Christmas in July – Homemade Vanilla Extract
With just under 5 months until Christmas, it might be time to start thinking about gifts for your friends and family. That’s what I was doing about a year ago. I am definitely a big planner and had decided early in 2009 to make as many Christmas gifts as I could. Some of these gifts required quite a bit of time and some were easy to throw together. This week I’ll be sharing the gifts that I gave our family and friends last year.
The first gift came about due to a sale on Amazon. There was a great deal on 1/2 lb of vanilla beans. I started with two bottles of vodka and the vanilla beans. Once the beans were split (but not scraped) and placed in the vodka, the bottles just had to sit in a cool dark place. Every couple of weeks Hubby would pull the vodka out of the closet and shake the crap out of it. A couple months later the vanilla extract was ready to go!
I ordered some bottles online and made some labels for the bottles to finish off the look. I also placed two vanilla beans into each bottle.
I love that the vanilla extract tastes so good, has the specks of fresh vanilla beans, and will essentially never run out. If the vanilla starts running low, you can just top it off with some more vodka. As you use vanilla beans, just throw the pods in the bottle to replenish the vanilla flavor.
One Year Ago: Goat Cheese Potato Salad and Salmon with Yellow Pepper and Cilantro Pesto
Two Years Ago: Champagne Cupcakes
I am Jen the Beantown Baker. Engineer by day and baking maven by night. Hubby serves as my #1 fan and official taste tester. We got hitched back in 2006. Barefoot. In the sand. With the waves crashing behind us. It was one of the best decisions we’ve ever made. 
I made one of these once and it was grainy because I screwed up on the butter or something, your looks perfect! Must give it a try, thanks!
That looks SO good. French Silk pie is one of my favorites too, but I have never tried making it.
French Silk Pie is one of my favorites.. and it’s also one of my favorite blizzard’s at Dairy Queen! I’m going to have to give this a try..
I think I’ve had only one French Silk Pie in my lifetime. I must change that statistic haha. Your photos look fantastic.
Wow, that looks delicious! I’ve never made it before either, but I’ll have to give it a shot! And I feel your pain about the “big” sister thing…my little bro calls me shorty which took some getting used to : )
What a wonderful pie! It’s strange how I have no problem with the raw eggs in this pie, but they gross me out in spaghetti carbonara 🙂
I too love french silk pie, but have never made one. You did such a good job and made it sound simple, I will have to try making one.
This looks divine! I’m not much of a baker, which is why I love heading over to your site for inspiration!
Awww that’s so nice you baked it together 🙂 It looks amazing and so, so beautiful!
Sues
that looks so delicious!
Ive tried this pie and it was perfect. I didn’t make the crust because I needed it in a hurry so I just baked off a pie shell instead. It was breath taking. I so love this recipe.
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