Make your own vanilla extract

Vanilla extract. We use it all the time. Buy it in tiny little bottles. Complain about the cost....you know the drill. Did you know you could make your own for a fraction of the cost?

You need the following basic ingredients:

Rum or vodka - first batch I made I used rum that we had for quite sometime, but not being rum drinkers never opened. If you buy it, go cheap. It doesn't matter if it's fancy or regular.

Vanilla beans - I got them from Amazon, you could also get them from Penzy's. I bought a big pack, but you really only need 3 beans which ran about $9.

Take your vanilla beans and split them long ways - don't cut through, just open them up. Put them in the bottle of booze. Shake every few days/weeks/when you come across it.Use it once it smells like vanilla.

Ta Da!

So for around $15 you have 750ml of vanilla extract. That may seem like a lot of extract, but compared to $5-8 for a small bottle, it's a steal. What to do with all of that? Bake more (!), pop it in a bottle as a hostess gift, stuff it in your favorite cook's stocking, etc. Once you've used it up or supplies are getting low just add more alcohol. The vanilla beans stay active for quite some time. If it starts losing it's punch, pop in another bean.

Thanks to Julia K for turning me on to this and getting me started with my first batch.