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 loved Cesar salads until I realized how calorie-laden they were. I’m sure making the dressing from scratch helps cut down on this a lot, I’ll have to try it sometime 🙂
beantownbaker — May 22nd, 2013 @ 12:34 pm
It’s still pretty calorie-heavy with the olive oil and egg yolks. But at least it’s all make from scratch!
I love home made dressings 🙂 I make my own each week if I can. I’ll have to try this one!
I made this then my kids and I ate caesar salads using this dressing a few minutes ago. It’s really good! I did leave out the dijon mustard (not a fan of mustard so its rare to find any derivative of it in my house). I also subbed Apple Cider Vinegar for the Red Wine Vinegar. My little one (4 yrs old) loves it! I do have a couple of questions though… Are canned, store bought anchovies raw? How long does this dressing last in the fridge? Is it at all the same or close enough without the anchovies (they are extremely high in sodium)? Thanks for this! If only I could tweak it to a low sodium, non-raw version. I’d be set!! But then it wouldn’t be caesar dressing now, would it?!?
beantownbaker — June 21st, 2013 @ 2:24 pm
Ha good point! I don’t think anchovies in a jar are raw… I could be wrong on that though. You definitely could leave them out, but you would want to add some salt. I personally love the flavor they give as well.
Hi- I make ceaser dressing with raw egg yolks. Most postings say this is harmful after more than a few days I think they say four at the most due to bacteria. You mention three weeks the dressing can last? Are these pasteurized egg yolks?
Thanks Anne