Hi guys! As you can probably tell Jenny and I are way into Christmas and love giving homemade gifts as presents. We already shared with you a cute wrapping situation for one of our banana bread recipes, and today we thought we would do homemade extracts. We are giving you recipes for five different kinds: lemon, grapefruit, vanilla, cinnamon, and orange. So you can either made all five, or pick you favorite and go with it. Extracts are really easy to make, the only thing you really need to give it is time, these extracts take about two weeks to make. This is a perfect recipe for you plan aheaders. In addition to these great extract recipes, we also have the designs for the labels ready for you to download, as well as instructions for the super cute wrapping. Lets get started! First, make your extracts:
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Homemade Extracts
Makes 1 cup each extract
Ingredients:
cinnamon extract:
1 cup brandy
4 cinnamon sticks
vanilla extract:
1 cup brandy
3 vanilla beans, split with the “caviar” scraped out
orange extract:
1 cup high quality vodka
peel of 5 oranges, ALL pith removed
lemon extract:
1 cup high quality vodka
peel of 5 lemons, ALL pith removed
grapefruit extract:
1 cup high quality vodka
peel of 3 ruby red grapefruits, ALL pith removed
Directions:
1. For each extract ,sterilize a 16 ounce jar and fill with the cinnamon sticks, vanilla beans or citrus peels.
2. Pour assigned liquor over each jar and tightly seal. Gently shake each jar and set aside in a dark, cool area.
3. Allow mixtures to infuse for at least 2 weeks before, straining and bottling for use.
**Gently shake each mixture up every couple of days.
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Now, lets get started on the packaging.
Here are the supplies:
1. Extract bottles. We really LOVE these ones! 8oz each.
2. Printable label sheets. We got these Avery labels that are full sheets.
3. Hemp Twine!
4. Silver Tinsle Pom Poms
5. Medium (5×7) Craft Paper Bags. Like these!
6. Our designs printed on label sheets.
Extras: Glue gun, scissors and or an exacto
Here is how you do it:
1. Decant the extracts into the bottles. I like to do this first so there isn’t any spillage on my freshly printed labels.
2. Print out the custom labels, and then cut them out. I used scissors for the ovals and an exacto and ruler for the Happy Holidays.
3. Label all of the bottles.
4. Cut some hemp twine. You can determine the length by wrapping some twine around the tops of the bottles and deciding how many times you want the twine to go around. After you cut the twine, tie knots at the end of each side and snip off the extra length. Then take your cute tinsle pom poms, squirt some hot glue on one, and then press the knot part of the twine into the hot glue. I used a food skewer to do this, but other long pockey things would work too. Repeat this until you have pom poms at both ends of the twine, and on all the twine you’re going to need.
5. Take out the craft paper bags. I cut the tops off of them for two reasons. First, I didn’t want the zig zag edge to be visible, and second, I wanted the bag to end at the bottle cap. I cut about an inch to an inch and a half off the bags. Then insert the bottles into the bags and twist the bags around until they fit tight. Fold the corners of the bag at the bottom under.
6. Take your twine, and wrap it around the neck of the bottle while trying to include the folds of the paper. Once you get down to the right amount of twine left over, tie it off.
7. Now you have your Happy Holiday printed bands out. Simply center the words on the front of the bottle and press firmly on the label in the middle. Then follow the label around to the back on the bottle pressing firmly one side at a time.
8. You’re done! Go make people happy and give them this cute stuff you just made!
More DIYs you will love!
Did you make this recipe? We want to see!
tag @SpoonForkBacon and #SpoonForkBacon on Instagram
absolutely spectacular. Adore edible gifts and these look like the cream of the crop!
What a perfect gift idea!
This will work in two weeks? I could maybe squeeze it in then. I though extracts took like 2 months!
LOVE this idea!! But I kind of want to make them all for myself :) Question- I am having a hard time finding pure coconut extract, and I refuse to buy the imitation kind. I know I can order it online, but I would LOVE to know if I can make it myself?? Any thoughts? Send me an e-mail!!
I can see these being very handy gifts indeed, especially now that we’re all running out of ideas! This post reminds me very much of this site i stumbled upon earlier this week: http://www.saveur.com/gallery2/Handmade-Food-Gifts/
I will have to try these, use so much vanilla I should learn how to do this.
I just wanted to say that your photography and presentations on every post you do are just awesome! So highly skilled and talented at what you do. Wow.
A friend of mine did these as her wedding favors! Love it! Well done. Maybe I should suggest it to the bride for the wedding I’m in next year.
Love these! What are your favorite ways to use them?
What a great idea :D I’ve never known how this was done, and I love all the visuals <3
I love giving homemade gifts and this one is sure to please everyone! What a great idea and packaging too? Fantastic!
I have made vanilla extract but never the others. Absolutely love these recipes and your craftiness. Thanks!
Love this, great idea. Who knew making extracts was so simple??
Great post! I made my first batch of vanilla extract last year because I decided to buy vanilla beans online to make pastry cream/custard. The website I bought them from had really affordable prices, so I bought way more than I intended. I made the extract on a whim, and it was really simple. Now, I won’t use store-bought extract and I’ve converted several friends.
Where did you buy the vanilla beans in bulk?
Online! Amazon is a great resource
So would you please share the website you used to get your vanilla beans at affordable prices?
Here’s a link for more affordable vanilla beans!
https://amzn.to/2XRsAur
My favorite post so far!!!
I made vanilla extract for my wedding, so I’m excited to try these. And those labels, LOVE!!!!!
Amazing as always!!!
Love the way you wrapped the bottles in the brown paper. Great gift giving idea. Sometime you should try making the vanilla with Clear Creek pear brandy. Yum. Great to use in custards and white cakes or upside down pear cake.
Great idea, ladies! I’ve got some vanilla extract brewing, and I am SO excited to give these others a try!
I love making homemade extracts and yours are gorgeous! Wow, lucky gift recipients who are on your holiday list!
Oh my goodness! I love this! I’ve made my own homemade vanilla extract and these others sound awesome! Cannot wait to try!
Oh neat! Here I was planning on using your banana bread labels for gifts, but this is even cooler! Now I have some decisions to make :)
These are so cute! I love homemade gifts! And thank you for the labels!
Love this! Definitely saving for next year for holiday gifts! I love the labels too – thank you for uploading!
Such a good idea.
Amazing labels and packaging AND sparkly pom poms!
Oh boy!! This is so fun!
This is seriously the best give-as-a-gift idea I have seen yet! LOVELY!