I found this wonderful gem on Pinterest the other day and immediately thought of what nice Christmas presents homemade vanilla would make. Luckily for me Beanilla was having a sale 25 Madagascar vanilla beans for $25 with free shipping! What a steal! And that was just enough to make 8 bottles of vanilla.
When I got the vanilla I was surprised at the quality. These are the strongest smelling, largest, and most plump vanilla beans I have ever seen!
I got my glass bottles (with a cork for each one) for $1 each at Micheal's, and as you can see I didn't skimp on the quality of vodka either, lol.
Following the recipe, I split each vanilla bean down the middle and put three in each jar with a cup of vodka. I had an extra bean so it went in my sugar jar (yum!).
I was worried about the cork not sealing properly (these babies need to cure for at least 2 months), so I dripped some Christmas-ey looking wax over the top of each one. I was disappointed at how this step turned out, but still excited overall. The recipe says to store them in a cool dark place for at least 2 months shaking the bottle occasionally.
You're supposed to have "never-ending" vanilla extract with this recipe, as long as you top the bottle off with vodka every now and then. One of those bottles will be mine for sure, and I might end up breaking it out earlier than the rest for Thanksgiving this year, but the rest will be waiting until I put Christmas baskets together.
Vanilla Beans $25
Bottles $8
Vodka $12
$45/8= less than $6 each
I'd say not bad for everlasting-vanilla-extract.
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