I like to gift friends and colleagues homemade cookies and candies at Christmas. As I was doing all of my baking this past Christmas – and going through the small bottles of store-bought vanilla, I decided to gift homemade vanilla next year. Vanilla is not easy to get in Indonesia, so it will be a welcome treat. And starting now, ensures a good strong vanilla for next holiday season!
I ordered a pack of 25 Madagascar vanilla beans from Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PMUNERY/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I also ordered these swing top glass bottles. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07VPT4XXB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I bought a 1-liter bottle of Absolut vodka.
Once the supplies arrived in the mail, it was time to get to work making homemade Vanilla Extract for Christmas!
I washed the bottles and let them dry.
The beans were too long to fit in the bottles, so I cut them to shorten them first, then I slit them open and put about 5 beans (total) in each bottle. I don’t have a funnel, so I poured 8 ounces of vodka into a measuring cup with a spout and poured the vodka into the bottles, ensuring that the beans were covered. Combined, the beans and vodka filled 4 and ½ bottles.
I closed up the bottles and now they are stored in a cool dry place (as cool and dry as I can get in Indonesia!) and are ‘brewing’ away!
They will be ready to use as early as June, so I plan to use the ‘funky’ one with the tall bean and extra vodka for my own use. The others will be kept until December, to be used as gifts. Who will not LOVE homemade vanilla extract for Christmas?? I’ll have to design a cute tag for the bottles when I’m ready to give them away and I’ll be sure to update the blog with more photos!