Get a Head Start on Your Holiday Baking!

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking; “Are you kidding me?! It’s only May!!!” Just hear me out. This weekend my dad and I made homemade vanilla extract! It was unbelievably easy, and gave me one more reminder of how unnecessarily dependent we have become on things to “make life easier”. Well, unfortunately those things are forcing us to work longer hours just to pay for the conveniences. Now that’s not very convenient now is it? You know what is convenient? Making homemade vanilla extract.

Here’s what you need:

Vanilla beans (1 bean for every 6oz of vodka)

Vodka (the higher proof, the better the vanilla) (side note; you can use pretty much any type of hard liquor like rum, brandy, everclear, etc…)

1 or more containers (preferably a dark container as it makes for a better vanilla, but any sealable jar or bottle will work)

That’s it! Told you it was unbelievably easy! ;)


Directions:

You have two options: You can either cut your vanilla beans into equal sections and put them in the bottle, OR you can cut a slit in each bean starting ¼ inch from the top to a ¼ inch from the bottom, pry them open and place the bean into the bottle. If you cut the beans up, you will get little pieces and seeds floating in the bottle. It will be a stronger vanilla, but won’t look as pretty. The pieces do not hurt anything and are completely edible, just not aesthetically pleasing. I personally chose to cut a slit in my beans so that I had a cleaner looking vanilla. If you choose to cut them up, you can always strain the vanilla once it’s ready.

Anyways, take whatever container (s) you’ve chosen to use and start adding the vanilla beans. We used 1 bean for every 6oz of vodka. My dad splurged and purchased some cool amber glass bottles, which really isn’t that much of a splurge because the dark glass is better for the vanilla and the bottles can be reused over and over, so it’s really an investment. Our bottles were 8oz bottles, so we put in 1 vanilla bean and 6oz of vodka. It’s important that you leave enough head space so that you can shake it up (we’ll discuss that in a second.) Once you get the bean(s) in, measure out your vodka and pour it into the bottle over the bean(s). Put the cap on securely, and shake it for 30 seconds. Store the bottle(s) in a cool dark place. This is very important for the curing process.

Now this is the hardest part: you can’t use it for 6 months. Trust me, it is really difficult. I have those beautiful bottles sitting in my pantry calling my name. Even though you can’t use them, doesn’t mean you are done with them. For the first two weeks you have to shake them once a day for a minute or so. After the two week mark, you shaking them once a month until you hit the 6 month mark. I was kind of worried that I would forget to shake them after the excitement died down, so I simply set reminders for myself in my calendar on my phone. While doing this I realized something pretty awesome; my dad and I did this at the exact right time! Our vanilla will be ready the second week of November! Perfect timing to use it in my Thanksgiving baking and Christmas baking! Plus if I decide to give any as gifts they will be ready to go without my friends and family having to wait 6 months.

What is even better then homemade vanilla? Everlasting homemade vanilla. Once your vanilla is ready to use, whenever you use it, you can just top it off with some more vodka, which means that you won’t have to do this again for a very long time! After that VERY long time, if you start to notice that the taste of vanilla is getting weaker, you know it’s time to make some more.

It’s really fool proof, so I’m going to guess that if you notice that its getting weaker, I’m sure you could just throw in another bean and perk it right up. Since the vodka is such a high proof of alcohol, the vanilla will NOT go bad. Like I said, everlasting vanilla.

Our finished product! (I made the label!)

Just looking at this picture makes we so proud and happy!

How much money does this save you?

Well that depends. It depends on what grade of vanilla beans you get and what level of vodka you get. You can make it as cheap or as expensive as you want. You can definitely make it cheaper than what you can buy it for in the store, but if you want to splurge and a bump up the quality, it really wouldn’t be that bad, because it’s not like you are going to be purchasing this vanilla every year. It will last you for several years, so in the long run it will save you so much money even if you go with the more expensive ingredients.

Let me explain the most common vanilla beans:

Tahitian vanilla beans- Highest quality and very potent

Madagascar vanilla beans- Next highest quality and have a medium potency

Mexican vanilla beans- about the same quality as Madagascar vanilla beans just not as potent

Sometimes the beans come as a bourbon bean. This does NOT mean that they have bourbon in them. It’s just named after the place that they came from.

Let me explain the alcohol:

Vodka is the most common and most popular because it gives the purest vanilla taste. You can also use brandy, rum, everclear, etc… Each of these alcohols will give the vanilla a different flavor. For example, brandy will give it a sweeter flavoring, which could be a great addition to cinnamon rolls. Imagine serving your friends brandy vanilla cinnamon rolls! They will be your best friends! This would be great to have on hand for changing up your baking recipes, or has a vanilla sampler set to give as a gift to someone. It’s definitely NOT something that they can just pick up at the store.

Did you know:

I’m sure many of you are just like me and grab the cheapest bottle of vanilla at the store, which is usually imitation vanilla. Well, while I was working on a post last night, my husband looked up and informed me of what is in imitation vanilla extract. It both shocked and horrified us. The easiest way to explain it is how we read it on the wiki page (yes I confirmed this on other real pages): “a wood by-product usually made by soaking alcohol into wood which contains vanillin. The vanillin is then chemically treated to mimic the taste of natural vanilla.” A WOOD BY PRODUCT??? WOOD SOAKED IN ALCOHOL??? Seriously? I probably don’t think so! I can just see it now, “here is the wonderful wood by product cinnamon rolls I made for breakfast guys!” lol yum…(insert sarcasm here)

Tips:

1. Make sure you store it in a cool dark place.

2. Do NOT purchase vanilla beans in the local grocery store. I have found that the prices are outrageous! (See the resources below.)

3. You can mix and match vanilla beans for different flavor profiles.

4. Try different alcohols for different flavor profiles.

5. Make homemade labels to personalize them for yourself or as gifts.

6. Make them as gifts, and give them the recipe. You may feel the want to keep it a secret, but empowering people is the greatest gift you can give yourself and others.

7. Take any extra vanilla beans and throw them in a jar with some regular white sugar. Keep it in a cool dry place and you will have vanilla sugar, which would be absolutely amazing in your morning coffee.

8.Vanilla sugar: also a great gift and so easy!

9. Remember that most of the time making stuff instead of buying it is all about the experience. The experience of learning, learning with family members, getting everyone involved, and the quality time. Fun, entertainment, learning and a usable finished product!

Resources:

Here is the link to the type of bottle we used. This isn’t the one we got. We got a set of 8 of these from amazon. I just wanted to give you an idea of the bottles we are using.
http://www.amazon.com/Amber-Boston-Round-Glass-Bottle/dp/B007CM73OK

Here is the link to the place we got our vanilla beans:
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_nr_scat_724725011_ln?rh=n%3A724725011%2Ck%3Avanilla+beans&keywords=vanilla+beans&ie=UTF8&qid=1337152730&scn=724725011&h=5ec84cd853ff72da03fbc6d8da746304d2355acf