Vanilla Sugar

Vanilla sugar is delicious stuff. You can use it just like regular sugar (though obviously not in anything you don't want to taste vanilla-y). It's great in baked goods.

It's a great way to use up extra beans from making extract, or to avoid wasting Grade A beans that you bought for baking and then forgot about (please tell me I'm not the only one who does that occasionally).

And it's super, super-easy.

Supplies

Airtight Container

You can use just about anything, from an old Tupperware to a clean jar to a sturdy zip-top bag. Something with a wipe opening will make it easier to measure the sugar out directly from the container.

Vanilla Beans

There's no exact recipe, but I use about five beans per two cups of sugar. You can adjust up or down depending on what you have available.

Sugar

Any type of sugar works. I like organic cane sugar myself, but you can use whatever you prefer. (I'm thinking about it now and I suspect that vanilla brown sugar would be AMAZING. Note to self: Try that later.)

Tools

• Measuring cup, if you want (I eyeballed it)
• Clean cutting board
• Sharp knife

Process

OKAY.

Cut your beans in half so that they're shorter and a bit easier to work with, but don't cut them too short or it will be a pain to fish them out of the sugar later on (as long as the beans aren't in tiny pieces, it's easy to keep from getting any chunks of bean in whatever you're using the sugar in).

Now slice shallowly down the length of each bean -- ideally you want to slice it open, but not in half (it's not a big deal if you slice it in half, though).

Put about half of your sugar into your container. Add the beans, and then dump the rest of the sugar on top. Secure the lid of your container and give it a vigorous shaking.

That's it! You can use the sugar right away if you want but it will taste best if you let it sit for a while, say about two weeks, shaking periodically. You can sift the beans out if you want; personally, I like to just replace the sugar I take out and use the same beans to infuse sugar for about six months, at which point they're usually spent and it's time to make a new batch. 

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Vanilla extract is in high demand at our house. I use it in just about everything I bake, we splash it liberally into pancake and French toast batter, and I use it in puddings and dessert sauces.

It's pretty expensive at the store, so for quite a while now we've been making our own in a fairly haphazard, "hey let's toss these dried-up vanilla beans we bought and then forgot about in a jar with some booze and see what happens!" fashion. The results were decent, but we decided recently that it would be neat to try in a more organized and deliberate way and then share the method so others could try it too. (We also made the lime and lemon extract pictured above.)

Supplies

Bottles/Containers

How many you need depends on how much you want to make, but ideally they should be made of brown glass, and I highly recommend a bottle. Whatever kind of container you use, wash it and allow it to dry completely before using.

We made ten bottles of vanilla extract, using these four-ounce bottles. You could go bigger or smaller depending on your preferences. (You could use a jar like we were doing but I strongly advise against it because it is a huge pain in the ass to measure liquid out of a wide-mouthed vessel like a jar - it's probably fine if you're trying this just for fun though.)

Alcohol

How much you need will depend on how much you want to make and on the proof of the alcohol you're using (see the note on dilution below).

For a pure vanilla flavor, use a neutral/tasteless alcohol like Everclear or vodka, diluted with distilled water to between 70 and 80 proof. For a more complex flavor, use a complementary-tasting alcohol like bourbon or rum, also diluted with distilled water (if necessary) to between 70 and 80 proof.

A note on dilution: From our extensive Internet research (most of which we did about a month ago and then half-forgot), we determined that the best solvent is an alcohol that's between 70 and 80 proof (or between 35 and 40 percent alcohol by volume). For alcohol made in the U.S., proof is twice the alcohol content by volume, so to determine the percent alcohol in what you're using, just divide the proof by two, and then use this handy calculator to determine the ratio of distilled water to alcohol you need.

We had been using bourbon in our previous experiments, because it has a flavor that blends will with vanilla (and we had some on hand). We wanted to try making a purer version as well this time, more similar to store-bought vanilla extract, so we also had an obliging family member bring us some 190-proof Everclear from a neighboring state. We made one version with diluted Everclear only (for a purer vanilla flavor, more suitable for baking), and one with diluted Everclear and diluted bourbon (for a more complex flavor that will work well in things like French toast, or in puddings and sauces where a long bake time doesn't deepen and enhance the vanilla flavor).

