Nailed it!

I really thought this was a FAILED IT… until almost a year after I started the process and it finally worked when I tried it in a recipe! It smelled horrible and I thought it was ruined and that I had just wasted a lot of money for something I would have to dump down the drain. But it actually worked out okay!

Here’s the original pin with the instructions

I think the problem was that I used too much vodka and not enough vanilla beans. I got 2 packs of these Madagascar vanilla beans), which according to the recipe should have made about 4 cups, but I had about 6 cups in there I think. My friend mentioned that you could make vanilla extract in the Instant Pot, so I tried that with part of the batch! It came out smelling a little more like vanilla and less like alcohol, and turned a milky color.

I tried to test it by mixing a little into some Cool Whip, which was a horrible idea. But Then I tried it in a pie sized chocolate chip cookie, and it turned out okay! I also used it at Christmas for our candy cane shaped cream cheese danish in the cream cheese mixture and the icing and it tasted great! I used a cheese cloth to strain it and put one or two of the beans in the jar as decoration and to keep giving off flavor. I was relieved and felt okay giving it to some of my family members as a gift, and I kept a little for myself.
Let me know if you try this and please leave any suggestions you have in the comments!