[Music]
well happy vlogmas day 15 guys and I am
doing a highly requested video on how I
make my homemade vanilla extract so I'm
super excited to share this with you
guys um because I know there's been a
ton of Interest especially since um I
posted how I make my homemade brown
sugar which I will leave that link up
above I think think it's on this side I
never know if it's on this side or that
side one of these sides will have an
iard for you with that VD video in it so
I need to fill my vanilla extract cuz as
you can see hopefully it's not too the
sun is just bright and sunny and with
all our snow we got about a foot and a
half of snow out there it is just so
bright in my kitchen today so as you can
see there hopefully my vanilla is way
low down there so I need to fill it I
want to show you guys what my vanilla
extract looks
like um when it's been sitting for a
while and you can see there it gets
really really dark and really rich and
it's amazing you guys this is It's
unlike anything that you will buy in a
bottle at the store okay it's incredible
The Taste the flavor is just so
intense and um just to show show you
guys because I pulled it up on
Amazon if you guys can see that past the
glare this is mccormix vanilla and for
16 oz it is
$26 it is
$26.98 you guys for 16 oz of vanilla
extract that's insane so um especially
since it just it's not even going to
taste this good this is a great great
thing to make not only for yourself but
to give away as gifts if you know
somebody who bakes a lot and who can use
it this is just a very thoughtful I
think gift um the bottles I bought the
bottles for a dollar at
Joann's I never knew Joann's had a h
dollar section but they do in the very
back of the store at least on my store
it's in the very back they've got a
whole dollar section there and that's
where I picked up these bottles and
they've got these little tops with kind
of like the little uh cork screw in it
the little rubber it's a rubber gasket
and it holds it closed and um for a
dollar you can't beat it I wish they
were dark because of course if you keep
your vanilla extract in a dark bottle
it's even better but mine it's in the
very back of my very dark pantry closet
so um it doesn't get a lot of light and
um this one here has been sitting I
probably haven't used this one in oh
about a year here so this one's ready to
go what I do is I rotate mine so of
course this one was used first so this
one now will go to the end of the line
I'll use this one up and then um
probably go back to this one but um I
rotate them so I only use one bottle at
a time and that way the other two
bottles can kind of just sit there and
get rich and wonderful um I use 100% 100
100% vodka so you want to use you know a
pretty good quality um vodka 100% or
higher is better um but I've read where
100% is perfect so that's what I use my
vanilla beans I keep in a mason jar and
they are
in a um freezer lock Ziploc baggie so
this is where I keep my extra vanilla
beans I will leave a link down below to
a v vanilla beans or vanilla products
USA I think it is um where you can buy
vanilla uh beans in bulk if you're
interested in that I know especially at
this time of year you can usually find
vanilla beans actually I'm going to I'm
going to leave one or two out just to
show you guys
here how I do it
so it's really easy guys it's vanilla
beans and vodka
now there is some debate on whether or
not you should split your vanilla beans
or not um when I did my
research I ran across a vanilla bean
expert who said um you should leave them
whole and that way you can reuse them
and they will break down over time if
you split them they're basically one use
only and you're not going to get any
more flavor out of them so what I like
to do is I just like to add them whole
to my bottles and then let them break
down let me see if you guys can see this
can get this to pick up in the
camera um let's
see I don't know if you guys can see
that can you see the Speckles see the
speckles in my jar that's vanilla bean
Speckles ooh there you go can you see
that that's the vanilla bean breaking
down so many times when I add this
especially to something that's white you
can see the little vanilla bean speckles
in them so I like that and um like I
said I've been I've been making vanilla
now for um I've been making vanilla
homemade vanilla extract now for a
little over 2 years and um this has
worked for me and as you can see my
vanilla is beautiful and um so now I'm
going to show you how to make it all
right so what you're going to need is
you're going to need some vodka and
you're going to need a funnel don't try
to do it without it um this funnel
actually comes from from my um my Steam
Mop I don't use it I don't need it for
my Steam Mop um so I'm using it for my
vanilla now all right so I'm just going
to set these two bottles aside and now
this is what I would do if this was a
