With its smokey, richly flavoured, high alcohol content, whiskey makes the perfect vehicle for homemade vanilla extract. There's nothing neutral about this vanilla extract, so use it where you'd love a little bite: in whipped cream, pecan pie, fruit crisps, and the like. This makes a wonderful and unique hostess gift for the holidays.
Ingredients
1clean and empty 750 ml liquor bottle with a tight fitting lidor a glass container that can hold about 3 cups of liquid with a tight fitting lid.
5-20whole vanilla beansdepending on how strong you'd like the vanilla flavour
about 3 cups whiskeydepending on the container you use
Instructions
Split the vanilla beans lengthwise then in half. Slide them into the empty liquor bottle. The fewer the beans you use, the weaker the vanilla presence will be. I like a LOT of vanilla and stuff as many into the bottle as I can while still leaving enough room for the beans to be covered by liquid and the lid to be added when I'm done.
Insert a funnel into the top of the bottle and pour in as much whiskey as you can, being sure to cover the beans completely. Add the lid, shake vigorously for about 2 minutes, then place in a dark, cool place for at least one week, shaking the bottle daily, before using. The longer the extract ages, the more mellow the whiskey and the more pronounced the vanilla will be.
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.