Do you know how easy it is to make your own vanilla extract? I’ll tell you. It’s easier than apple pie.

And do you know what makes great gifts? Apple pie and you guessed it…

Homemade Vanilla Extract

• 1 Liter Vodka
• 5 Vanilla Beans

Warm up the vodka in a medium size sauce pan.  While the vodka is heating, take a swig of vodka cut the vanilla beans down the middle and extract the seeds. Place the bean pods and seeds into a glass jar, or do what I did and just use the empty vodka bottle. Pour the vodka into your selected container, seal, a give it a little shake. Put the bottle aside for about 2 weeks, strain, and then funnel into small bottles decorated with ridiculously sweet little stickers–but don’t go overboard because that’s just tacky.

Now let’s address your questions:

Why did you heat up the vodka? While I am not a mad scientist, I have a hunch the heating process enhances the flavor of the beans and speeds up the brewing process. If you have more time on your hands, like a month or more, you can skip the heating process and just add the vanilla beans to the vodka and let it brew slowly.

This is such a great idea, but where did you find the little bottles? Awww, shucks! I found the bottles (and the stickers) at a craft store and I noticed Whole Foods had some bottles in their bulk spice aisle, too–which is where I found my vanilla beans, coincidentally.

Do you think I could get this done in time to give some away for Christmas gifts? Yes! It takes about 2 minutes to prep and 2 weeks to brew so get crackin.

Is this recipe organic? If you find organic vodka and vanilla beans on sale like I did it is.

Would this vanilla extract be good to give to friends and neighbors along with some fun things like an oven mitt, a cookie sheet, some recipes using vanilla, a cute mixing spoon, or some cookies? No. It would make a great gift.

Now I really must go whip up a quick vanilla protein shake and hit the bottle, I mean, gym!