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Homemade Vanilla Extract & Vanilla Sugar

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Who is ready for CHRISTMAS!! I’m sure I just got a few groans while reading that.  Last year, I made my own Vanilla Extract and Vanilla Sugar to use as Christmas gifts.  If you are interested in doing this, now is the time to get started.

These two items are one of the simplest homemade gifts ever.  There are only 2 ingredients for each recipe.

I bought my vanilla beans off of Amazon.  The 1/2 pound for $30 is an amazing deal!

I made my extract in quart sized mason jars and used Rum as the alcohol.  Vodka is the normal alcohol, but one of my friends who was going to be receiving this gift needed it to be gluten-free so I used Rum instead.  I bought 3 Liters of Rum which fit perfectly into the 4 quart jars.  For each jar, I added 12 vanilla beans which were sliced in half. Every once in a while I would take the jars out and shake them but for most of their 4 month life they sat in a cabinet just marinating.

When I removed the extract to package it into the gift bottles, I added 2-3 halves of a bean so that the extract could continue to get stronger.

The vanilla sugar is just as simple as the extract.  To make Vanilla Sugar, I used the remaining vanilla beans along with Turbinado Sugar.  Turbinado Sugar is the same thing as “Sugar in the Raw”; fortunately, there are also store brands.  I placed the bag of sugar into an airtight container with the remaining vanilla beans sitting inside.  The maintenance of this gift is the same as the extract, every once in a while I would take the container out and shake it to get different sugar near the beans.
I bought the bottles for the gifts from Specialty Bottles.  They have an amazing selection in glass and plastic containers.
Below are the final products. The label on the extract is just a shipping label that I printed on my color laser printer.  If you make your own labels, laser is better than inkjet because it won’t bleed if it gets wet (the label in this picture has had some extract drip onto it already).
Hope everybody else is as excited about Christmas as I am.  I enjoy making gifts for people so I’m already coming up with ideas for this year.  Let me know if you try making these recipes, I would love to see how you decorate the bottles!
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  1. Before I had to go gluten free, I used to make this with vodka and gave it away for Christmas too. I totally forgot I could use rum. Now I’m going to have to make some again. Thanks for the reminder!

    • Just so you know:

      According to every celiac specialist in the world and Shelley Case, the foremost authority on the gluten-free diet in North America, the gluten protein is not present in grain alcohols once they have been distilled, period. People can choose to believe scare mongers on the internet or they can believe the experts on the subject. There is enough to worry about when on the gluten-free diet without worrying about items that are actually safe to consume.

      Pure distilled alcohols with no flavorings added are gluten-free. Many flavored alcohols are gluten-free as well, but you need to check with the manufacturer of such drinks regarding their gluten-free status. There is a helpful website, GlutenFreeDrinks, that lists specific brands and their statements regarding gluten. Clan Thompson sells a gluten-free alcohol guide and The Essential Gluten-Free Grocery Guide lists quite a few flavored drink mixers as well.

      Wine is also gluten-free, though there is also a lot of misinformation floating around about wine as well. Wine that is made from just grapes is considered gluten-free. The exception for wine is wine coolers. Most of those are made with barley malt and therefore they are NOT gluten-free. So, this holiday season have some champagne (yes, it’s gluten-free) to celebrate the many recreational beverages that are absolutely gluten-free!

  9. This is awesome! I love sweets and baked goods. I’ll definitely be trying this soon! Thanks for sharing. I’m newly following from the hop. I’d love a visit when you can. Have a great week.

  11. I’m so excited for Christmas and I love both of these gift ideas!! I’ve never tried making my own extract or flavored sugars but this seems so easy! I think I’ll have to give it a try!!

    Thanks so much for sharing this recipe & your 2 jam recipes at Mom’s Test Meal Mondays!