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. 
YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY! I love this idea!! 🙂
Perfect! I crave sugar cookies a lot but just can’t handle the rolling out process sometimes.
These look yummy! My kids are always asking me to make sugar cookies and I start out strong and by the end am regretting making them. This may be the perfect tradeoff.
Yum! These look delicious and way easier than frosting individual cookies!
What a great idea – I rarely take the time to make cookies since bars are so much faster and just as tasty. I love all the sprinkles too 🙂
Just the recipe I was looking for – I may have to try it this week as an Easter treat for my coworkers.
Anyone who is thinking about making these definitely should. They’re seriously SO GOOD. I just made them Sunday and I’m making them again for Easter.
I had the same reaction when they popped up in my google reader – and now again this time. They are on my list!
I keep seeing these and now I must try them. I love, no crave, sugar cookies all the time.
I will be making this soon! Looks incredible!
Thanks for sharing!
Yum, I’ve made these before. They are excellent and soooo much easier. Yours looks good. I’m going to try them with buttercream instead of cream cheese frosting next time.
~ingrid
I think it will be better to put up the size of the baking pan too.
Thank you very much for the recipe. =D