A couple of years ago I made homemade vanilla extract for Christmas gifts. People are still talking about it! Below is a picture of the finished product (along with some other delicious goodies from that year's Cookie Exchange).
I promise you, it's the easiest thing you've ever done in your life – but you need to get started now!
Step 1 – Buy (or order) your vanilla beans.
I just placed my order today, there are a ton of places online to buy them. I get Madagascar ones, but you can buy whichever fits your budget. You will need 13 beans for one large bottle of vanilla. One large bottle will get you about 25 small bottles for gifts.
Step 1a – Buy your Vodka.
You will need a large bottle. Mid grade stuff is fine. I just looked at my old bottle and it says it's 1.75 liters.
I can just hardly wait to run into my pastor making this little purchase! You know if it is going to happen, it will happen to me! I can see the headline in the church bulletin already, Please be in prayer for our pregnant Sunday School teacher - caught in Liquor Store!
Perhaps I should send Allen on the Vodka run. His luck, he'd run into someone from the newspaper and next week's headline would read something like, Unable to Handle Stress of City Business, Alderman Turns to the Bottle!
Sometimes, you've just gotta take one for the team. I have to have beer for my chili and vodka for my vanilla!
Check back in a few days! When my vanilla beans get here, we'll move on to Step 2!
