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hi guys I'm laa Vitali today I want to
show you something that's really easy to
make perfect for this time of year and
it makes for a great edible gift for
anyone who loves to be in the kitchen
I'm going to show you how to make some
vanilla extract it's really easy and
simple to make it's by no means an idea
but I wanted to share it with you
because one I posted a picture about 3
weeks ago on my Instagram showing you
that I was getting several bottles of
these ready for gift giving and a lot of
you asked me for a video on it and also
to remind you that if you want to make
this for gift giving at Christmas or
anytime at all you need to get it
started right now because it does need a
minimum of about 3 to four weeks before
you use it so it can steep really well
I'm going to show you what mine looks
like this is what mine looks like I did
this exactly 3 weeks ago I posted a
picture on Instagram um when I did it
and I did several bottles and if you can
see there's just vanilla beans running
through the entire thing it is
magnificent it smells incredible it's
such a beautiful gift to put a little
bow on it or I'm going to show you how
to put together a really cute basket for
someone um and this is going to be the
star in there as well it's fantastic so
I want to share with you because you
know edible gift ideas are fantastic and
I plan on sharing a few here with you
for you uh for this holiday season so if
you have any specific ones you want to
see please let leave them down below now
because I'm getting my list going okay
what you need are two ingredients you'll
need some vanilla beans these are
Madagascar vanilla beans that's what I
love to use and some vodka this is plain
vodka the only thing you need to make
sure is that it's 35% or 70 proof um
that's really really important you can
use bourbon or um other Liquors but I
like vanilla extract for its pure
vanilla punch if I use something like
bourbon it's really dark and incredible
I just don't find that I can use it in
as many things as I normally use vanilla
be uh vanilla extract in and then you're
going to need one of these bottles you
don't need this exact bottle you're
going to need bottles um you can find
these anywhere Amazon just scatter the
internet you find bottles all over the
place even like places like AC Moore any
big box stores will have bottles like
this this is an 8 oz bottle all you need
to remember is that the ratio is one
vanilla bean per 2 ounces of liquor now
I do things a little bit differently cuz
you know it's how I roll the very first
thing you want to do is take your
vanilla beans I have five vanilla beans
here because you can see two of them
were a little bit smaller so what I like
to do and it's really important that you
do this as well is you take your tip of
a knife and you just run it down like
so because what you want to do is expose
all of those vanilla beans now when I
add my 8 oz of vodka to my 8 oz bottle
it only comes to about right here which
is not enough to cover the very top of
the vanilla beans you can cut them in
half of course but what I find is
incredible is if you add four and a half
vanilla beans and then just top them off
with a little more vodka so it's a
little bit of a higher ratio vanilla
bean to vodka but it just makes it an
even deeper more incredible vanilla
extract and who's going to argue with
that so I'm just going to get all these
sliced
up and add them right in
there and then I just like to use a
funnel and then you just pour your vodka
in and you pour enough to cover the
vanilla beans completely now you don't
have to use an 8 oz bottle you can make
really big bottles of it just make sure
that you alter the amount of vanilla
beans and the Vodka that you are going
to need just get them in there slowly
cuz believe it or not it
really it sneaks up on
you here we go perfect all you need to
do put the lid on and this is what it
looks like when you first start you can
actually start to see right away way if
you look at the very bottom you can
already start to see some of those
vanilla beans and if you give it a shake
which you should be giving this a shake
every couple of days look you can
already start to see them coming out of
the beans is that incredible or what
that vanilla extract is not something ad
midly that I make all the time but I
thought you know it's the holidays it's
gift giving and who wouldn't love some
really good homemade things that they
can use throughout their season or after
Christmas or after the holiday that's
what I love this now when you give this
to somebody if you make this today you
have roughly 3 and a half almost you
know 4 weeks before you're probably
going to give it to somebody they can
start using it right away I mean I use
mine at the threee part um I mean it's
perfectly delicious and it's really deep
and it already has an incredible pungent
smell but the longer they keep it if you
tell them listen hold on to that vanilla
extract for another couple of weeks it
just gets deeper in flavor and gets
better and better it's kind of like it's
like a bottle of Fine Wine it gets
better with age it's phenomenal and I
hope that this has helped you I hope
that you make a bottle of this or two or
six or seven like I did cuz a lot of my
girlfriends are going to be receiving
this along with other goodies I would
love to know from you if you would leave
down below what do you want to see here
in Lauren kitchen for a DIY DIY edible
gift for the holiday season do you want
to see cake mixes bread mixes soup mixes
sauces baskets please leave them down
below I'm getting an entire list ready
because I'm going to give you ton more
content and a lot of fun ideas and a lot
of delicious recipes so get your vanilla
extract going hit me up on Instagram
Facebook Twitter what have you let's
chat Let's Talk holiday let's talk fun
food family all those fabulous things go
to lit.com I will have everything wrank
down for you so that you can print it
out and go hope you enjoy spending time
with me and I'll see you soon go make
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some