I came across this genius idea from, who else, the Barefoot Contessa! (also known as Ina Garten.) I faithfully watch "The Barefoot Contessa" on The Food Network and also check out all of her cookbooks from the library. The recipe for the vanilla extract was in one of her cookbooks. Get this...after you buy the initial ingredients (which are only vodka, vanilla beans, and a glass jar to hold everything) you can keep adding to the same bottle for an indefinite amount of time. Ina says she's had the same bottle of vanilla extract on a shelf in her pantry for TWENTY years!!!
Reflect for a moment on when you buy vanilla extract from the grocery store...it comes in a super tiny little bottle, and if it's pure vanilla extract (and who would buy anything but, I ask you?) it usually costs roughly an arm and a leg. Back when I'd be on a baking kick, I remember shuddering each time I had to shell out $6-$9 when I needed more extract. Heaven help me if I discovered my teeny tiny bottle was empty around the holidays, when I was thigh-deep in cooking season and the last thing...indeed the very last thing....I wanted to do was bundle up, trot out to an already-mobbed grocery store full of holiday cookers and bakers and shell out an extra $8 for another bottle of extract. My friends, the horrors of this situation are no longer!
Behold...my own vanilla extract.
Pardon the crooked nature of the photo. I don't really know what was going on. Anyway, I have been using this same bottle for 2 years, and that includes me distilling around 10 smaller bottles for friends and family, which I handed out as stocking stuffers for Christmas of 2008. Working off this larger bottle, I distill a small amount into another, more manageable bottle for everyday use. My smaller bottle is a long, thin vial with a cork top. I simply pour the vanilla from this large bottle into a funnel that goes to the smaller bottle. I bake probably more than the average person, and I only refill my smaller bottle once or twice a year. The rest of the time, the large bottle sits on a shelf in my pantry.
How do you go about making your own extract? It's simple. Buy a large bottle to contain the whole concoction. (or better yet, re-purpose an old bottle! Just make sure it seals/closes very well) Get your hands on a bottle of vodka (please go for the cheap stuff since vodka is a simple recipe and there's no variance between brands...oh yeah, I most definitely watched the 20/20 special on this!) Then, get about 12 vanilla beans. Truthfully speaking, the vanilla beans are what will set you back the most. I ended up ordering them from Amazon, of all places, because they were the cheapest there. Anyway, put all of the beans into the bottle. Pour the whole bottle of vodka (or as much as will fit in your bottle) into the bottle. Sit it on a shelf in your pantry (or somewhere that is cool and dark) for 4-6 weeks. During this time, take the bottle down once every couple of weeks and give it a gentle shake to move everything around.
Yay! Now everything has turned into vanilla extract! Pour some into a smaller jar for yourself, and get baking! On a side note, as the extract starts to dwindle, just add more vodka. The photo of my vanilla extract is right at the stage where I needed to add more vodka, as some of the beans were poking through the top of the extract. If you keep adding vodka as your supply gets low, you will be able to continuously make your own vanilla for 20 some years, just like the Barefoot Contessa! And, in all honesty, who doesn't want to be like her??
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