Gingerbread Cream Liqueur - LittleSugarSnaps (2024)

Jane Coupland

5 from 5 votes

Course: Alcoholic Drink

Cuisine: Worldwide

Prep Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes minutes

For the Ginger Infused Rum

• ▢ 500 ml/ 2 cup dark rum
• ▢ 20 g/ ⅜ cup fresh ginger
• ▢ 30 g (about eight 1cm cubes) crystallised ginger
• ▢ 100 g/ ½ cup dark muscovado sugar
• ▢ 10 cloves
• ▢ 4 inch stick cinnamon
• ▢ ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Gingerbread Cream Liqueur

• ▢ 125 ml/ ½ cup ginger infused rum
• ▢ 125 ml double (heavy) cream – see notes
• ▢ 60 ml condensed milk (sweetened)

Make the Ginger Infused Rum

• Roughly chop the fresh and crystallised ginger and give the cinnamon & cloves a quick bash with the end of a rolling pin to break them up a little

• Tip the spices into a sealable large jar able to take 750ml/ 3 cups liquid. A screw top jar is ideal

• Add the vanilla extract and the sugar then pour the rum into the jar

• Tighten the lid and swirl the jar a few times

• Leave in a cool dark place for 5 days, giving the jar a quick swirl for the first few days to encourage the sugar to dissolve

• Strain through a piece of muslin/ cheesecloth and store in a sealed jar until you wish to make the cream liqueur

Make the Cream liqueur

• Pour the rum, cream and condensed milk into a clean jug and stir until blended

• Pour into a bottle, seal and store in the fridge until required

• Give the bottle a gentle shake before serving in small glasses either chilled or over ice

• Keeps for between 2-3 weeks, depending on the freshness of the cream used

A couple of readers have experienced the liqueur splitting either once the cream has been added or once decanted into bottles. Ther is nothing in the recipe ingredients that would cause this drink to split, it is likely that something acidic has inadvertently come into contact with the liquid.

To avoid your liqueur splitting, I recommend that you use scrupulously clean equipment – chopping board, knives, bowls, jugs, bottles…. anything that you use to make/ store this drink needs to be cleaned to the highest level. The slightest trace of acid – perhaps from lemons, vinegar, salad dressing etc is enough for the drink to split.

Because of this, it’s a sensible step to re-wash equipment even if you think it is clean, just to be on the safe side.

As split liqueur is not fun (and an expensive whoops) I also suggest that you test it by mixing a small amount of the alcohol and cream before committing the whole lot. if there is an issue, it will show within a few minutes of the alcohol and cream being combined. Similarly, if all looks well after it is mixed, pour a small amount into the bottle you intend to store it in and swirl it around. If it doesn’t split, fill the bottle.

And if you suspect that a touch of acid has accidentally ended up in the rum itself, though it will not be possible to introduce cream successfully, the gingerbread rum infusion is delicious served in small glasses just as it is.

Extra Information

1. The ginger-infused rum will keep for up to a year

2. Once mixed with the cream the shelf-life is reduced to 2-3 weeks. For this reason, I prefer to make up small batches of the cream liqueur so I can enjoy it fresh

3. In total, there is enough ginger infused rum to make 1.25 litres of cream liqueur

4. I used double cream, which makes the drink thick (like advocat). If you prefer a thinner drink substitute single cream (US: half and half)