Homemade Vanilla Extract

I make it no secret that I’m not the best baker. I have a few things under my belt that I do ok with, but I am trying to grow in this area. One thing I do know is that quality of ingredients matter! And a good vanilla extract can make all the difference. When I was reading into what went into making my own, I was shocked to see how easy it was! Real vanilla extract is expensive to buy at the store. And you only get a little bottle. Making your own is not only easy but you get a way better bang for your buck! Yes, good vanilla beans aren’t cheap. But you can make them stretch! I’ve even seen people make their own extract, use some, and then top it off with more booze, stretching it even further! I knew I wanted to make some for myself. And when I grabbed a 6 pack of bottles to store it in, why not make more and give it as gifts around the holidays?!

What you need:

• Glass bottle or jar. I prefer something easy to pour from. I grabbed this 6 pack of 8.5 oz bottle {here}. You can definitely go bigger or smaller. This recipe is pretty fool proof!

• Vanilla beans. I went to a local spice shop and grabbed a really nice big bean. It was so gorgeous! Then when I realized I was going to make more as gifts, I grabbed some more {here}.

• Booze! I went with vodka. That’s standard. And don’t spend money here. You can go cheap, it doesn’t matter! Other options would be bourbon or rum. I went with vodka being this was my first time making it. I may experiment more next time.

How to make:

• I first washed the glass bottles well and let them dry completely. No one wants a dirty bottle!

• Slice the vanilla beans down long ways. Not all the way through. Just one layer so it can open up to all the good stuff.

• Place your beans in your bottles. This is where I read TONS of varying information. How many beans per bottle??? So many different answers! For the 8.5 oz bottles, I ended up doing about 4 beans per bottle. I really think you can get away with a little less.

• Top off the bottles with your booze of choice.

• Seal the bottles up and store them away!

• Let sit anywhere from 2 months to a year or longer. I plan to let these be for a good six months before using. If giving as a gift, you can leave a cute label saying “don’t use until x date” if you run out of time (I wouldn’t know anything about procrastination lol).

• You want to give the bottles a good shake once a week or when you remember.

• Enjoy!!!

Clean bottles ready to go!

Set up and ready!

Slice longways to expose all that goodness!

The difference between the beans I bought on Amazon (left) and the bean I bought locally (right). That local bean is cut in half to fit in the bottle. It was huge! Both of these will produce a good extract.

Booze of choice. I could have gone wayyy cheaper. I suggest you do!

And now we wait :)

This is my first time making this and I’m so excited to reap the rewards! I will make sure to update this post as I learn new tricks and get more solid information on how my extract making journey went!

Have a blessed day!!

Love, Nikki