Posted in Recipes

Home-made vanilla extract & home-made sherry vanilla extract! :) Great food gifts! ( Gluten-Free option! )

Posted on by Sophie

About 1 month ago, I made 2 home-made vanilla extracts. Normally, I make it with a good vodka. I use 3 vanilla beans in 1 cup of liquid. You will have to wait for about 1 month, before these 2 vanilla extracts are ready. Every day, you need to shake the bottle up & down to infuse the vanilla beans into the liquid. After 1 month, your vanilla extracts, will be darker in colour & will scent fantastic! 🙂 I made these beauties:

Home-made vanilla extract & home-made sherry vanilla extract! Tasty food gifts!
Home-made vanilla extract & home-made sherry vanilla extract!
Tasty food gifts!

Just, look at these 2 beauties! Excellent food gifts! Oooh yeahhh,…:)

This is how I did it:

Recipe: For 2 different vanilla extracts! 

Ingredients:

* For the vodka vanilla extract:

3 big fat vanilla beans, I used Madagascar vanilla beans

1 cup of a good vodka, I used Eristoff/ You can make this Gluten-free, if you use a Gluten-Free vodka like Smirnoff

* For the sherry vanilla extract:

3 big fat vanilla beans, I used Madagascar vanilla beans

1 cup of a good sherry, I used Domeq, Dry fino sherry/ All distilled alcohols are gluten-free! 

Method:

1. For the vodka vanilla extract:

First, sterilize your pots where you will keep your vanilla beans & liquid in, also the lids. Do this 1 cycle in your dishwasher or boil the pot & fitted lids for 10 minutes into boiling water, drain them well but do not touch the interiors! 

Take your 3 fat vanilla beans, with a sharp knife, cut them lengthways through & cut each side into several pieces. Also scrape the seeds out & place them into the fitted jam pot. Put everything in it & pour 1 cup of a good vodka in it. Place the fitted lid well on & shake the jam pot up & down a few times. Label it with the date & place into a dark dry cupboard & leave it there for about 1 month. Shake your jam pot up & down, every day. Your vanilla extract will get darker each week, until it is darkened like above. Then, sieve your vanilla extract, above, clean fitted bottles & let the smaller vanilla seeds get through. Label it or give it away as a nice food gift! 🙂

2. For the sherry vanilla extract: the same way. 

First, sterilize your pots where you will keep your vanilla beans & liquid in, also the lids. Do this 1 cycle in your dishwasher or boil the pot & fitted lids for 10 minutes into boiling water, drain them well but do not touch the interiors! 

Take your 3 fat vanilla beans, with a sharp knife, cut them lengthways through & cut each side into several pieces. Also scrape the seeds out & place them into the fitted jam pot. Put everything in it & pour 1 cup of a good sherry in it. Place the fitted lid well on & shake the jam pot up & down a few times. Label it with the date & place into a dark dry cupboard & leave it there for about 1 month. Shake your jam pot up & down, every day. Your vanilla extract will get darker each week, until it is darkened like above. Then, sieve your vanilla extract, above clean fitted bottles & let the smaller vanilla seeds get through. Label it or give it away as a nice food gift! 🙂

You can use your leftover vodka vanilla beans in this lovely special oatmeal recipe: Vegan Vanilla Chai oatmeal, with a Gluten-free option or you can whizz them up in a food processor & add them to normal or muscovado sugar to make vanilla sugar. Put them well into the sugar & after a while , you have a decent vanilla sugar!!!! 😉

You can find many tasty recipes here on my blog, where I use vanilla extract in, like Sophie’s vegan & Gluten-Free granola or but not yet where I use my sherry vanilla extract. I think it will be great in cakes, in  muffins or waffle batters,  in berry sauces with a hint of sherry vanilla,..I will be thinking of more uses like this,…I will keep you all posted about my inventions! 😉 ♥ Stay Tuned & subscribe by email! Join 1,800 email subscribers now!!! It is free!!!! Click the link here below to subscribe!!!

