Vanilla Baby!! (Homemade Vanilla Extract and Sugar)

If I knew all these years that making my own homemade vanilla extract was this easy and fun, I would done it long before now!  Here is how you do it, get your pen ready:

• Pour vodka into a bottle
• add vanilla beans
• Let sit for a few weeks shacking it up every now and then
• Strain and use

Seriously that is it.  Don’t believe me read here!!

Since I was buying Vanilla beans I wanted to make another fun vanilla treat.  Vanilla Sugar.  This one is a bit more complicated, ready??

• Cut 2 vanilla beans into half inch strips
• put in blender with a cup of sugar
• Blend for like 5 minutes
• Sift out the big pieces of vanilla bean and clumps of sugar (save these = see coffee extract below)

Very easy!  This is great to bake with, use in coffee or on toast!  The more detailed steps are here.

  These are so awesome to make and if packaged right are the cutest gifts!!

But wait there is more!

Coffee Extract

I was looking at the left over vanilla beans and sugar that were sifted out.  I had the idea of coffee extract.  So a quick google search and I had a few ideas to give it a try – Kristen Style! I boiled 2 cups of water with 4 large scoops of instant coffee and the left over vanilla beans from the vanilla sugar. I let it boil for about 10 minutes then turned of the heat and let it cool.  I filtered out the vanilla beans and bottled it.  I am looking forward to using it and seeing how it turned out. what kind of flavor it has.  I don’t keep that much strong coffee on hand so it not have the intense flavor I want – but I will let you know!!