About a year ago, someone (probably an forgotten food blogger) tipped me off to the fact that you can buy volume lots of vanilla beans on eBay for cheap. I hopped on board that particular bandwagon and bought a ridiculously large number of beans for nearly no money. I shared some with my mom and used fresh vanilla in all my baked goods. I found myself with lots of used, fragrant bean pods and kept tucking them into my sugar jar to scent my sugar with vanilla goodness.

It turns out that Melissa, over at Traveler's Lunchbox, and I were doing almost the same thing at the same time, including occasionally running into the problem of needing unscented sugar and only having vanilla-fragranced stuff on our shelves. Only she did something much more clever than I did (I hate to admit that many of my used pods landed in the trash). She started tucking her used bean pods into a bottle of light rum, thinking she'd make infused booze for future cocktails. Only the alcohol in the bottle started getting darker, until she realized that she had created her own vanilla extract, just as good (or possibly even better) than the best quality stuff that you can buy in the stores.

You too can make your own vanilla extract. Just take a stroll on over to Melissa's post and see how she did it. She includes tips and sources for inexpensive beans. Now, if you'll excuse me, I think I need to go and bake something that requires vanilla, so that I can start my own bottle of extract.

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Homemade marshmallows are definitely one of my favorite candies. Unlike store-bought marshmallows, they are like little clouds of sweetness that are soft, tender and melt in your mouth. They are easy to eat, go perfectly with coffee, flavored coffee drinks and hot chocolate, and are ideal for making s'mores. They are also surprisingly easy to make, and very impressive when you bring them out to serve to friends or family. The only real drawback is that you really need a stand mixer to make them, as it allows you to keep your hands free while you're working and has a very large whisk (as opposed to the beaters of a hand-held mixer) that does the job quickly and efficiently.

I really recommend using vanilla bean paste or vanilla bean crush instead of plain vanilla extract because the tiny bean specks really look fantastic in the finished candy. Read on for the recipe, which I have made and enjoyed countless times:

I love to use vanilla when I bake. It mellows some flavors and brings others out, not to mention that it adds a wonderful flavor of its own. I have many kinds of vanilla, including extracts, beans, powders and sugars.

One of my favorite types of vanilla is vanilla bean paste, which is a mixture of vanilla beans with a little sugar, water and a thickening agent. It can be used interchangeably with vanilla extract, but it gives the look of having used a real vanilla bean and seems to add an even stronger flavor. It is perfect for custards, puddings, ice cream and even plain vanilla cakes, where you really get to showcase the little flecks of vanilla bean.

I have had difficulty finding vanilla paste in nearby stores lately, but I came across a similar product: Sonoma Syrup Co.'s Vanilla Bean Crush. This is vanilla extract that has the vanilla seeds reserved and added back into the finished product. With a quick shake of the bottle before using, you get some of those tiny, lovely seeds into whatever you're making. It isn't quite as strong as vanilla paste, but it is much nicer than some generic vanillas that I have had recently. Unfortunately, it's not much easier to find than the vanilla paste, but since the bottle is quite large, it will probably last for some time.

The vanilla crush is $17 for 8-oz. and the vanilla paste is $12 for 4-oz. Both are worth every penny.