Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Homemade Vanilla

As I was looking through the pinterest pages the other day I found a homemade gift pin that included homemade vanilla extract.  I was intrigued.  Can't find the pin, even though I swear I pinned it, but hey I did see it.  Since the holiday season is among us, and handmade gifts need to start being made I am on it.

Since I lost the pin I had to find a recipe, but it turns out vanilla extract is super simple to make.  Why have I been paying so much over the years for this stuff?

I found long vanilla beans and bottles on amazon, then went to the store and bought vodka.  Funny story, I don't know when I have ever purchased hard liquor before and our store has a roving liquor/wine lady who helps you.  Well I must have looked confused as all get out because she zipped right over.  Since we were not looking a beer I didn't really have a CLUE what the better deal was, and that was really all I was looking for; a good deal.  I knew I had a coupon on my app thingy, but she wasn't in the mood to give me time to compare and such.  She tried to sell me kettle one, which I am sure is a great vodka, but truly, couldn't tell you, until I told her what I was doing.  Then it was to the Smirnoff and I was out of there.

So I cleaned out my bottles, sliced my vanilla beans and added the vodka and beans to the bottles.  From what I read online this is one of those it gets better with time, so I had to get it started now for giving in December.

I must say this is a relatively inexpensive and EASY homemade gift.

Here is what I have so far:
 This was the first day.  No color, just sitting in the vodka extracting....
Now it is starting to look like vanilla extract!  I can't wait to try it!

What are you making for the holidays?

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