Christmas in July – Homemade Vanilla Extract

Monday, July 26, 2010

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

Better than Store Bought, Family Favorites, Gift Ideas, How-To

13 comments »

9 Responses to “Bacon wrapped, Goat cheese and almond stuffed Dates”

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Joelen — August 1, 2008 at 8:28 pm

Now I think bacon wrapped dates are amazing… but stuffed with goat cheese & almond?! Yum! I wish I knew of this before my Tapas party last weekend 🙂
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Nate — August 21, 2008 at 8:06 pm

These are absolutely amazing!
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ttfn300 — August 27, 2008 at 2:53 pm

wow sooooo good, recently had something like these (maybe minus the goat cheese?) at a reception. but i love goat cheese. need to buy me some dates 🙂
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4

gaga — December 17, 2008 at 5:39 pm

Yay for goat cheese! It really does make them better, doesn’t it?
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aleta meadowlark — March 17, 2009 at 2:24 pm

Okay, so I had these babies at a party in rural Massachusetts this weekend, and I have no idea who made them (they were part of a HUGE spread and like 100 people brought food), and I’m wondering, given your proximity, whether or not I may have possibly eaten your delights unknowingly?
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Jen — March 17, 2009 at 3:36 pm

Aleta – it was not me, although it sounds like a great party. These always get gobbled up anywhere we take them!
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biz319 — July 30, 2009 at 5:16 pm

do you think these would be good at room temperature?

I am going to an outdoor concert next week and wanted to bring some finger food!
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Jen — July 30, 2009 at 5:19 pm

These are awesome at room temperature. We’ve made them a ton. You can make them and refrigerate for a couple days before grilling/broiling, you can also go ahead and cook them just leave them at room temperature. I prefer them at room temperature actually.
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Beryl — December 2, 2015 at 5:42 pm

Would you imagine using some milder-tasting cheese like Brie tasting good?