Real vanilla beans are a fantasic ingredient (particularly for baking) that should not be overlooked.  They bring tremendous flavor to all sorts of desserts, from custards and mousses to ice cream & cakes.  Some chefs even use them in savory applications like sauces for lobster and veal. Using Vanilla Beans: 1. Place the bean down on …

This is a Thrifty & Delicious Food Gift Idea! Vanilla beans are wonderful items to have in your pantry simply because they are relatively inexpensive when bought in bulk and each of the 175-200 beans in a pound are incredibtly potent. For example, you can slice the bean open and use the tiny seeds in …

If you come across some vanilla beans in your pantry that are hard as a rock, don’t despair!  Here are some great ways to either coax them back to life or still get some use out of them: Grind them into vanilla flavored sugar:  This is my favorite way to deal with dry vanilla beans.  …

Making vanilla scented sugar is simple, and doesn’t use up your vanilla beans. Not only is vanilla sugar delicious, but it makes great gifts for the bakers and coffee drinkers in your life! Here’s how to make it: Ingredients: 2 Vanilla Beans (either tahitian vanilla beans or madascar vanilla beans will do) 2 cups of sugar …

Vanilla contains a lot of alcohol-soluble flavors that are commonly drawn out to make vanilla extract.  Making homemade vanilla vodka is easy and a great way to bring the calming and flavor-enhancing properties of vanilla to your mixed drinks. Ingredients: 1 pint sized jar or resealable bottle 4-5 Tahitian vanilla beans or bourbon vanilla beans …

Creme brulee is a legendary dessert renowned for its rich, swoon-inducing creaminess.  As long as you have ramekins and access to a torch, it’s suprisingly easy to make at home.  This version has just enough maple flavor to stand up to the slight bitterness of the bruleed sugar. Drink Pairing: Sauternes or Vin Santo Ingredients:      (Makes 6 …

Creme anglaise is a stovetop custard dessert sauce with a rich, creamy vanilla flavor.  It’s delicious with chocolate or fruit (especially berries).  It’s also very similar to a vanilla ice cream base, so once you get this recipe down, making your own ice cream is a snap! Ingredients: 2 Eggs 2 cups Heavy Cream ½ …

Pasilla Hot Chocolate with Vanilla Bean Whipped Cream Any variety of bulk dried chilies (consult our chile heat scale for help deciding) can be used to make this hot chocolate (although you’ll likely want to change the amounts to fit the chile heat you’re looking for).  Here we’ve used mild pasilla chilies for a fruity …

No need to wait for St. Patty’s Day, you can enjoy this upgraded, vanilla-centric Irish Coffee year round. Vanilla-holic Irish Coffee 2 premium vanilla beans—one for infusing the whiskey, and one for the whipped cream (I used Tahitian vanilla beans) 1 pint Irish whiskey infused with vanilla bean 4 teaspoons of demerara sugar 1 cup …

Galya of Eat Love & Train shares the below recipe with us.  Ever health conscious, she’s used intensely flavorful ingredients to get maximum satisfaction from these little goodies while including the least amount of sugar (and guilt). —— A couple of months ago, Marx Foods asked their fan bloggers to choose three ingredients and cook something with …