homemade

Technically I haven't had "Christmas" yet. My family decided to postpone gift giving for about a month until my adorable sister and baby niece could get here. Luckily this means we got to hit all the after Christmas sales. I am totally ok with us doing this every year from now on.

So since we postponed, James & I spent Christmas day with his family. I made his mom & grandma some homemade vanilla extract.

These cost me about $7 a piece. For that much vanilla I'd say it's a pretty awesome deal.

What you'll need:
Liquor (Vodka is most popular, but I prefer using spiced rum.)
Vanilla beans (Best deal I could find. About 30 cents per bean. Grade B works just as well as grade A, and they're a better deal.)
A glass bottle with a lid.

You only need 1 bean per 1/3 cup of liquor. I like to make my vanilla directly in the liquor bottle. All you have to do is cut your beans in half (lengthwise if you want it to be pretty, or cut in smaller pieces if you want it to be ready sooner) and drop them in. Make sure the lid is on tight. Keep it in you cabinet for about 3 months or until the liquory smell is gone and it's a dark brown color. It's best to shake it lightly about once a week.

Since I didn't have 3 months to wait for the vanilla, I made the labels for mine on picnik and wrote on the date that it would be ready! Then I covered the label on the neck of the bottle using a piece of ribbon.

That's it. Easy-peasy.