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You might like:

1. Home-made limoncello!

2. Home-made vanilla sugar!

3. Home-made rhubarb-orange-ginger vodkas!

4. Vegan pumpkin carob brownies using sherry vanilla extract!

Author:

Hello! My name is Sophie & I love to cook & bake mostly healthily but with a twist! There is a bit of gardening & travelling in here too! Enjoy! :)

96 thoughts on “Home-made vanilla extract & home-made sherry vanilla extract! :) Great food gifts! ( Gluten-Free option! )”

  2. you are brilliant to use sherry!!!! I am so excited to learn this! (can you tell? haha)

    I’ve just bought two large bottles of vodka as I’m making vanilla extract as Christmas presents. And lol, I just used a bunch in crabapple liqueur and the cocktail I posted last night. Seems we’re all thinking vodka.

    As always, love your packaging. Wish I could have you help me package and label my vanilla extract gifts.

  4. I’ve been wanting to make my own vanilla extract for ages (I even have the empty bottle all ready) your post has really inspired me to get down to this soon (hm, it should then be ready just in time for winter baking)

  6. I make my own vanilla (necessity as well as frugal) but love the idea of sherry vanilla too.

  8. Great idea Sophie…homemade vanilla extract. Yes, they sure make a nice gift.
    Thanks for the idea…hope you are having a fabulous week 😀

  10. I always get vanilla beans from family members who travel a lot. They know I like to make “things” in the kitchen. And sometimes I find it easier to just use extract, but I’ve never made it myself, how silly, right? I wonder if I can do something with “older” beans that have dried up, but maybe the flavor has dissipated? Maybe next time, then. Thanks for the how-to, Sophie! Hugs & Love, Angie

  12. Wonderful! I had a recipe to make raspberry extract, but I never tried it. As I remember, it was similar with your recipe (using raspberry instead of vanilla, of course). Thanks for sharing! 🙂

    1. Great idea, Adrian & why not add vanilla beans & raspberries together or blueberries, some sugar & vanilla with vodka?

  13. I’m back! 😀
    Darling Sophie, have you already started making Holiday gifts? How lovely!
    Good vanilla extracts are so~ expensive and this post is so valuable.
    I just got up-to-date with your posts. Clever/delicious recipes one-after-another. 😀

    1. yeahh,..thanks, dear Fae! It was also because I ran out of my previous home-made vanilla extract! 😉

  17. I have been wanting to make my own vanilla extract for a while. I’d like to try this. I do hope I can remember to shake the bottle everyday. I think these would make fantastic Christmas gifts xx

  20. What a great idea Sophie. I’ve been meaning to try my own liqueurs and vanilla essence for ages but I haven’t got around to it as yet. I’d love to make a raspberry vodka! Will check out your other links asap xxx

  26. What happens to the vodka alcohol content? Does it still remain alcoholic and what should I use this for? Thanks for sharing!

    1. I think it stays a bit into the vanilla extract but in every recipe you only use 1 teaspoon or so & I haven’t felt bizarr,… 😃😃 this is how you make vanilla extract at home & I use it in many dessert or breakfast recipes like mentioned above.

      1. Thanks. I shall make some when I get some vanilla pods. Can I use it for baking as well?

  27. It never occurred to me to make my own extracts, Sophie. What a marvelous idea. And sherry vanilla extract? Sounds divine!

  28. Yes, Liz, I also use it in baking like in muffins, in scones, in tarts, in pancakes, in waffels,…

  31. Fantastic idea, you sure think and plan way ahead. The problem I would have is to remember to shake the bottles every day.

    1. No, not really. It was that my old vanilla extract was nearly used up that I had to make a new one. X

  32. The sherry-vanilla one sounds amazing. And just look at the color. Definitely a perfect hostess gift for the holidays.

  34. I always make my own vanilla – I cannot remember when I used store bought. Such a better quality. I like how you store yours in the fancy bottles. Very nice! I never used sherry – gives me inspiration to try other combinations. 🙂

  35. Sophie! Those look terrific. Please send two bottles of each to Boulder. 😀

  36. These look very interesting. I’ve never tried to make my own, but it would probably taste pretty good 🙂 Thanks for sharing!

  37. Brilliant post for the weekend, I’ve always wanted to make my own vanilla extract since most of them are so expensive these days. And a good vodka is fabulous! The bottles are cute!

  39. Thank you for this tutorial Sophie! This sounds like a super tasty little project…I will definitely be trying this!! What a great gift it would make for Christmas, too!!

    PS…I didn’t know Smirnoff was gluten free- score!!

  42. So fun! Would love to take this along to gift to friends who have us for dinner. I’ll have to look for some cute little bottles. thanks Sophie!

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