Distilled Water

If you need to dilute your alcohol, use distilled water rather than tap water, as it has fewer impurities and won't impart any weird tastes to your extract.

Vanilla Beans

By our reckoning, you want approximately one bean per ounce of liquid. We erred on the side of caution and used five beans per four-ounce bottle.

For making vanilla extract, you do not want to use the nice, plump Grade A beans you would buy and scrape the seeds out of for baking (unless you're like us and have bought some and forgotten about them for long enough that they're too dry to use except in an extract). Grade B beans work best for extract. If you can find them in a store near you, awesome. If not, you can get them online.

We bought ours at Vanilla Products USA; this 1/4 pound package was enough to make about 40 ounces of extract with beans left over to chop up and use for vanilla sugar and to flavor some middle-of-the-road whole coffee beans. Beanilla is another supplier, but their smallest bulk bean package was 1/2 pound, which was more than we needed (they sell beans in packages of one, three, five, ten, and twenty-five, but my understanding is that you get a better value by buying in bulk because bean size can vary quite a bit).

Labels

These aren't strictly necessary, but it helps to at least have the date on the bottles for future reference. We put utilitarian labels indicating the type (since we had two different blends) and date. We're going to give these as gifts for the holidays this year, so later on we'll print out some pretty labels.

Tools

• Funnel that fits the neck of your bottle/container or a syringe with a tube like we used*
• Glass measuring cup or some other volumetric measuring tool if you need to dilute your alcohol
• Clean cutting board
• Sharp knife

Process

Line up your containers. Divide up your beans (I recommend approximately five beans per four ounces of liquid, just to make sure the resulting extract is sufficiently vanilla-y) first.

In terms of preparing the beans, some sources I found suggested cutting the beans in half and scraping out the seeds as one would do for cooking, then chopping the skins into smaller pieces and placing the seeds and skins in the container; others suggested that merely chopping the beans would suffice.

In our previous attempts, we didn't scrape the seeds out and the results were good (and we are lazy), so we opted to chop the beans into half to one-inch pieces and call it a day. I also feel that scraping the seeds out of the drier Grade B beans would be pretty difficult and that between that and the difficulty of getting the seeds into the neck of the bottles, some of the seeds would be wasted. Go with what seems best to you.

Whether you choose to scrape or just chop the beans, prepare each portion individually and place the results in the container before moving on to the next pile (trust me, this will prevent confusion/mingling of portions).

When you're finished with that, you're ready to add the alcohol. If you need to dilute it, do so now per the instructions above.

Then pour the alcohol into your containers, filling to a bit below the neck. This is where the funnel or syringe/tube comes in handy, though if you have a steady hand and sufficient patience you can probably use a glass measuring cup to pour the alcohol into the bottles without too much spillage.

Now cap the bottles tightly and put them in a cool, dark place (the back of a cabinet is ideal). Shake them once daily for a month. (Note: Not the end of the world if you forget to shake them every day.) At the end of a month, you should have usable extract. It's recommended that you let it age a bit longer, up to two or three months.

After two to three months, you can filter the extract into new bottles (and then wash and reuse the ones that were holding it). This is an optional step, and one that we plan to skip (because of the aforementioned laziness). The solids (mostly seeds, as the pod/skin parts should be too big to come out without some coaxing) will generally stay at the bottom of the bottle unless shaken. If you're giving them as gifts, you may want to strain or put a note on the label warning that bits of bean might fall out as the bottle gets close to empty.

That's it! If you have leftover beans, you can use them to make vanilla sugar, or toss some in with coffee beans or ground coffee for a little pop of vanilla flavor.


