The Best Bread Pudding

I'm sorry son, but vanilla extract is not two dollars, especially your pure vanilla extract

It's like $13.99. It's cheaper than vodka. Y'all, Jamie and I are in here together, and as usual, we already started arguing

We've got a perfectly good bottle of vodka that we're going to turn into vanilla extract

How much of this do I use, mama? One cup. So Jamie and I are thinking ahead for our Christmas gifts

So we are going to make up some pure vanilla extract. And so we're just going to bring that to a bowl

And we're going to take the vanilla beans and we're going to split it. And we're going to leave those ends on, y'all

Oh, my goodness. Here you go, Mom. I'll split that one. It reminds me of vanilla ice cream

You know, when I was in school, we would make homemade things to send for Teacher Appreciation Day or end of the year

I say that's how I got through elementary school, was Mama made Buckeyes and Divinity for my teachers every year

All right, so we're just going to split those. And, you know, when you're making this and going to use vanilla beans in a recipe, y'all, you know, you split them and then you take your knife and you scrape it

And it looks like chewing tobacco. That somebody has chewed There more pasty in here than beanie Yeah it pasty Look So how come vanilla extract is so hot on your mouth

Well, it's not to me, but you know I've told this story so many times

When my Aunt Trina and I were little girls, we lived in the family business

So one day Trina and I was like three years old and my Aunt Trina was three and a half years older than me

and we were in Grandma's commercial kitchen, set up on the counter

It was big old counters. You know, at 3, everything looked so big

And she got out a tablespoon and the bottle of vanilla. And she said, smell this, Paula

And I said, mmm, that smells so good. She said, you want some

And I said, yes, I do. And she poured me a tablespoon of vanilla and stuck it in my mouth

I was like a little bird sitting there. You know, waiting for that, I thought I was going to die

Why are we boiling this? Well, the hot vodka will act a lot quicker than if it was cold

So we are going to let that sit for eight weeks. After it cools, we're going to put the lid on it

Give it a little shake every week or so. Oh, yes. You know a cool dark place to sit it in the cabinet and every few days I go in and I would just give it a shake That what it looks like y Yes After eight weeks why don we think about letting Jack give this as gifts to the teacher this year

That'd be nice. And we got plenty of time for it, too. Yes. I'm going to taste it

All right. Ooh. Oh, son, it'll make the best cookies and the best ice cream and the best cakes you ever put in your mouth

All right, I just want to kind of measure this. This that we made, how is this different from, like, the imitation vanilla that you bought

Well, oh, gosh, it is so much stronger. Now, I'm just going to make sure this is cut in a nice straight line

And now I'm going to take it and fold it again. And I'm going to cut it just like this

You know, just like we were making a ribbon for a Christmas present. I'm terrible at all that

Oh, no, I just love doing this stuff. All right, now we're just going to take the lid off and put our little ribbon right here

Oh, look at that. Look at that. It's a crafty mama. I ain't

I'm a crafty little devil, aren't I? So just like that, and we're just going to cut a piece of twine, maybe cut it about 14 inches

You want to tie up the ends just like this so it won ravel You could actually put little gold Unraveling Yeah unraveling that too And you could get little bells little gold bells sun and put on the end

That's just what I was thinking. There you go. Now look how cute that is

And you always want to use ribbon, y'all, with a wire in it because it'll do pretty things

Look at these precious little tags. All right, now what is Jack's teacher's name

Jamie. Her name is Jamie. Jack's teacher. That's my name. I didn't ask your name

I want it. Okay. Sign up, Paula Deen. It's more profitable on eBay

You are such a stinking devil. Would you number it one of one

I love you. I love you. I don't know how it tastes, but it sure looks pretty

I could suck the skin off this boy. The eBay off. Soon

So look at that. Isn't that precious? So if you go into somebody's house for dinner, you know everybody brings a bottle of wine

Let's take them a cup of liquor. Thank you. Thank you