I have recently received my first (yes, there will be more!) shipment of beautiful vanilla beans. I have watched the chefs on The Food Network use vanilla beans for years, and I have always wanted to try them. I love the taste of vanilla, but not for $2.50/bean. EEK! That is the price of them in our local store, $5.00 for 2 beans.
There was some discussion lately about vanilla beans amongst the Daring Bakers. They mentioned buying them on eBay. Well, I’d never thought of that before, so I checked it out! For about $13, I was able to buy 20 beautiful, 6 inch, A Grade vanilla beans, and that INCLUDED shipping them to Canada! YES!! Let the experimenting begin! 🙂
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Ingredients:
2 cups milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup white sugar
1 vanilla bean, scraped
4 egg yolks
2 Tbsp cornstarch
pinch of salt
Directions:
1. Place the milk, half the sugar and the vanilla bean (and scraped seeds) in a saucepan over medium heat.
2. Combine the egg yolks and the remaining sugar in a bowl and whisk until light in color. Add in the cornstarch and the salt, mix to combine.
3. When the milk just begins to boil, remove from heat and remove vanilla bean. Very slowly dribble the hot milk into the yolk mixture, stirring all the time. When about half of the milk has been added, place all of the yolk mixture into the saucepan over medium heat. Using a spatula or a whisk, mix the pastry cream as it heats, making sure to reach all of the corners of the pan when you stir. Bring the mixture to a boil. Let boil for about 1 minute, stirring constantly. The mixture will be thick.
4. Remove from heat. Strain if you wish for a smoother cream. Place into a bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap to stop a skin from forming on the cream. Chill and use within a few days.
This recipe is adapted from an AllRecipes.com recipe.
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Sandra says
$13 for 20 beans is an excellent price compared to what I’ve seen here locally – the bulk food store and the regular grocery stores charge about $3.99 for 2 beans. I did buy them once to make homemade vanilla – mmmmm that was good stuff. I’d love to make vanilla and vanilla sugar as Christmas gifts 🙂 Which beans did you order, Jeanine? Their shipping prices are VERY reasonable – I just ordered the 20 sampler pack!
Jeanine says
Isn’t that an awesome price?? I want to try to make some homemade vanilla. Right now, I’m using stuff from Mexico, which is great, very flavorful, but you know me…gotta try it for myself! And when the shipping to Canada is that reasonable, how can you resist?
I bought 20 Bourbon beans, but next time, I’ll get the sampler pack (I bought off eBay, and purchased so quickly, I didn’t see the sampler pack until later, doh!). Can’t wait to see what you’ll do with them, Sandra!
Sandra says
I ordered directly from their website – it was $7.50 for the sampler pack, and $3.95 for shipping (VERY reasonable.) It would have been $5 for shipping for a 40 sampler pack – STILL very reasonable!! I think I’ll get pretty canning jars for the vanilla sugar, and will keep an eye out for nice bottles for the vanilla.
I hope your mom is doing ok after her chemo last year – thats scary 🙁 I’m glad she had a comfort quilt to help get her through the days – the people who make these items get as much pleasure from making them, as the receivers get from receiving them – it’s a powerful thing, it really is. *goosebumps*
I can’t understand why I failed the Human Shield test – failing ME is like saying that a sumo wrestler would fail too, LOL. I guess I better eat more vanilla sugar … ROTFL!!
Jeanine says
I’ve got some vanilla sugar being made right now, not sure what I’ll use it for yet, but I’m thinking even a topping for muffins would be nice. 🙂
And my Mom is doing super-fantastic now, Praise the Lord! She’s doing awesome; her immune system has bounced back, and she is in remission! Woohoo!! She is the “Susan” that comments here quite a bit, and has submitted a number of the recipes that are coming up this week too. 🙂
Susan says
Thanks girls ..I am doing awesome. The Lord is good. Pray that my oncologist appt. goes well on Thursday.