* I'm sure you could find this equipment online. When our newborn daughter was released from the NICU to our hospital room (she had to be in the NICU for the first 36 hours after she was born, mostly for observation), one of the nurses invited us to take everything in the supply drawers from her NICU room, as they have to toss everything between patients. The large 2oz syringe we used was part of that haul, and for the tubing I just snipped a small piece off the end of one of the tubes from my breast pump. :)

Citrus Extract

We made vanilla extract recently, and since we had the ingredients and tools out, we decided to make some lemon and lime extract, too. I use lemon extract fairly often in baked goods, and while I've never used lime extract before, I'm sure I'll find ways to use it now that I have some.

The process is the same as for vanilla, more or less. You'll want to use a neutral alcohol, like vodka or Everclear. I've read that a higher proof alcohol (like around 150 proof) can be used for citrus extracts, but because we had an 80 proof Everclear blend already made, we used that. I also wasn't 100% confident that I'd avoided peeling off the bitter white pith along with the citrus rinds, and I had read in a few places that a higher proof solvent could leach bitterness from the pith. To be on the safe side, we used 80 proof. If you're more confident in your peeling skills, you might want to try using a higher proof to dissolve more of the citrus oils.

Supplies

Bottles (ideally ones like those pictured above, see my post on vanilla extract for more on bottles)

Alcohol (diluted, if necessary, as explained here)

Labels (not strictly necessary, but handy - they don't need to be fancy, you can just tape on pieces of paper)

Limes and/or lemons (or oranges), depending on what type of extract(s) you want to make - two per 4oz bottle

Tools

Vegetable peeler or sharp paring knife
Clean cutting board
Glass measuring cup
Funnel or syringe (for adding alcohol to bottles - optional if you have a steady hand and enough patience to pour it in from the glass measuring cup)

Process

Carefully peel your fruits, avoiding the bitter white layer just under the skin.

Try to keep the pieces large-ish if you're the kind of person (like me) who prefers not to filter their finished extract (that way the pieces will more or less stay in the bottle when you measure out the extract later on). If you plan to filter the extract, you can cut small pieces, or even try using a microplane grater (though keep in mind that getting citrus zest into the bottle may be a bit of a pain).

Now place the bits of peel into your container(s). You may have to use a narrow object of some sort (I used the vegetable peeler) to force the larger pieces in.

Dilute your alcohol, if necessary, and fill each container to a little below the neck.

Label, and store in a cool, dark location, shaking once a day for the first month (the extract will be fine if you forget to shake it every single day).

Done!

Tiny Adorable Destroyer

This is something no one told me about becoming a parent: You may have a moment in the days after your tiny, soft, precious, perfect little voyager arrives when you stand alone in your kitchen, weeping silently and thinking "Oh my god, we have ruined our lives. Nothing will ever be okay again."

I'm not talking about postpartum depression (which is a much larger topic and one I fortunately can't speak to personally). I'm talking about normal postpartum feelings. Maybe not everyone feels them, but I've talked to several other parents who have had that same moment (sometimes, like me, on several occasions).

People don't talk about it much. Partly, I think, because it's not the sort of story you can fully appreciate unless you've been there (though it's still worth sharing so that others will know, when and if they get there, that they're not alone, and it's certainly something that most people who haven't had children can still understand and empathize with), and partly because our society generally takes a very sentimental, soft-lit view of brand-new babies and their parents.

And that's a shame. Because those joys wouldn't be diminished by focusing more on the struggles new parents face, and acknowledging those struggles would go a long way to lifting the burden of feeling like a horrible person for not being wholly suffused with wonder and delight, and for experiencing something other than pure and unadulterated joy after the birth of a child.

So, in the interests of doing my part to ease that burden: New parents, if you find yourself thinking that you've ruined your life, it's pretty unlikely that you have. You can talk to me about it and I won't think you're a bad person.

And if you are having more than just the occasional "oh god I ruined my life" moments, or thoughts of harming anyone (yourself included), or any other reason to think you might be experiencing postpartum depression, please reach out and get help. Contact your prenatal care provider if you can (any ob/gyn or midwife practice should be able to either help you themselves or put you in touch with someone who can), or visit Postpartum Support International or contact your local United Way chapter to find local resources.