Homemade Vanilla Extract - a True DIY Luxury!

Here's my recipe for homemade vanilla extract. They charge an astounding amount for the nice organic stuff at Whole Foods, or the People's Coop, or anywhere, when you can easily make some that is so much yummier! It's a little bit of an initial investment, but once you have the ingredients, it is very easy to do. In the long run you will be saving money, and this is so much better than anything you can buy.

Here's what you need to make your own vanilla extract:

2 empty 12 oz. Jones Soda bottles, rinsed out with very hot water. (These are just what I had that had caps that make a good seal. Any well washed small bottle with a really tight sealing screw cap will work - the point is to have a good seal, and still be able to open it up regularly.)

4 whole vanilla beans - if you have a choice, pick the ones that smell the best to you. (But, I got mine at the grocery store and they are fine.)

1 bottle cream sherry - the least expensive one that tastes good to you. I have a $5.00 bottle I got at the grocery store, and it is intriguing in the cherry sauce that goes with a nicely roasted duck -another recipe for another time- and improved by close contact with the vanilla beans. (Other people use vodka, bourbon, etc. If sherry doesn't rock your tastebuds, you can use something else. I spent time around Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, which is the heart of the sherry making world, and became fond of cream sherry's sophisticated sweet smoothness.)

Here's what you do:

1. Make sure your bottles hold a good seal, and are very clean and totally dry.

2. Put two vanilla beans into each bottle. You can slice them to let the seeds out if you like, which many recipes suggest, but I just put mine in the bottle whole and the final product is very satisfactory.

3. Fill the bottles up with your cream sherry, or other liquor of choice.

4. Label and date the bottles, and put them in a dark kitchen cabinet. Every day for a week, shake the bottles. If one the bottle caps has a tiny little leak, you will start to notice that it is getting sticky, and you can replace the cap. After a week, you can put your bottles of "vanilla extract to be" in the back of the cabinet, and make a note to shake it once a week. If you forget to shake, no problem, it will still taste just fine after a while.

5. You can smell and taste the vanilla after about two months, and start using one bottle! When you have used up the first bottle, you can fill it back up with more sherry (the vanilla beans will flavor 5 or 6 batches before it starts to fade) and start in on the second bottle, which will be even better since it will have sat with the beans longer than the first bottle.

6. This is great in coffee - 1 tsp. per cup for flavor, not an alcohol buzz! This is also the "secret ingredient" that makes my chocolate chip cookies taste better than anyone else's...and blueberry buckle, and pound cake. And, if you add a little to the egg mix that you dip bread in when making French toast - sooooo good! And of course, you can go get some little 2 or 3 oz. pretty bottles and make nice labels and give this stuff as Christmas gifts to everyone on your list who cooks, or drinks coffee....

Chocolate Truffles

Elegant, easy and so yummy! This is a luxurious treat that is delicious far beyond its simple ingredients and preparation.

2/3 cup heavy cream
12 ounces semisweet chocolate, the best you can afford, chopped very small
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or kirsch or Kalua or Grand Marnier or what have you.
1/3 cup cocoa, again the high end stuff will make it taste even better..

Heat the heavy cream just to a boil in a small sauce pan over low heat. Move off heat and add chopped chocolate and flavorings. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is all melted and everything is blended together.

Chill this mixture until it is firm but still workable. Put cocoa powder into a soup bowl. Scoop out a heaping teaspoon of the chilled truffle mix and quickly roll into a ball. Roll the ball in the cocoa powder and set onto waxed paper in the frig to chill.

For variations, you can roll the candy in chopped nuts or coconut or if you are really ambitious, dip them into more melted chocolate....

Bedo's Really Good Granola

I want to put this here so that I can find the recipe next time I want to make it... Bedo's Really Good Granola 4 C. rough cut whole oats 1.5 C. barley flakes 1.5 C. rye flakes .75 C. oat bran .25 C. flax seed 1 C. pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds) .5 C. salted hulled sunflower seeds 1 C. slivered almonds .5 C. butter .5 C. olive oil 1 C. maple syrup 1 tsp. vanilla .5 tsp. almond extract 1 C. dried cherries 1 C. yellow raisins butter or olive oil to grease 2 cookie sheets Grease two large cookie sheets with butter or olive oil. Preheat oven to 275 degrees (electric) or 250 degrees (gas). Combine all grains and seeds in very large bowl and mix well. Combine butter, maple syrup, and flavorings in small pan and heat gently until butter is just melted. Do not boil. Pour liquid over seeds and grains, mix well. Divide evenly between the two cookies sheets. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring mixture and turning pans once or twice to be sure it all gets evenly heated and cooked. After 30 minutes, turn off heat and let sit in cooling oven for 30 more minutes. Remove from oven, allow to cool completely. Mix in dried cherries and raisins, and store in airtight container. Excellent eating out of hand or with milk or yogurt. To make trail mix, add M&Ms or semi-sweet chocolate chips!