming). But best of all, any nut liqueur is savored with milk and almond syrup.