Wednesday, March 6, 2024

Make you're own vanilla extract

Making your own vanilla extract is not difficult but it does take a minute.  Or 264,960 minutes if you're counting.

Need: 
Patience
About six months
Preferably two 8 ounce jar(s) with a tight lid(s)
12 to 16 vanilla beans/pods*
Vodka*
 
*good vodka. good beans/pods.
 
By good I mean not the cheapest out there. For my extract, I use Tito's or Five Wives (a local Utah brand). 
 
By good beans/pods, I also mean not the cheapest out there. There are Grade A and Grade B beans/pods and my understanding is that the Grade A are longer in size.  Grade B are slightly cheaper (and apparently recommended for making extract).  I have used both Grade A and B and do not have a preference. 
 
I have heard that the Madagascar Organic Vanilla and Tahitian Vanilla beans/pods are good. Both are Grade A. I haven't tried Tahitian.  I suggest trying a couple different kinds of beans/pods.  Maybe you can tell a difference in taste/quality, but honestly, I cannot. Me palate is not refined. I used a Grade B Madagascar Vanilla Bean from Amazon for my current batch and it's as good as any I've tried.  I get my vanilla on Amazon because it's better than what I can find at local grocers, and often slightly cheaper online.  Plus, I don't have to leave my house. #Winning
 
To begin, you want to wipe your vanilla beans with a damp paper towel to clean them. Make a slit down the side of the beans (you don't need to cut in half but it won't hurt them). Basically you're just opening them up to expose the vodka to the vanilla.  If any of the bean guts come out, just scrape them into your jar. The guts are the good stuff.

Add 6 to 8 beans (about 1/2 to 3/4 ounce/15g to 21g) to a clean, dry jar.  Cover the beans with 8 ounces of vodka. You can fold or cut the beans in half if they're too tall to be completely submerged.  Close tightly and give a good shake.  

Put the jar in the back of your cupboard or some other dark place where it will sit until you remember it again. The jar needs to be out of direct sunlight. 

Give your jar a vigorous shake every 6 weeks or so.  I usually shake mine on the first day of the month when I change my calendar (because the jar is in the same cupboard where the calendar hangs).  Set a reminder on your phone or just don't worry about it. But it'll be better vodka if you give it a shake routinely.  

Now the patience part. You need to let your vodka sit for AT LEAST six months before you use it.  The longer it sits, the better it tastes.  Some people say you can use the extract after two months. I believe those people are wrong
 
I suggest making two jars at once so you've always got a jar in use, and a jar brewing. During the holidays, we will easily use a whole 8 ounce jar so it's good to always have a spare. Especially when you're waiting months for it to be ready.  
 
Plus, I promise once you make your own vanilla extract and let it age 6 months to a year (the longer, the better), you'll never use store bought again.  It really is that good and your food tastes better for it. And you know exactly what's in it. 





Monday, March 4, 2024

Pecan Pie Cheesecake

 The marriage you've all been waiting for:

   

THE Pecan Pie Cheesecake.

I've also made this for a friend who is lactose intolerant using vegan cream cheese, dairy free sour cream, and vegan butter. NOTE: You must add more sugar to the cheesecake because something about missing lactose resulted in a less sweet cheesecake. I added an extra 1/3 cup sugar and that solved the issue. 

INGREDIENTS

Crust:
1 3/4 cup Ginger snaps
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup butter (melted)

Pie Filling:
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup dark corn syrup
1/3 cup butter
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 cup pecans (chopped but not fine)
1 tablespoon bourbon (or vanilla extract)

Cheesecake:
3 eight ounce pkgs cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all purpose flour
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream

Instructions: Preheat oven to 350° Place oven racks so one is at the very bottom of the oven, and the next one as close to middle as you can get it. This will make sense later.

Begin with the crust: Add cookies to a food processor or blender and pulverize them into the consistency of sand. Add crumbs to a bowl and mix in sugar. Then add the melted butter. Mix well and transfer to a lined springform pan (NOTE: you can add parchment paper to only the bottom of your pan and grease the sides, or you can line the whole pan. It’s purely a matter of preference. Press the crumb mix into the bottom and sides of the pan (about halfway to the top).

Place crust in the oven on a cookie sheet and bake for 5 to 7 minutes at 350°. Remove from oven and set aside.

Next make the pecan pie: Add the sugar, syrup, butter, pecans and bourbon into the pan. Mix in the beaten eggs. Make sure all ingredients are thoroughly mixed BEFORE you add heat. Otherwise you’ll end up with scrambled eggs. Once everything is mixed add heat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down heat to a simmer and cook for 3-4 minutes. Trust me on this.

Remove from heat and pour the mixture into the crust and set aside.

Finally, you make the cheesecake: First, reduce the oven temp to 325°

Using your kitchen aid or electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is a creamy texture. Slowly add sugar and flour. When that is completely mixed, add the eggs one at a time, beating just enough to mix the egg. Next, stir or fold in (by hand) the sour cream and bourbon until completely mixed. Pour the cheesecake mixture over the pecan pie filling.

Bake in the oven for one hour. After one hour, turn off the oven (do not open the oven door). Just turn off the oven and leave the cheesecake there for another hour.

After hour two, remove the cheesecake from the oven and run a knife around the edges (if you didn’t line the edges of the pan. Cook the cheesecake for at least 30 minutes but overnight is better because the flavors have time to set and develop.

NOTES:

1. The bourbon. The alcohol will cook out. I routinely use bourbon in recipes calling for Vanilla extract if I’m out. I don’t find bourbon changes the taste of the recipe.

