Recipe: Infused Olive Oil

This is a super simple gift idea or even a nice little treat for yourself. I intend on picking up some fresh basil later this week to make my own basil infused olive oil, since I was so selfless & only made it as Christmas gifts… Yeah. Christmas gifts. Yeah, it’s almost February. Throw me a bone. It’s been a rough month…

But this is a great easy idea that I had to share! Obviously it’s a little late, or way early, for Christmas gifts, but what about a housewarming or hostess gift! You will look so fancy & awesome!

I looked everywhere for the perfect glass bottles for this project since I wanted to make some for just about everyone on my list. I finally found them at Cost Plus World Market. I give full credit to Hubby, because it was his idea to check here for them after I struck out at a bunch of other places. Lo & behold, there they were at a killer price. I think the smaller bottles in the 2 pack were $3.95. The single big ones were $1.99. They keep the stoppers at the register, FYI. I guess people were stealing them. Seriously. Weirdos.

Here’s what you’ll need:
- glass bottle with stopper
- Olive Oil (don’t use EVOO because I read the Extra Virgin adds flavors that will compete with your added herb(s) )
- Herb of Choice – If using rosemary, a little goes a long way. I just used a sprig per bottle. For Basil, 4 cups of fresh basil leaves per 2 cups olive oil.

The Rosemary Olive Oil is super simple:
- Wash & thoroughly dry the rosemary.
- Heat olive oil through, but do not simmer or boil. Just heated.
- Put rosemary in bottle & pour in oil.

- Leave for a day or longer depending on hour potent you want your oil to be.

Basil Olive Oil from Epicurious (check it out here)
4 cups Fresh Basil Leaves
2 cups olive oil

- Combine basil and olive oil in a blender.
- Puree the mixture until smooth.
- In a saucepan, simmer the olive oil and basil puree over medium heat for 45 seconds.


- Pour the heated mixture through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl to remove the basil.

- Let the mixture sit for a few hours.

- Pour the oil into an airtight jar. (don't include the dark liquid at the bottom of the bowl, which is water mixed with finely ground basil)
I whipped up some cute little labels, while I was at it. Here’s a close-up:

Pretty cute, I know.

The good news is that you can hop over here and download them for FREE!