fresh bottle if you're making this new
from scratch go ahead and place in now I
think I started with six or eight
vanilla beans and then every time I
refill it um I'd like to just add a
couple more if I need to um um you'll
start seeing that they'll start you know
kind of breaking down like like this
bottle still has quite a bit of full
vanilla um beans in it where this one
they're kind of breaking down a bit so
all you're going to do of course
especially if um your bottle is new
you're going to just drop your vanilla
beans I mean guys this can't be any
easier than
that put in
your funnel and then with your
vodka
go ahead and add
it to your
bottle and that
is
it you see
that and now it'll be see-through like
this but over time it will
become to the point where you can't see
the vanilla beans at all in
there now you're not going to want to
touch this for at least 6 weeks remember
the longer you can let your your vanilla
extract sit the better it becomes like I
said this is going to be incredible this
has been sitting for over a year so this
is going to be H it's going to be
amazing when I start using it um
actually I've already used it in my um
did I use it in my
gingerbread yesterday I used something
this week and it was so good and the
smell is incredible so what you're going
to want to do is let this six sit for 6
weeks you're not going to want to touch
it what you are going to want to do
though is at least give it a little
shake at least once a day so I'm always
in my pantry cabinet so um giving it a
little Shake is no big deal to me you
just just kind of shake it around and
set it back on the Shelf if you're using
a clear bottle you want to make sure
it's in a dark cool place um like I said
mine's in the very back of my P entry
over on the side so um it's up against
the wall and it's done very good there
so um while I'm here with you I might as
well fill up my other bottle and these
two bottles now are going to
go towards the
back I've got a vanilla bean in my
funnel and I won't touch these until I'm
out of my other one and by the time that
happens it'll be well over 6 weeks
possibly even longer
and um as you go just add a couple more
vanilla beans here and there um I'm not
going to add any to this one because
this bottle is really full but um that's
all I do is I plop in you know two three
uh vanilla beans every time I fill them
so um and then I just keep the process
going so this like I said will go in my
cabinet in the back and I will start
using this one I like having multiple
bottles because I can rotate through I
use vanilla a lot in um in my baking um
I have not bought store-bought vanilla
in over 2 years and absolutely
incredible super easy um especially I
mean if you if you have a bar at home
you know like in your basement or
something you probably already have the
Vodka on hand it doesn't take a whole
lot you don't need to buy a whole big
bottle like this um but it's always good
to have on hand anyway but like I said
this is just um this is just a great
gift to give somebody you could you know
I mean this is some love right here so
like I would give one of these along
with a mason jar full of um instant
pancake mix and that's a great gift you
know so um yeah well I hope you enjoyed
this video and I hope this inspires you
to to um make your own vanilla extract
and give it a try you'll never buy store
bought again I promise you guys if you
try this you're you can never go back I
could never go back especially paying
$26 for a bottle of vanilla that's
insane to me so um this is way wa it's
just much more fun and to do anyway and
to be able to say that you make your own
it's just one less thing that you're
dependent on for the store the you know
big companies for so so I like it I
enjoy it if you make your own home uh
homemade vanilla extract comment down
below encourage others to give it a try
and uh I will be seeing you tomorrow for
vlogmas day 16 guys I hope you are
enjoying my Vlog every day in
December and uh tomorrow I will probably
be back with my old-fashioned
traditional gingerbread that I made last
night I kind of thought that the recipe
that I used here's a here's a look the
kids really loved it I thought it was a
little bit dark on the molasses so I'm
going to try to ulter the recipe just a
little uh because I think that to me the
Molasses really hid a lot of the other
flavors of the the cloves and the um and
the cinnamon so I'm going to play around
with it today I'll probably turn on the
camera when I do and we can make it
together and kind of figure it out
together um and so yes that's probably
probably going to be tomorrow's Vlog uh
for you guys and I still have to make
English muffin bread I still have not
gotten to that and I still am craving it
in the morning so I need to get to that
too so anyway I will see you guys
tomorrow I hope you're enjoying and um
I'll talk to you soon bye guys