2. Bake your cheesecake on a cookie sheet. I do this for two reasons: spills and a barrier between the heat and the bottom of the cake pan.

3. Be aware of your altitude. I notice things take longer to boil/cook at a higher altitude.

4. Instead of a water bath I place a 3 quart casserole dish on the bottom rack of the oven and I fill it with hot water. It stays in the oven until you remove the cheesecake. I don’t do the full water bath method  because it never works for me. I’ve had the water leak into the custard/cheesecake and that my friends will ruin a day. And maybe cause tears if it’s already 3am and you’re still baking for the big holiday dinner tomorrow. Hypothetically.

The purpose of a water bath is to avoid cracks in the cheesecake and to allow for a more even bake. My cheesecakes do not crack. They’re creamy and delicious. And they’ve never baked unevenly.

5. I use a gas oven on convection bake. I have had electric ovens and non-convection ovens and the only thing to you need to know is whether your oven cooks hotter/faster than what a recipe normally calls for, and adjusting for that. Your cheesecake may still be jiggly when you remove it from the oven. That doesn’t mean it’s not done. You cannot check it with a toothpick, so just check the jiggle. If it jiggles everywhere, cook it a little longer. Only the middle should still have some jiggle.

You can also check with a thermometer in the dead center of your cheesecake. If the temp is between 150° and 160° it should be done. You’ll have a small hole in the top, but that’s not end of the world once you cut it. Or put a nut there. Whatever works.

6. Finally, this cheesecake does not need a garnish in my opinion, but if you’d like one that won’t give you diabetes (I’m looking at you Dulce De Leche) I've got a great Bourbon sauce:

Bourbon Sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons Bourbon

Melt butter, sugar and heavy cream over low heat. Stir constantly until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow to simmer for 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat and SLOWLY add the bourbon. Stir completely. Serve warm. (You can make this without the heavy cream it is just a little runnier).

PS: This recipe makes a HUGE but shallow cheesecake (10” springform pan) or a thicker cheesecake in a 9" springform pan. BUT you can cut the recipe in half without loosing flavor/consistency. I do that and make one smaller cheesecake (6” springform pan), or two small cheesecakes (4” springform pan). I make a full batch, using the 4” pans to give away at Christmas. I can get 4 small cheesecakes from a full batch.

PPS: This cheesecake freezes well. I've eaten it after freezing for about 3 weeks and it was still delicious.

Images from https://stock.adobe.com

Sunday, March 3, 2024


This is a three tier pull down spice rack. It was the first thing I wanted on my list of wants for the new house. Finding one that wasn't a bazillion dollars though, that's another story. And Amazon didn't have any that were not expensive AND in stock at the same time. 

I think I found this on some random website and bought it at 3 in the morning or something because I cannot for the life of me recall where I got it, I only know it showed up one day and I said, oh yea. I forgot about you.  

This was trickier to install than the wine rack. I had to measure, mark, drill, remark and re-drill, remeasure, and again perform body contortions. But finally I got it.  And it's one of the best things I've ever owned with regard to space saving projects.  

ten out of ten recommend.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

DIY Re Upholstered Couch and Chair

When I first my new house, I fell in love with the small "formal" living room. I knew this would be the Christmas Tree room in December. That was the only plan I had. The room gets great eastern light and it's become my grow plants, lounge and read while the dogs nap on me, room. My son in law calls it the terrarium room. 

      

Anyway, I knew that I wanted a loungy couch in here. So I found this red gem at a going out of business sale. 

I searched for about a month until I found the material I wanted, a suede-y but easy to clean, soft and welcoming material in a smokey blue/grey. (I really wanted a deep, deep red wine color but I couldn't find material that was under $1,000). 

So, after I found the material, I bought an electric staple gun, some razor wire stuff (flexible metal tack strip), a staple puller, pliers, I watched at least 10 hours of videos on how to reupholster your own furniture, and how to recover buttons and and tuft a couch; then I bought more supplies, thousands of staples, buttons, scissors, twine, and new legs for the couch because the that came on the couch were gross.

It took three weekends to completely disassemble, then reassemble, cover, and finish; and be happy with my efforts. The videos weren't lying when they said THOUSANDS of staples. 

I didn't take photos of the process, though I wish I would have because it would have been helpful for the next project.

It's hard to tell how good she really looks with the shadows and the indentation from my ass, but I'm proud of her. 

I had almost a whole roll of material left so I decided I'd recover my old lady chair. She was a cool ten bucks at the Goodwill.  I got her in 2015 and she is so comfortable.  The dramas gave me endless shit for having an "old lady chair" until the first time they sat there. THE most comfortable chair for reading that I've ever owned. No joke.  

BUT. I don't have room for her in this house.  So I asked Drama #1 if she wanted the chair for her new house.  She did. And I said I'd get right on it. 

Narrator: she did not get right on it.

Instead, I got the seat recovered, and the inside front sections done and then my stapler broke.  By the time I got a new one, it was summer; then I was really busy. And lazy. But mostly really busy.  So the chair sat in the spare bedroom, half done, lonely and sad, waiting for me to finish.  And finally I did. This month.  Literally, two years  after I started. I'm glad it's done and out of my house. Drama #1 is glad it's done. And I'm proud of this one too: 

Monday, February 26, 2024

Wine Rack from Amazon

When I bought my house two years ago, I started a list of improvements and I had a relatively small list of wants.  One thing I really wanted was a hanging rack for my wine glasses. I found the Torfican Wine Glass Holder on Amazon* and knew it was exactly what I needed.  


I was able to install the racks with just a screwdriver and some body conditioning. I'm very happy with how the racks turned out. Now I just need to get some cupboard doors with glass in them to complete the look.