When Prohibition Gets You Down ...

It is time to take a cue from our Bootlegging fore-fathers of the roaring 20's ...

and make a batch of "home-brew".

and in 80 days time (long I know, but what's a girl with a cupcake fettish living in the Middle East gonna do?!) I will have my very own

KP secret recipe VANILLA EXTRACT.

What's the secret? Actually nothing, I just think it sounds cool.

Well, since anyone who wastes their time reads my blog is awesome, I'll share:

• Slice three vanilla beans open length-wise.

image from tomford.com
• Place vanilla beans into a glass jar with an air-tight lid.
• Pour 1 cup of vodka (I used Absolute) into glass jar;

• Don't forget the very important step of testing the vodka first by taking a shot just to make sure it hasn't gone bad. this is the "secret step" in case you were wondering. haha.
• Make sure the vanilla beans are fully submerged in the vodka.
• Place in a dark, cool place such as a kitchen cabinet.
• Let sit for about 80 days/8 weeks.

After 80 days it should look something like this:

image from: blog.craftzine.com/vanillaext.jpg

And smell more like vanilla and less like vodka.  The other cool thing about making your own vanilla extract is that the longer you let it sit, the more depth of flavour it develops.  Also, when you start to run low you can simply top it off with additional vodka and BAM! (channeling my inner Emril), you are back in business.  Awesome.