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. 
How big a bottle of Guinness, please? (I’m not a beer person and I never stock beer so I’d really love to know, please!)
Can’t wait to try this recipe. Thank you, and warm regards,
jill
beantownbaker — July 14th, 2013 @ 4:16 pm
Sorry, I’ll update the recipe. A bottle of Guinness has 11.2oz in it.
Now if only I knew where to procure mustard seeds from… I love mustard and would love to make some at home, too!
beantownbaker — July 16th, 2013 @ 8:36 am
I buy mine at Penzey’s. We have one really close to our house in Cincinnati now, but they also have a website you can order from. Or you could check out Amazon.
I bookmarked this. I’ve been wondering how to make mustard from scratch. Thanks!
beantownbaker — July 16th, 2013 @ 8:36 am
It’s definitely worth making at home!
WOW! This does sound easy!
beantownbaker — August 1st, 2013 @ 3:17 pm
It’s beyond easy 🙂
My boyfriend loves Guinness mustard. We used to be able to buy it from a farm shop in the UK, but I think they’ve stopped making it. So glad I found this recipe, I made it last night. Can’t wait to see how it turns out. Thanks so much for posting!
beantownbaker — December 9th, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
Let me know what you guys think of it! I’m in the process of making a HUGE batch to package up for holiday gifts for friends.
He loved it. It made quite a lot as well, so I’ve already handed a few jars to friends as a gift! Really tasty x
He loved it! It made quite a lot as well, so I’ve already handed a few jars to friends as gifts. Really tasty x
beantownbaker — December 10th, 2013 @ 4:56 pm
So glad you guys liked it!
You’ve won me major brownie points with this!! He now thinks I’m the best girlfriend ever!
beantownbaker — December 17th, 2013 @ 10:57 am
That’s awesome to hear!!
Could you hot water bath can this?
beantownbaker — January 2nd, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
Yep! I did just that for holiday gifts this year.
10 minutes processing time?
beantownbaker — January 4th, 2014 @ 10:35 am
Yep, that’s what I did.