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’ve been brewing some vanilla extract since about August or September, and I can’t wait to give it to my friend who also loves to bake (and who, coincidentally, just pinned something on Pinterest about making her own vanilla – at least I know she’ll like it!). I need to find a nice bottle for it first though, and she’ll have to be OK that a label may be part 2 of her gift in January. I’m also going to make my sister some of the Fire Roasted Ketchup.
Last year I did the salted caramel sauce for the same friend, and it was amazing. It took me 3 tries to get the taste right (I kept overcooking it and it tasted a little burnt) but it was totally worth it!
beantownbaker — December 9th, 2013 @ 5:48 pm
Oh the homemade vanilla will be perfect for her! And, once you have one batch, you can just keep adding to it so you never run out of vanilla.
I’d love to be on the receiving end of these 😉 great ideas!
Oh! I love making homemade gifts too! This year i made a ton of stuff: orange ginger marmalade, blueberry jam, lemon curd, vanilla sugar, caramelised walnuts, spiced honey, cardamom coffee beans and orange&clove loose leaf tea. Im working on my mustard and your recipe sounds nice!
Love your blog, i always make your blueberry curd, yum!
beantownbaker — January 4th, 2014 @ 10:38 am
Wow – you made a LOT this year! I bet people loved all the homemade gifts. Thanks for reading (and commenting!)